Hypothetically, can I count this for my Ebird list?

[Tanager 101]

I'd like some assistance with this purely hypothetically situation. If Hypothetically, @Birding Boy was driving me back from Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge after an afternoon of birding, at 5:33pm EST in a gray 2006 Nissan Pathfinder and hypothetically ran over a Ring-necked Pheasant but we only heard the "thump", but later confirmed the identity of our fallen hero, should we count this on this ebird checklist: https://ebird.org/checklist/S125353254 (In this purely hypothetically situation) 

[Birds are cool]

hypothetically speaking, you would not.

[The Bird Nuts]

I'd say no.

[Charlie Spencer]

Dead birds cannot be counted.  You couldn't identify the bird by the 'thump' alone, and you didn't ID it until after you found it dead.  Hypothetically speaking, of course.  

[chipperatl]

Put it on iNaturalist, but not on eBird.  Also tell @Birding Boy to slow down.  

[Snake Fingers]

1 hour ago, chipperatl said:

Put it on iNaturalist, but not on eBird.  Also tell @Birding Boy to slow down.  

Hypothetically put it on iNaturalist and hypothetically tell @Birding Boy to slow down. 

[Quiscalus quiscula]

This reminds me of a story my father likes to tell. One day in the '80s, he was heading home from school on his motorcycle in rural Germany, when a pheasant flew up from the side of the road. He barely had time to register what was coming at him before it collided with his helmet and died. He strapped the bird to his gas tank and brought it home, and they had the tasty pheasant for Sunday lunch.

[DLecy]

2 hours ago, Quiscalus quiscula said:

This reminds me of a story my father likes to tell. One day in the '80s, he was heading home from school on his motorcycle in rural Germany, when a pheasant flew up from the side of the road. He barely had time to register what was coming at him before it collided with his helmet and died. He strapped the bird to his gas tank and brought it home, and they had the tasty pheasant for Sunday lunch.

Roadkill is currently legal to eat (in some form or another) in 30 states. 

[Snake Fingers]

7 hours ago, DLecy said:

Roadkill is currently legal to eat (in some form or another) in 30 states. 

Mmmm, delish!

[Charlie Spencer]

10 hours ago, DLecy said:

Roadkill is currently legal to eat (in some form or another) in 30 states. 

Wait, does this mean it's illegal to eat in the others?  Which ones?  Hypothetically speaking, you understand; asking for a ... a friend!  Yeah, that's it; a friend.

[DLecy]

2 minutes ago, Charlie Spencer said:

Wait, does this mean it's illegal to eat in the others?  Which ones?  Hypothetically speaking, you understand; asking for a ... a friend!  Yeah, that's it; a friend.

Things are only illegal if you get caught. What state do you live in again Charlie, I’ll look it up for you, er, I mean…your friend.

[Charlie Spencer]

1 minute ago, DLecy said:

What state do you live in again Charlie

Uh-uh; not that line again.  The DEA and IRS already pulled that one on me.

[DLecy]

3 hours ago, Charlie Spencer said:

Uh-uh; not that line again.  The DEA and IRS already pulled that one on me.

DEA?!? Whoa, you might just be the most dangerous person on this forum…is bark butter considered a controlled substance in South Carolina?!

[Snake Fingers]

4 hours ago, DLecy said:

Things are only illegal if you get caught.

[Avery]

The speed at which this thread devolved into madness is absolute perfection 😂 

[Charlie Spencer]

2 hours ago, DLecy said:

DEA?!? Whoa, you might just be the most dangerous person on this forum…is bark butter considered a controlled substance in South Carolina?!

Only if you spread it on your road kill sandwiches. 

[Tanager 101]

Although this was a hypothetical situation, brought upon by a disappointing lack of Pheasants, we need to tell the REAL story. What actually happened (not hypothetically) was @Birding Boy and I were birding and I said Pheasants would be easy to get. Long story short we did not find them and giving up hope after sunset, too dark to see one. I asked @Birding Boy if hypothetically hitting one and hearing the impact would count. And from there the brilliant idea of a whatbird post came about.

 

[Zoroark]

Real hypothetical question that's related: what if you witness a bird die? Not long ago, while watching a flock of robins, I watched a Cooper's capture and crush a robin. At the beginning of my observation, the bird was alive. At the end, it was dead.

This doesn't matter much when it's a flock and you're putting either 13 or 14, but what if it's the only one on your list?

Edited January 6 by Zoroark

[DLecy]

2 hours ago, Zoroark said:

Real hypothetical question that's related: what if you witness a bird die? Not long ago, while watching a flock of robins, I watched a Cooper's capture and crush a robin. At the beginning of my observation, the bird was alive. At the end, it was dead.

This doesn't matter much when it's a flock and you're putting either 13 or 14, but what if it's the only one on your list?

If you saw it alive, you can count it. A few weeks ago I watched a Great Egret catch, drown, and consume a Black Rail. It was the only Black Rail I have ever seen, and I only saw it alive and moving for a brief period of time, but I counted it because I saw it alive and wild...until it wasn't.

[Aaron]

There’s also no saying what the fate of birds that leave your field of view during a checklist are. They could get killed 2 minutes after you walk past them, but they’re still contributing to the checklist. 
Seeing a bird be killed and then removing it from your checklist seems like it would be a form of bias. 
Plus, let’s say you and your friend both start a checklist at the same time to find a rare bird and you both find it after 30 minutes. Your friend ends his checklist and goes home, but you stay longer to get better photos. By staying longer, you witness it get picked off by a hawk. You both saw the bird alive at the same time, but only you happened to see it die. Why should your friend be able to keep the bird on his checklist and not you?

Would also like to confess I was an accomplice to the hit and run of two spruce grouse one summers morning. Their behaviour of freezing when threatened did not help them that day 😪

[Peromyscus]

9 hours ago, Zoroark said:

Real hypothetical question that's related: what if you witness a bird die? Not long ago, while watching a flock of robins, I watched a Cooper's capture and crush a robin. At the beginning of my observation, the bird was alive. At the end, it was dead.

This doesn't matter much when it's a flock and you're putting either 13 or 14, but what if it's the only one on your list?

In the 90s I saw a brown heron-type in flight, headed toward a road, at Chincoteague NWR in coastal Virginia. Just as I was realizing that it was an American Bittern and not a juvenile night-heron, it hit some electrical wires just the wrong way and electrocuted itself. I immediately got in my car, drove to where the bittern had fallen, put the bird in my trunk, and drove to the visitor's center. After a short conversation, I handed it over to the ranger, who was going to put it in a freezer and eventually take it to a museum. 

When I got home, I thought about the situation for a few minutes and decided to count it on my day/year/county lists because I had just about arrived at the identification as the bird's death occurred.