Niue has a duck. But just one.

birdsandbats said:
It will add something for Niue's bird watchers. Niue only has 19 bird species, so...
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Where did you get 19 from? There are 15 breeding species on the island, and then the migrant waders and non-breeding seabirds. Leaving aside the vagrants (like this Mallard) there are somewhere between 30 and 40 species available to be seen there.
 
My eyes ain't what they used to be. It looked all brown to me but on second look with enough squinting it is a male
 
birdsandbats said:
It will add something for Niue's bird watchers. Niue only has 19 bird species, so...
Click to expand...

Chlidonias said:
Where did you get 19 from? There are 15 breeding species on the island, and then the migrant waders and non-breeding seabirds. Leaving aside the vagrants (like this Mallard) there are somewhere between 30 and 40 species available to be seen there.
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Maybe not the most reliable source of information, but I counted the species on this page:

List of birds of Niue - Wikipedia

The eBird data was a bit spotty, but I only got 15 there. I figured that if there were more bird species, more would have been reported.

https://ebird.org/barchart?byr=1900&eyr=2018&bmo=1&emo=12&r=NU

*It is worth noting that the Wikipedia article states that 29 bird species may be found in Niue. The eBird checklist states 34. But keep in mind this includes accidentals and vagrants.

*Also note that isn't the only duck on Niue. After looking over Niue's Mallard reports on eBird, I found this statement:

Anonymous eBirder said:
one male in small pond near road. Per local guide, occasional visitor after storm, but Pacific Black Duck visits more often than Mallard.
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birdsandbats said:
Maybe not the most reliable source of information, but I counted the species on this page:

List of birds of Niue - Wikipedia

The eBird data was a bit spotty, but I only got 15 there. I figured that if there were more bird species, more would have been reported.

https://ebird.org/barchart?byr=1900&eyr=2018&bmo=1&emo=12&r=NU

*It is worth noting that the Wikipedia article states that 29 bird species may be found in Niue. The eBird checklist states 34. But keep in mind this includes accidentals and vagrants.

*Also note that isn't the only duck on Niue. After looking over Niue's Mallard reports on eBird, I found this statement:
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Surely introduced and vagrant birds count as birds on the island? Just because it’s rare or accidental doesn’t mean that it’s a bird you can’t find, it’s just harder.
 
TZDugong said:
Surely introduced and vagrant birds count as birds on the island? Just because it’s rare or accidental doesn’t mean that it’s a bird you can’t find, it’s just harder.
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I am counting introduced species here. I am not counting vagrants because I was referring to commonly occurring species - of which there are only 20. If you are counting vagrants (such as this Mallard), the count would be around 30 - still not many bird species.
 
birdsandbats said:
*It is worth noting that the Wikipedia article states that 29 bird species may be found in Niue. The eBird checklist states 34. But keep in mind this includes accidentals and vagrants.

*Also note that isn't the only duck on Niue. After looking over Niue's Mallard reports on eBird, I found this statement:
Click to expand...
The Wikipedia article is missing a lot of seabirds, as also the eBird must be (I haven't looked at it). And it is (most probably) the only duck currently on Niue - Grey Ducks being found there as vagrants doesn't mean there are Grey Ducks there now.

birdsandbats said:
I am counting introduced species here. I am not counting vagrants because I was referring to commonly occurring species - of which there are only 20. If you are counting vagrants (such as this Mallard), the count would be around 30 - still not many bird species.
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There is only one introduced species (chickens). If counting all birds recorded on the island - including vagrants - the total is around 50, not 30, because (as per above) your "sources" are missing numerous recorded seabirds (terns and petrels), many of which are frequent.
 
Ebird has records of 34 species from Niue, coming from 38 checklists. Thus not a very comprehensive survey of the species to be found there. 9 of the species have not been reported to Ebird from Niue within the last five years, additionally.

There is a lone report of Red-vented Bulbul, so while not exactly an introduced species, an exotic?
 
Great Argus said:
There is a lone report of Red-vented Bulbul, so while not exactly an introduced species, an exotic?
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I would imagine this would have been a ship-assisted individual (i.e. a wild bird from one of the other Pacific islands hitching a ride aboard a container ship or something similar).
 
Great Argus said:
Ebird has records of 34 species from Niue, coming from 38 checklists.
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Firstly, I know ebird says 38 checklists, but the top four birders for Niue have submitted 50 checklists between them.

Great Argus said:
not a very comprehensive survey of the species to be found there.
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Even less comprehensive than you might think - all the checklists are from winter - mid-June to mid-September, and then one in the last week of October.

:p

Hix
 
Just as an update, eBird now lists 43 species from 140 checklists, over most of the year (although Autumn is still relatively devoid of checklists).
 
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