Click here to return to NBRC home page

Bylaws of the Nevada Bird Records Committee

Revision history:
Major revision September 2001
Minor revision March 2007 re: voting
Major revision September 28, 2007
Minor revision November 18, 2007 re: archives

A. Evaluate records of occurrence of selected birds within the state of Nevada.
B. Maintain and archive the Committee’s votes and comments.
C. Release for publication at least minimal data on all records receiving a decision.
D. Provide a means by which the records can gain universal acceptance as valuable scientific data.
E. Increase knowledge of the birds of Nevada.
F. Establish standards of observation and reporting against which field observers may compare their own techniques.
G. Keep or cause to be kept the official Nevada State Checklist

A. Definitions

1. Voting Member : committee member eligible to vote on record submissions.
2. Secretary : committee member eligible to vote on procedural and administrative matters, but not eligible to vote on record submissions.
3. Member : Voting Member or Secretary

B. The Committee shall consist of six Voting Members and one Secretary.

C. Qualifications for Voting Membership:

Any resident of Nevada is eligible to be a voting member provided that person has demonstrated exemplary ability in and knowledge of field identification of birds, possesses familiarity with the species and habitats of Nevada, and is active in Nevada birding.
Non-residents of Nevada who meet the criteria above may also serve as Voting Members. However, the number of non-residents serving as Voting Members on the committee is limited to two at any one time.

D. Voting Members:

1. The six Voting Members shall serve three-year terms. Voting Members’ terms shall end on December 31 of the year of expiration. If for any reason a voting member is unable to complete his/her term, the secretary, after consultation with other members, shall nominate a replacement. In order to be elected to the committee, the candidate may receive no more than two negative votes. Abstentions are not permitted. Secret balloting is not required, but may be requested by any voter. On election, the replacement Voting Member shall serve the remainder of the former Voting Member’s three-year term.

2. Voting Members may serve up to two consecutive three-year terms, after which they must retire for one year before they may be nominated to serve again. The term of a replacement Voting Member, as described in III. D. 1. shall not be considered to be a "three-year term" for purposes of this sub-section unless the replacement term exceeds two years.

3. Rules governing re-election to Voting Membership for a current Voting Member:

Each current Voting Member whose term is expiring at the end of the current year, and who desires and is eligible to serve another term, is subject to an up/down vote. Members voting in such an up/down vote consist of current Members, including the Secretary, but not including the individual upon whom the vote is being conducted. In order to be reappointed, the Voting Member may receive no more than two negative votes. Except as describe above, abstentions are not permitted. Secret balloting is not required, but may be requested by any voter.

4. Rules governing nomination and election to open Voting Membership positions:

Definition: voter: for purposes of this subsection of the bylaws, all current Members, including Members whose terms will expire at the end of the present year.

a. After informal discussion with the Voting Members, the secretary shall nominate one candidate for each open position. (Prior to nominating that candidate, the secretary will determine that the candidate wishes to serve on the committee.)

b. For each position, there will be an up/down vote. In order to be elected to the committee, the candidate may receive no more than two negative votes. Abstentions are not permitted. Secret balloting is not required, but may be requested by any voter.

E. Secretary:

1. Qualifications:

The Secretary must have an avid interest in birds and birding in Nevada, must possess reasonable familiarity with the status and distribution of the birds of Nevada, must possess reasonable familiarity with the birding community of Nevada, and must possess strong organizational skills.

2: Secretary may serve any number of consecutive three-year terms.

3. Rules governing re-election of current Secretary will be exactly as described for rules governing re-election to Voting Membership for a current Voting Member. As in those rules, the person up for re-election is not eligible to vote.

4: Rules governing election to open Secretary position: Rules are analogous to those covering election to open Voting Member position.

