2022 TBRC Annual Meeting

The 2022 Annual Meeting of the Texas Bird Records Committee (hereafter committee or TBRC) was held at 11:00 AM on 17 September 2022. Carpenter hosted the meeting at his house in Dripping Springs with Cook, Frank and Glover showing up in person; all other members were able to attend online via video conference (Zoom).

Members/Attendees:

● Tony Frank, Chair

● Eric Carpenter, Secretary

● Keith Arnold, Academician

● Sheridan Coffey

● Greg Cook

● Mel Cooksey

● Steve Glover

● Mary Gustafson

● Arman Moreno

● Chris Runk

● Willie Sekula

The meeting was convened at 11:06 AM.

Election of Members

Carpenter and Arnold were the only nominees respectively for the Secretary and Academician positions. Both were unanimously (re)elected to their respective position.

Cooksey had his first term expire at the meeting and was elected to serve a second term.

Runk had his second term expire at the Annual Meeting so there was 1 open Voting Member position. There were 3 nominees - Blaine Carnes (nominated by Runk), Jesse Huth (nominated by Gustafson), and John Muldrow (nominated by Sekula). The background/merits of each candidate were discussed with Huth being elected to the sole open position.

Thus, effective at the end of the Annual Meeting, current membership and term of service are as follows:

● Tony Frank, Chair - term expires in 2023, can be re-elected

● Eric Carpenter, Secretary (not a Voting Member) - term expires in 2023, can be re-elected

● Keith Arnold, Academician (not a Voting Member) - term is as listed for Secretary, can be re-elected

● Jesse Huth – 1^st term expires in 2025, can be re-elected

● Steve Glover – 1^st term expires in 2024, can be re-elected

● Arman Moreno – 1^st term expires in 2024, can be re-elected

● Sheridan Coffey – 1^st term expires in 2023, can be re-elected

● Greg Cook – 1^st term expires in 2023, can be re-elected

● Mel Cooksey – 2^nd term expires in 2025

● Mary Gustafson - 2^nd term expires in 2024

● Willie Sekula - 2^nd term expires in 2024

The sequence (used primarily for order for oral/4^th round records) of members for voting becomes:

Huth, Glover, Moreno, Coffey, Cook, Cooksey, Gustafson, Sekula, Frank

Fourth Round Records

Five fourth-round records were discussed and voted on:

• 2021-90 - Sooty Shearwater (1) 19 Aug 2021, 4 miles southeast of San Jose Is., Aransas County

NOT ACCEPTED, 1-8

Follow up: All members felt like this record would be better dealt with as a "Sooty/Short-tailed Shearwater" and an oral first-round vote was undertaken which went 7-2. This record will now be dealt with as "Sooty/Short-tailed Shearwater" for a second round of voting as part of the normal voting process.

• 2021-75 - Leach's Storm-Petrel (1) 27 Jun 2021, 18 miles southeast of San Jose Is., Aransas County

NOT ACCEPTED, 6-3

• 2022-15 - Ruddy Ground Dove (2) 29 May 2021, El Paso, El Paso County

NOT ACCEPTED, 5-4

• 2021-102 - Limpkin (1) 1 Oct 2021, North Padre Is., Kleberg County

NOT ACCEPTED, 0-9

• 2021-68 - Rose-throated Becard (1) 11 Apr 2021, Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley SP, Hidalgo County

NOT ACCEPTED, 0-9

Removal of Limpkin from the review list (Carpenter)

Carpenter led the discussion to remove Limpkin from the review list. The first state record of Limpkin came only on May 6th, 2021 (at Brazos Bend where birds are still present) and there are already 10 ACCEPTED records as well as 19 additional records with identifiable photographs currently in review. Limpkins seem to be regular breeders at two locations (Brazos Bend State Park, Fort Bend County and Sheldon Reservoir, Harris County) and birds found at other Upper Texas Coast locations are perhaps dispersing birds from these areas. Sheldon Reservoir has at least 23 birds; Brazos Bend's high count is 8 though perhaps a thorough census would reveal more. The species is expanding in Texas - several sightings in disparate locations including several in the Dallas/Fort Worth area and one as far north/west as the Panhandle. With this species seemingly here to stay, the TBRC voted unanimously to remove Limpkin from the review list.

Acceptance of outstanding Limpkin records (Carpenter)

Carpenter had prepared online folders/records of the currently outstanding 19 Limpkin records that are each supported by at least one photograph. With the TBRC Members having reviewed these records before hand and in conjunction with Limpkin being removed from the Review List, the TBRC agreed by acclimation to accept all 19 records.

Additional discussions

Gustafson mentioned that she has been thinking about finding ways to get younger birders involved with the TBRC/record submission/record review process. One such method would be an online (eg. zoom call) meeting where selected records (already reviewed by the TBRC) could be used as examples to show birders interested in documentation/review the types/levels of documentation that are desired on some records as well as what level of review/decisioning is done by TBRC members based on this documentation. Other members thought that this was a great idea worth pursuing so Gustafson will take the lead on this.

Adjournment

With no other formal business on the agenda and no additional Any Other Business items raised, the meeting was adjourned at 12:05PM.

Respectfully submitted,

Eric Carpenter

Secretary, Texas Bird Records Committee