Patrick:
I was gone from 10/9 to 10/20, did not observe your 10/11 post below until Sunday evening then was in E. Oregon Monday and Tuesday.

There is a vast difference between information obtained by accepted science-based efforts vs. information obtained in such a manner that it has little to no scientific credibility Tthat is, valid information on species' abundance cannot be ascertained from information obtained by inadvertent, incidental, or unintentional casual observations. Such observations are a far cry from studies in which efforts are intentionally directed towards ascertain information on a species' biology.

I might add that where the observer takes field notes, casual observations do have some utility. Such recorded observations represent acceptable locality data. But in no stretch of the imagination can such casual encounters be translated into the relative abundance any paritular species. Only with conscience efforts aimed at revealing such information can there be some level of confidence in results. And as R. S. Newton implies, just because a scientific approach is use, this is no guaranty that reality will be represented in the results that are obtained. Results can vary greatly between individuals depending on a host of variables.

So to answer your question about "So what changed--" (what was the difference) is that up to 1971 when CDFG listed the SRB as "RARE", no one had conducted a scienctific inquiry on the SRB (exception: note by Cunningham, 1964). Consequently, the individuals that provided input to CDFG had to rely on their impressions, conjecture, supposition, etc. In contrast, I purposely made a 4-5 year committment to try and acquire information on the SRB. And it should be added that there are probably a number of individuals that could have done a better job than myself and obtained even more meaningful information. So what I came up with should be looked at as a starting point and not the final word.

I believe you may be reading into the Gibbon's paper something that is not intended. As I mentioned previously, species become rare where habitat conditions become marginal for their existance. That is true with every species on earth. That some species are probably rare on the Savannah Reserve is a given but such species undoubtedly occur in good numbers in more suitable habitat elsewhere in their overall distribution.

Richard F. Hoyer