5: Duties:

a. Make available to all birders directions for submitting record reports to the Committee.
b. Receive, circulate, and file all bird records and supporting data submitted to the Committee.
c. Attempt to procure additional data on records when either the secretary or a voting member deems such additional data necessary.
d. Tabulate results of all votes of the Committee.
e. Maintain, or cause to be maintained, at the Marjorie Barrick Museum, University of Nevada Las Vegas, the complete archives of the NBRC. Archives may be maintained in original format or in electronic format or both.
f. Communicate with the curator of the Barrick Museum no less than once each year concerning the status of the archives. This includes providing new and/or updated material for the archives and dealing with any issues which may arise pertaining to these archives.
g. Notify submitter of Committee receipt of records and ultimate action in a timely manner.
h. Keep current or cause to be kept current the NBRC Nevada Review List and the NBRC Nevada State Checklist.

A. Definition:

For the purpose of this Committee and these bylaws, a "record" is considered to be written documentation submitted to the Committee as evidence of the identity of a seen, heard, audio or video taped, collected, banded, or photographed bird. Observers will be encouraged to include photographs, sketches, field notes, and tapes. Whenever possible, observers will be encouraged to submit all documentation electronically through internet procedures established by the Committee.

B. Records Treated:

1. Only records from the State of Nevada will be treated. The NBRC encourages submission of records that predate the formation of the NBRC especially if there are fewer than five documented records.
2. The birds to be reviewed will consist of species that:

a. are not on the Nevada State Checklist,
or
b. are on the Nevada Review List

3. Procedures for modification of Nevada Checklist and Nevada Review List are documented elsewhere in these by-laws.
4. Records based on specimens or banded birds will be accepted and treated in the same manner as other records.
5. For taxa that have ever been considered full species by the American Ornithological Union, or are currently considered full species by other national or international ornithological societies, the committee may choose to review records for those taxa even though other conspecifics are not rare in Nevada. (Example: "Eurasian" Green-winged Teal.)

C. Submission:

Records may be submitted either by conventional mail of physical documents, drawings, notes, photos, etc. or by e-mail of electronic representations of documents, drawing, notes, photos, etc.. Records may be submitted on the Committee's official form, "Nevada Documentation of Significant Bird Sighting" form or in other formats which, while not following the exact format of the Committee's official form, contain substantially the same information as that required by the official form. When the Committee's official form is not used, the secretary will determine on a case-by-case basis whether the submission contains sufficient information to be forwarded to the committee for consideration or whether additional documentation should be requested.

D. Reconsideration of previously completed records

Any record, whether accepted or non-accepted, and even if published, may be brought up for reconsideration by any Member if and only if there becomes available new and substantial documentary evidence that might affect the decision. The Secretary, in consultation with the other members, shall have discretion to determine whether or not the requirements for reconsideration have been met. The procedure for review of such a reconsidered record is substantially different from that which covers initial circulations.

1. The Secretary shall circulate the record, accompanied by all previous votes and comments by the Committee, the publication status of the record, and all new evidence, clearly marked as new evidence.
2. Unlike initial circulations, Voting Members are permitted and encouraged to discuss the record.
3. For a record which was previously accepted:

a. When feasible, the original submitter of the record will be notified that the record is being reconsidered and the submitter will be given an opportunity to see the new evidence and to submit his/her own additional documentation.
b. A single circulation round will be held. In order to overturn an accepted record, there must be a majority vote to overturn. Note that this is more restrictive than an initial vote -- for an initial vote, only two non-accept votes are sufficient to prevent acceptance. However, to change a record from "accepted" to "non-accepted", there will need to be four "non-accept" votes (given a full six-member committee) or three "non-accept" votes (given a five-member quorum).

4. For a record which was previously not accepted:

a. There is no requirement to contact the original submitter until after a decision is reached, unless there is need for additional information.
b. A single circulation round will be held. However, other than the stipulation that there will be only a single round, the voting rules for acceptance will be exactly as for an ordinary circulation. Discussion among Voting Members is permitted and encouraged.

