Finding a "good bird"

Recently a friend told me he had seen a certain warbler that is very rare to Colorado. I congratulated him and said, "That's a real good bird." I got to thinking about that comment. Clearly I repeated what I had been taught, that rare vagrants are good birds.

I certainly enjoy seeing a rare vagrant bird. However, I believe that native bird species are more important than vagrants from a conservation perspective. I suspect that many conservation-birders have also learned to call vagrants "good bird" instead of native birds.

SeEtta