In the late 1960s a group of San Diego field ornithologists gathered regularly to discuss matters of interest in the formation of a new society dedicated to birds and bird issues in California. California Birds later morphed into Western Birds, which now is a widely respected journal circulated world-wide, and the California Field Ornithologists became the Western Field Ornithologists. Cliff Lyons was a founding member of the California Field Ornithologists. During that time it became apparent to Cliff and his contemporaries that the face of field ornithology in California was rapidly changing and records of rare birds were proliferating at an astounding rate. The need for a formal review of such records was clearly apparent. North America’s first committee reviewing records of rare birds was formed by active field ornithologists throughout California in 1970. Cliff was a member of that committee until 1977 and a co-author of the California state list published in the very first issue of California Birds (G. McCaskie, P. Devillers, A. M. Craig, C. R. Lyons, V. P. Couchran, and J. T. Craig, 1970, A checklist of the birds of California, Calif. Birds 1:4–28).