E. Circulation Procedures:

1. Initial receipt by Secretary: Upon receipt of a record, the Secretary shall:

a. Affix to the record a unique number, consisting of the year of the receipt (not the year of the sighting) followed by a hyphen and the next unused number, starting with a "1" for that year. If a record is represented by descriptions from more than one person, each description should receive the same number and be annotated to indicate that it is an additional description. The Secretary will notify the submitter(s) in a timely manner that the record has been received.
b. Record in a safe place at least the name of the submitter, the name of the bird species, the date and locality of the record, and the record number.
c. Check the description for completeness and clarity, and if deemed desirable, request additional information from the submitter or other observers. Details thus acquired must be clearly marked as such and kept separate from the original submission. The original submission should not be returned to the submitter except in copy form.
d. That record and its supporting data, along with other current records if applicable, will then be made available to each member, along with an NBRC Review Form for each record. NBRC Review Forms must include the record identifier. Multiple records sent together will be considered a "Packet". Packets will be uniquely identified with the letter "P" plus the year, a hyphen, and the next unused packet number, starting with "1" for that year.
e. Packets may be distributed via electronic means or through conventional mail.

2. Receipt by Member: Upon receipt of a copy of a record, the Member should:

a. Judge its validity and vote within four weeks.
b. Return the completed NBRC Review Form to the Secretary. If the record was received electronically, the form should be returned to the Secretary electronically.
Note: Members who will not be reachable by e-mail for extended periods should report that information to the Secretary.

3. Recirculation:

a. Unless initially accepted or non-accepted, a record shall be re-circulated, together with the votes cast and comments of every member from the original evaluation, for a new judgment.
b. If , on this second round of circulation, the record still has not received a decisive vote the record will be considered non- accepted.
c. All decisions are final unless a record is to be "reconsidered" (See IV. D. Reconsideration of previously completed records)

4. Voting:

a. NBRC Review Forms:
The vote of each Voting Member, together with his/her comments if any, must be submitted on an official review form. This form must include spaces for at least the following:

record number
name of species
name of Committee Member
date of review
Committee Member’s decision
comments

b. Voting Categories:

Accept
Non-accept, identification questionable
Non-accept, origin questionable

c. Abstentions:
Abstentions are permitted only in situations where the member feels that voting on a record would constitute a significant ethical conflict. Members are expected to vote on their own submissions. Should a member feel that he/she lacks sufficient knowledge about a particular species, that member should use whatever resources he/she can obtain, including printed matter, internet publications, personal communication with any non-Voting Members (or with other Voting Members on second rounds), etc., to gather sufficient information on which to base a judgment. (See 4. e)
d. Comments: On the initial circulation, a "non-accept" vote must be supported by appropriate comments. On that initial circulation, an "accept" vote may be supported by appropriate comments. On recirculations, either a "non-accept" or an "accept" vote must be supported by comments.
e: Consultations: On the first circulation a Voting Member should not discuss a record with another Voting Member prior to both having voted. On the second circulation, however, pre-vote discussions between and among Voting Members are acceptable and encouraged. On either circulation, a Voting Member may consult anyone other than another Voting Member before voting.
f: Voting Criteria: The criteria used by a Voting Member for acceptance or rejection of a record are an individual matter and should not be treated by these guidelines, with one exception: in all votes, "identification questionable" should take precedence over "origin questionable".
g: Retiring Members: A circulation in progress at the time that a Voting Member’s term ends should be completed by the retiring Member, if possible. Subsequent circulations, and hence in some cases final voting, should be completed by the new Voting Member.
h: Tabulation: The voting results are tabulated by the Secretary after all the Voting Members have voted.
i: Decision from Circulation:

(1) A minimum of five votes must be cast for any decision to be considered complete.
(2) Record accepted: no more than one "non-accept" vote. However, for any record receiving one "non-accept" vote, the member who voted not to accept may, at his/her discretion, request a recirculation to permit his/her voting comments (and any other voting comments submitted) to be viewed by other members. Obviously, this should be used only in those situations where the member who voted not to accept considers his/her reasons to contain highly significant information that other members could not have been expected to know.
(3) Record is considered "non-accepted" if the total number of "non-accept" votes is 4, 5, or 6 for circulations with six votes cast, or 3, 4, or 5 for circulations with five votes cast.
(4) Record to be recirculated: Any vote neither "accepted" nor "non-accepted".
(5) Any non-accepted record that received two or more "non-accept, identification questionable" votes is considered as "non-accepted, identification questionable". All other non-accepted records are considered "non-accepted, origin questionable".

