WESTEt BIteS Volume 35, Number 1, 2004 REPORT OF THE CALIFORNIA BIRD RECORDS COMMITTEE: 2002 RECORDS LUKE W. COLE, 561 Hill Street, San Francisco,CA 94114 GUY McCASKIE, 954 Grove Avenue, ImperialBeach, California91932 ABSTRACT: The California Bird Records Committee reached decisions on 188 recordsinvolving 79 speciesand one speciespair reportedin 2002, endorsing139 of them. New to Californiawas the EurasianCollared-Dove (Streptopelia decaocto). Adjustedfor this addition,California's bird list standsat 620 species,ten of which, includingthis addition, are non-native.Potential first state records of the Pink-backed Pelican(Pelecanus rufescens) and DemoseilleCrane (Anthropoides virgo) were not acceptedon groundsof questionablenatural occurrence, and a potentialstate first Yellow-breastedBunting (Emberiza elegans) was not acceptedon groundsof identi- fication.Other significantrecords reported here include the returnof California'sfirst CommonGreenshank (Tringa nebularia), the state'ssecond Little Bunting (Emberiza pusilla),third Arctic Warbler (Phylloscopus borealis), and fourth Glossy Ibis (Plegadis falcinellus). In additionto discussingthe decisionsof the Committee on 2002 records,this report discussestrends in documentationof birds submittedto the Committee. This 28th report of the CaliforniaBird RecordsCommittee (hereafter the CBRC or the Committee)details the evaluationof 188 recordsinvolving 292 individualsof 79 speciesand one speciespair. Although most records pertainto birdsfound in 2002, the periodcovered by thisreport spans the 27 yearsfrom 1976 through2002. Four of the reviewedrecords were not new but reassessmentsof earlier decisions reached by the Committee.The Committeeaccepted 139 recordsinvolving 241 individualsof 63 species and one speciespair, for an acceptancerate of 74.9%. Thirty-eightrecords of 40 individualswere not acceptedbecause of insufficientdocumentation or becausedescriptions were inconsistentwith known identificationcriteria. Elevenadditional records were not acceptedbecause of questionsconcern- ing the bird'snatural occurrence. Counties best representedby accepted recordswere Humboldt (13 records),Los Angeles (12), Imperial (11), Monterey(10), San Francisco(9, 8 of whichwere from SoutheastFarallon I.), SantaBarbara (9), Ventura(9), Riverside(8) and San Diego (8). Records from 20 other countieswere alsoaccepted. 2 WesternBirds 35:2-31, 2004 REPORT OF THE CALIFORNIA BIRD RECORDS COMMITTEE: 2002 Highlightsof this report includethe additionof the EurasianCollared- Dove(Streptopelia decaocto) to the Californialist, the returnof California's first Common Greenshank(Tringa nebularia), the state's second Little Bunting (Ernberizapusilia), third Arctic Warbler (Phylloscopusborealis), fourthGlossy Ibis (Plegadis falcinellus) and fifth Ruby-throatedHumming- bird (Archilochusco lubris). Potential first state recordsof the Pink-backed Pelican (Pelecanus rufescens) and a widely seen Demoseille Crane (Anthropoidesvirgo) were judgedby the Committeeto pertainto birdsof uncertainorigin. A reportedYellow-breasted Bunting (Ernberiza elegans), anotherpotential state first, was not acceptedbecause of uncertainidentifi- cation. With the additionof the EurasianCollared-Dove, California's list stands at 620 species,ten of which are not native, and two of which have been extirpatedwithin historicaltimes. The Committeecurrently is considering potentialfirst state records of Cory'sShearwater (Calonectris cliomedea), Little Shearwater (Puffinus assirnilis), Slaty-backed Gull (Larus schistisagus),Oriental Turtle-Dove (Streptopelia orientalis), and Magnifi- cent Hummingbird(Eugenes fulgens). The Committee is also reviewing reportsof three speciescurrently on the SupplementalList--the Falcated Duck (Anas falcata), Nazca Booby (Sula granti), and CrestedCaracara (Caracaracheriway)--for inclusionon the main list. Other highlightsof this report includethe firstSedge Wren (Cistothorus platensis)to winter in California and northern California'sthird Yellow- crownedNight-Heron (Nyctanassa violacea). Species recorded in especially high numbersin 2002 includedthe Ruddy Ground-Dove(Colurnbina talpacoti) with an unprecedented28 individuals,Streaked Shearwater (Calonectrisleucomelas) with 3 (these,with anotherreport publishedhere from 2001, increaseby 50% the previoustotal of 8 acceptedrecords for the state; a fourth 2002 record is in review), Manx Shearwater (Puffinus puffinus) with 9, Sprague'sPipit (Anthus spragueii)with 11, and Thick- billedMurre (Uria lornvia)with 4. This report also includessix accepted PaintedBuntings from 2000, bringingthat year'stotal to an unprecedented 17 birds. The acceptancerate of 73.9% wasbelow the overallweighted average of 79.7% but generallyconsistent with acceptancerates from the mid-1990s