Guidelines For Submitting
You are invited to submit reports for evaluation by the FOSRC. Reports should be
of naturally occurring new species in Florida, or species known to occur in Florida
that the Committee has deemed sufficiently rare or difficult to identify to warrant
FOSRC evaluation. Species in this latter group are annotated with an asterisk in
the Official State List of the Birds of Florida compiled by the FOSRC; these species
should be documented by the observer. All observers are encouraged to submit reports
to the FOSRC, including those intended for publication in the Florida Field Naturalist
or any other publication.
While in the field, the observer should record a detailed description of all body
parts (e.g., bill, legs, and feet, noting size, shape, and colors). Although a specimen
or photograph or video and vocal recordings are preferred, a sketch of the bird
and vocal descriptions are beneficial. Behavioral traits and the habitat should
be described. It is necessary to indicate how all similar species were eliminated
(e.g., similar members within a genus), not only those known or suspected to occur
in Florida, but also any species that could possibly stray here or possibly escape
from captivity. Further information on documenting field observations and preparing
a report is available in an excellent manuscript, How to Document Rare Birds, offered
on the web site of the Louisiana Ornithological Society.
All observations should be submitted to the FOSRC on the standard documentation
form. In addition to uniformity, the documentation form provides the Committee and
the observer with guidelines to those factors used by the FOSRC for its evaluation.
Completed forms with supporting material should be submitted to the Secretary of
the FOSRC:
Andy Kratter
Florida Museum Of Natural History
University Of Florida
Box 117800
Gainesville, FL 32611