Kansas Ornithological Society

Kansas Bird Records Committee Official Report Form

Use this form to report your rare bird sightings for consideration by the Kansas Bird Records Committee. This form is meant to be a help, not a hindrance. The KBRC members would like to have as much information as possible about your bird sighting; more information usually makes it easier for us to make a decision. So please make an effort to document your sighting carefully and completely. Paying close attention to the types of information requested below will make it easier for you to document other rare birds in the future. But don't feel obligated to fill in every blank space for every bird if you don't feel that it is necessary/appropriate for your sighting!  

Click here for an excellent HTML tutorial on writing up rare bird sightings. And if you want to get a physical (paper) form to fill out and send to the committee via snail-mail, several options are available on the Kansas Bird Record Committee page. The form is available as a Word, Rich Text Format and ASCII text format as well as an Adobe Acrobat format if you'd prefer to use any of those formats. Just follow the Kansas Bird Records Committee page link.

Questions, comments and suggestions can be directed to Chuck Otte, KBRC Secretary.



A few instructions before you start. There are blank spaces in most of the boxes below. PLEASE do not backspace and delete these when your cursor enters that box! These spaces are needed in order to assure that the form is submitted with all the data fields, even if you don't need to put your data in the box. If you delete the spaces, then the forms will have missing fields when the computer spits them out to me, and my job of making these data into a coherent readable document is much harder!

And, as noted below, for the longer (description, habitat, etc) boxes, just type in the information without using the RETURN or ENTER key on your keyboard.  The text will automatically wrap around to fill the box, and the RETURN characters also make data processing a bit more difficult.

Thanks.


Today's date:

Species common name (REQUIRED):

Species scientific name (REQUIRED):

 Date(s) of sighting: From

To 

(if observation date is unknown or does not fall within the periods available above, select "other", and add date information to your description below)

Indicate the number of individuals of each gender sighted:

Males: 
Females: 
Unknown gender: 

Indicate the number of individuals of each age sighted:

Adults: 
Sub-adults: 
Juveniles/immatures: 
Unknown age: 

Indicate the number of individuals of each plumage sighted:
Winter/Basic: 
Breeding/Alternate: 

Eclipse: 
Year-round: 
Transition: 
Dark morph: 
Light morph: 
Albino: 
Other plumage: 

Location of sighting ( town, lake, refuge, etc..) (Don't worry about the small apparent size of these text boxes; these are set to word-wrap, or automatically start a new line when you get to the end of a line. PLEASE don't use the ENTER or RETURN key within this box, as it makes it much more difficult for the secretary to get all of the information from your report, and might result in loss of information.)  Use the scroll buttons to move up and down if you fill up these boxes:

County:

Time of Day:

Distance from bird(s):

Duration of sighting:

Optical Equipment:

In what habitat was the bird sighted?

Lighting/Viewing conditions:

Weather conditions:

Were photos/videos taken?

Are photos/sketches/videos available? If these are available, please send them to the address listed at the bottom of this form. We can make copies of original photos, slides, and videos (both digital or VHS formats) and return the original to you if needed. If you send a video copy or clip, please send an UNEDITED copy (i.e. please do not send copies with freeze-frames or other editing). Unedited copies are best for archiving, and also work best for the secretary who often needs to extract appropriate frames for distribution to the committee. Also, for longer videos, please indicate (using time codes on the video, if available) the section of the video which has the most diagnostic images of the bird in question.

Can we post your photos/videos/sketches on the KOS website, if appropriate?

Type in your DESCRIPTION of the bird(s). This is the most important part of the report, and it is also REQUIRED. Focus on FIELD MARKS, not just your general impressions. Descriptions such as "it looked just like the picture in the field guide" will not be acceptable. Include if possible: total length; body bulk; shape; bill, eye, and leg color, size and form; color and pattern of plumage (wing bars, eyebrows, or lack thereof): Please just type in the information without using the "RETURN" or "ENTER" key; your text will automatically wrap to the next line, and it makes it easier for the compiler to extract all of the information! The committee is not worried about the formatting of this text, but is very interested in the content. If you think that you MUST format your prose in paragraphs (using the return key), please consider downloading a word-processor version of the report form, filling it out, and sending that to the KBRC secretary as an attachment to an email.  (NOTE: If you are submitting photos or video recordings, the sections on descriptions, field marks etc., are optional. A poor photograph does not replace a good written documentation, but a good photograph does reduce the need of written documentation.  The KBRC encourages you to write descriptive documentation even if you do have a photo or video recording of the bird.)

Please describe the bird's behavior (Was the bird flying, feeding, resting??? Include and stress any behaviors used to discriminate between species whose appearances might be similar, e.g. tail-pumping, style of flight): Please just type in the information without using the "RETURN" or "ENTER" key; your text will automatically wrap to the next line, and it makes it easier for the compiler to extract all of the information!

Please describe any vocalizations the bird made:

Please describe field marks expected, but not seen (and why not seen?):

Please describe variations in any expected field marks:

Please list similar species and describe how you eliminated them:

Describe your experience with this and similar species with which it might be confused:

Please list field guides that were consulted to make your identification:

Please list other observers of the bird(s):

Please give us the following information so that we can contact you for more information, if necessary:

Your name: 

Street Address/PO Box:

City:     State: 
ZIP:     Country: 

Your Phone Number: 

Your email address (REQUIRED):

Date this report was prepared (if prepared on paper or other medium prior to submission of this electronic form...):

Date field notes were made (if no field notes were made, select N/A): 

From the drop-down menu, please select the option that most appropriately describes the point at which field notes were made:

If you have any other comments, contact information (work phone number,etc.), or suggestions for the KBRC, please add them here.

If you want to have a confirmation copy of your submitted report e-mailed back to you, please check here (and make doubly sure that you have entered your e-mail address correctly above!).
Check this box if you want to have a confirmation copy of this report e-mailed to you.

Clicking the "Submit" button below will send this form to the secretary of the Kansas Bird Records Committee.
Please don't forget to mail/email supporting documentation (photos, sketches, videos, field notes, etc...) to:

Chuck Otte
11319 Dundon Rd
Milford, KS 66514


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(WARNING! Clicking this "Return..." link does NOT submit record!)