Hi Folks In the process of ranking the species, each person uses different sets of criteria, and the different criteria have different weight. Hence, having a group of individuals providing lists averages out the weighting factors of the different people. So far no one considered one of my criteria (Kite vs. Lapwing). I looked at the circumstances that produced the rarities. The Kite is just one of a category of birds commonly called "Southern Overshoots" This would include Species like Swallow-tailed, and Mississippi Kite. Fork-tailed Flycatcher, Painted Bunting Wilson's Plover etc. So, even though the Kite was rarer, in reality it was just one of many. The same could be said for the western vagrants. Le Conte's Sparrow, Rufus Hummingbird, Bullock's Oriole, Mountain Bluebird, Varied Thrush etc. Just about any western migrant is likely to make a showing on the east coast. I would bet it occurs more frequently than we see. We only know the ones we stumble upon, or show up at a feeder of a perceptive birder. The European Vagrants are another matter. The prevailing winds are west to east so Europe get more American birds then we get theirs. I suspect the weather condition to make a flight form east to west feasible are rather rare, and the birds must be present in migration to be caught up in it, making it even more unlikely. Also, the trip is over water. All these taken together make the presence of European birds quite remarkable. Some species include Lapwing, Corn Crake, Fieldfare, Redwing etc. So, based on these criteria I thought the Lapwing was the more remarkable record. For the same reasons I also thought the Black Guillemot should be ranked higher. Finally, Frank should not open the list to new submissions. Because the results were sent out, futures submissions may be biased to intentionally changing the ranking of the species as oppose to a personal objective list. Dennis Varza Fairfield