Birds of the Lower Ohio River Valley in West Virginia

    Fairly Common: 7 - 20

    Uncommon: 1 - 6

    Rare: 1 - 6 per season, but is found in every appropriate season.

    Casual: Based on three or more records, not enough to constitute regular occurrence in a given season, but for which subsequent records are not improbable.

    Accidental: Based on one or two (rarely more) records, and which, on grounds of reasonable probability, is literally accidental within the Check-list area and unlikely to occur there regularly (AOU 1983).

     Singing Male Census data (males per 100 hectare) has been used as an aid in assigning abundance status.  Criteria are those given by Hall (1983), as follows:  Abundant: >100; Very Common: 51 - 100; Common: 26 - 50; Fairly Common: 11 - 25; Uncommon: 6 - 10.

 Categories used to describe the status of each species follow Kiff et al. (1986).

   Status:

    Resident: Usually present at all times within a given season.

    Migrant: Occurs along an established migration route, generally at a predictable time of year.

    Visitant: Not always present at all times within a given season.

 Seasons are defined as follows: Winter: December through February; Spring: March through May; Summer: June through August; Fall: September through November.

 The terms early, mid and late have been used in previous publications to describe arrival or departure times. For clarification these terms are defined as follows::

    Early: 1st through 10th of any given month.

    Mid: 11th through 20th of any given month.

    Late: 21st through 30th or 31st of any given month.

 Criteria for inclusion of species follow the bylaws of the WV Bird Records Committee (Hall 1986).  Species that do not meet these are listed in the Hypothetical List.

   Criteria for inclusion in the Species Accounts are as follow:

    1. A specimen has at some time been collected in the region and has been examined by a competent ornithologist.

    2. A recognizable photograph has been taken of the bird in the region and has been examined by a competent ornithologist.

    3. The bird has been handled by a bander and released, providing the bander and his associates have been judged competent to identify the species.

    4. One or more sight records, each of which involved at least three persons having previous experience with the species, have been made in the region.

    5. There have been repeated sight records by persons having previous experience with the species, but for which fewer than three persons were involved in each sighting.

 Age and Sex of Species:  Age and sex of species will follow criteria established by the Bird Banding Laboratory, USGS     www.pwrc.usgs.gov/bbl/resources/aboutage.htm 

 Molt:  Molt terminology will follow the Humphrey-Parkes system (Humphrey and Parkes 1959, 1963).

 Nomenclature and sequence of species follows the Seventh Edition of the American Ornithologists' Union Check-List of North American Birds (1998), Forty-second Supplement (AOU 2000), Forty-third Supplement (AOU 2002), Forty-fourth Supplement (AOU 2003) and Forty-fifth Supplement (AOU 2004).