on. (The "weightedaverage" is the actualratio of reportsaccepted to reports submitted,as opposedto the "unweightedaverage," the averageof the reportedacceptance rates of each report regardlessof numberof species treatedper report.)The Committee'sweighted average acceptance rate has droppedconsistently over the past ten reports,with the exceptionof our 27ta report (Garrett and Wilson 2003). The currentweighted average is the lowestin the historyof the Committee,though only slightly lower than the 79.8% weightedaverage acceptance rate through the 26th report (McKee and Erickson 2002). Rottenborn and Morlan (2000) discussedtrends in acceptancerates though the CBRC's history. The total of 188 recordsreviewed is belowthe Committee'saverage of 213.8 recordsper report over its first27 reports.The lower numberis the resultof three factors:first, the CBRC report is now publishedannually; REPORT OF THE CALIFORNIA BIRD RECORDS COMMITTEE: 2002 some earlier reports included Committee decisionsover multiple years (Binford 1985). Second, several earlier committee reports includedthe Committee'sreview of historicalrecords; that reviewis largelycomplete, so recentreports have addressedprimarily records from a singleyear. Finally, the list of speciesthe CBRC reviews has changed substantiallyfrom its earliest incarnations,which includedmany birds we now know to occur regularly--evencommonly--in California. The list of speciesreviewed by the CBRC is postedat the WesternField Ornithologists'web site (www.wfo-cbrc.org).This site also includesthe entireCalifornia state list, the Committee'sbylaws, a reportingform for the direct e-mail submissionof records to the CBRC, the addressesof current Committeemembers, a photo gallery of recent submissions,including severalbirds publishedin this report, and other informationabout the CBRC, WFO, and its journal, WesternBirds. All documentationreviewed by the CBRC, includingcopies of descrip- tions, photographs,videotapes, audio recordingsand Committee com- ments,is archivedat the WesternFoundation of VertebrateZoology, 439 Calle San Pablo, Camarillo,California 93012, and is availablefor public review.The CBRC solicitsand encouragesobservers to submitdocumenta- tion for all specieson the review list, as well as speciesunrecorded in California.Documentation should be sentto Guy McCaskie,CBRC Secre- tary, P.O. Box 275, Imperial Beach, CA 91933-0275 (e-mail: [email protected]). A NOTE ON DOCUMENTATION The Committeehas now beenin existence33 yearsand hasevaluated the documentationof thousandsof bird records.The 28 publishedreports of our decisionsprovide a windowinto the evolutionof the Californiabirding communityand the Committeeitself. As our bylawsinstruct, the Committee was established,in part, to "providea meansby which sightrecords can gain universalacceptance as valuablescientific data," and it has fulfilledthis role well. The Committeehas evolvedin both its use of corroboratingdocumenta- tion-such as photographs,sound and video recordings,and specimens-- and its reporting of that use. The first report (Winter 1973) made no mentionof corroboratingdocumentation at all. The secondreport (Winter and McCaskie1975) listed,separately from the main records,three speci- men recordsbut did not mentionphotographs. The thirdreport (Luther et al. 1979) wasthe firstto note whichrecords are supportedby photographs;in it, 1% of the acceptedrecords were supportedby specimensand 22% by photographs;19% were multiple-reportersight records, and the majority-- 58%--were single-reportersight records. It was not untilthe Committee's eighth report (Morlan 1985) that it noted consideringa soundrecording submittedwith a record.In the ninth report, Roberson(1986) inaugurated the useof the dagger(•') to indicatea photographand the poundsign (#) for a specimen;Committee reports have followed this format since. By the 11• report(Bevier 1990), 1% of the acceptedrecords were supportedby audio REPORT OF THE CALIFORNIA BIRD RECORDS COMMITTEE: 2002 recordings,3% by specimens,and 33% by photographs,with the restbeing multiple-reporter(20%) and single-reporter(43%) sightrecords. Videotapeswere mentioned for the firsttime in the 13tl• report (Pyle and McCaskie1992), morethan 20 yearsinto the Committee'slife; it wasnot until the 17th report (Patten et al. 1995) that videotapesand sound recordingswere received commonly enough to warranttheir own symbols, the doubledagger (•) for videotapeand the sectionsign (õ) for audiotapes. Sight recordscontinued to make up the large majorityof the CBRC's acceptedrecords, except for our reviewof historicalrecords in the 14th report (Roberson1993), in which 21% of the acceptedrecords were supportedby specimens,24% by photographs.That report alsodetailed decisionson the highestnumber of records(412)