5. Publication:

a. The decisions of the Committee shall be provided for publication to the Great Basin Bird Observatory journal "Great Basin Birds" under the authorship of the Secretary (and/or other members at the discretion of the Secretary) in the form of an annual report.
b. The published data for accepted records shall include at least the name of the species, date(s) of observation, locality, name(s) of submitter(s), NBRC vote totals, and whether or not photographed. Other data may be added at the discretion of the Secretary and/or other Members.
c. Non-accepted records shall also be published, with the data specified in the preceding paragraph, except that the submitter name(s) shall not be included.
d. Periodically, the decisions of the Committee may be reported to the editors of other journals who indicate a willingness to publish the data.
e. An on-line, publicly accessible, directory of all pending, accepted and non-accepted records shall be maintained on a website devoted to Committee business. As with records published in journals, the submitter’s name(s) shall only be included for accepted records.

F. Retraction of submitted records

1. The submitter of any record may request that his/her submission be retracted. The request will be granted if:

a. the request is made prior to the completion of the record review process,
b. the submitter is the only person who has provided a submission for that record. In any case where condition 1 is met but condition 2 is not, the portion of the record provided by the requester can be removed from the record, at the discretion of the Secretary.

2. Retracted records will be purged from the NBRC database.

A. State Checklist

1. Any acceptance by the Committee of a record for a species not currently on the State Checklist shall immediately cause that species to be added to the State Checklist.
2. For any species currently on the checklist, if any member feels that the species should be removed from the Checklist, that member may forward a motion for removal to the Secretary. It is the responsibility of that member to provide written justification for the removal of the species. The Secretary will forward the motion, along with its attendant documentation of justification, to all Members. A vote to remove any species from the checklist will require that there be no more than one negative vote.
3. Consideration of process and standards for adding/removing introduced species: To Be Determined.
4. Changes to the State Checklist necessitated by lumps or splits published by the AOU will be handled as follows:

a. Any lump will be updated in the checklist by removing those entries no longer considered to be full species (and changing names as required).
b. If a species is split, the secretary will consult the Atlas of the Breeding Birds of Nevada to determine if any of the newly determined species are established as breeders within the state. If so, they will be added to the checklist. For newly determined species which are not established breeders in the state, wherever possible, the secretary will determine to which of the newly determined species our currently accepted records pertain and will update the Checklist accordingly. For newly determined species which cannot be definitively determined to breed in the state or to have records which have been previously accepted by the NBRC, those newly determined species will be treated by following rule V.A.1 above.

5. If a reconsideration of a previously accepted record results in non-acceptance for that record, and if that record is the only record justifying inclusion of the species on the State Checklist, that species will be removed from the checklist.
6. Changes to the State Checklist should be communicated to the birders of Nevada and to all other interested parties in a timely manner. At a minimum, changes must be published on the website hosting the State Checklist and in Great Basin Birds, and applicable parties at the American Birding Association must be notified.

B. State Review List

1. Addition or removal of any species to/from the official State Review List, or change to the "exemption" status of any species, may be initiated at any time by any Member. The Member should forward to the Secretary a motion to add/remove the species or change the "exemption" status. That motion must be accompanied by written justification for the action.
2. Addition or removal of any species to/from the official State Review List, or change to the regional "exemption" status of any species on the Review List, will be approved if the motion receives no more than two negative votes from the Voting Membership of the committee (with minimum of five votes being cast).

Neither the Secretary nor any other Member shall receive compensation for Committee work.

Since the Committee is autonomous, it may amend these bylaws as necessary. All amendments (other than grammatical/editorial changes) must be distributed to all members of the Committee and must receive a majority vote of all Members voting.

Click here to return to NBRC home page