ZooChat Big Year 2013

Status
Not open for further replies.
Although I dont record everything and havent been out with my binoculars yet this year, I think Im on about 26 just from the general stuff in my backgarden and the local park's duck pond! With the "rarest" being a Egyptian goose.

As for mammals I think its just 2 - the grey squirell and a red fox
 
CambsVet said:
Although I dont record everything and havent been out with my binoculars yet this year, I think Im on about 26 just from the general stuff in my backgarden and the local park's duck pond! With the "rarest" being a Egyptian goose.

As for mammals I think its just 2 - the grey squirell and a red fox
Click to expand...

Egyptian Geese aren't countable in the US as of right now. Will probably change in a few years though.
 
jbnbsn99 said:
Egyptian Geese aren't countable in the US as of right now. Will probably change in a few years though.
Click to expand...

Is this because they aren't yet considered a wild species? But rather an escaped/released species that has yet to establish?

Wouldn't you still count such a species as seen (in this case - Egyptian Goose in America) if you see an individual living wild?
 
zooboy28 said:
Is this because they aren't yet considered a wild species? But rather an escaped/released species that has yet to establish?

Wouldn't you still count such a species as seen (in this case - Egyptian Goose in America) if you see an individual living wild?
Click to expand...

Correct. ABA doesn't recognize them as an established species yet, though in central Texas they are breeding and seem to be established to the point of viability. There have been reports of them making it all the way up here to north Texas, so I can see within 2 or 3 years them being a "countable" bird.
 
JBZvolunteer said:
It 's quite cold in michigan so most birds are south for the winter here leaving my tally at 4. I have had the opprutunity to see my first bohemian waxwing and rough legged hawk though.
Click to expand...
that is a good lifer ratio for the year!!
 
zooboy28 said:
Is this because they aren't yet considered a wild species? But rather an escaped/released species that has yet to establish?

Wouldn't you still count such a species as seen (in this case - Egyptian Goose in America) if you see an individual living wild?
Click to expand...
a bird needs to be part of an established population to "count". For example, if you saw a spotted dove in Auckland then that counts because it is part of a (well-)established wild population. If you saw a canary in your garden it doesn't count because its just an escaped individual. Even if you saw a pair of canaries nesting in your garden they still don't count because there needs to be a minimum number of individuals for it to be considered an established population.
 
Chlidonias said:
a bird needs to be part of an established population to "count". For example, if you saw a spotted dove in Auckland then that counts because it is part of a (well-)established wild population. If you saw a canary in your garden it doesn't count because its just an escaped individual. Even if you saw a pair of canaries nesting in your garden they still don't count because there needs to be a minimum number of individuals for it to be considered an established population.
Click to expand...

So the Pelicans up north don't count?
 
I think your pelicans would count because they are wild birds that flew over; they might not be breeding but tey should definitely be considered vagrants or visitors - just like the Emperor Penguin last year.

:p

Hix
 
as Hix says, the pelicans count because they are natural vagrants. For listing purposes you have native (or endemic) species; established introduced species; migrants; vagrants.

Escaped birds are quite separate. For example: the pelicans count because they are naturally-occurring vagrants. If the pelican from Wellington Zoo escaped and you saw it, it wouldn't count because it is an escaped captive bird. If two pelicans escaped from a hypothetical zoo and started breeding then when they reached the minimum population figure they would count because they are then established as a wild population.
 
where it starts to get tricky (especially for NZers) is when you're looking at translocated populations. In NZ many species are managed at a species level because they are so endangered (i.e. all members of a species are part of one managed population), and individuals are moved from site to site, especially between offshore islands. So you can have a population of (say) stitchbirds on an island that aren't necessarily breeding yet but are still "tickable" because they are part of the overall wild population. A good example are the takahe on Tiritiri or Kapiti (but not the ones at Karori or Orokonui because they are contained within enclosures). A tricky example I guess is the kakapo. All of the kakapo are part of one population; sometimes one is put on show in a captive situation: it is the same bird as if you saw it on Codfish island but you can't count it.
 
this is my list so far this year by the way.

All in Hokitika (NZ):
1) Red-billed gull Larus novaehollandiae (1 Jan)
2) European blackbird Turdus merula (1 Jan)
3) Common starling Sturnus vulgaris (1 Jan)
4) Black-backed gull Larus dominicanus (1 Jan)
5) House sparrow Passer domesticus (1 Jan)
6) Black shag Phalacrocorax carbo (1 Jan)
7) Banded dotterel Charadrius bicinctus (1 Jan)
8) Mallard Anas platyrhynchos (1 Jan)
9) European skylark Alauda arvensis (1 Jan)
10) Song thrush Turdus philomelos (1 Jan)
11) Spur-winged plover (Masked lapwing) Vanellus miles (7 Jan)
12) South Island pied oystercatcher Haematopus finschi (11 Jan)
13) Tui Prosthemadera novaeseelandiae (14 Jan)
14) New Zealand fantail Rhipidura fuliginosa (14 Jan)

MAMMALS:
1) European rabbit Oryctolagus cuniculus (9 Jan)




It will get better as the year progresses.......
 
It took two weeks to see a tui? I thought they were fairly common?

:p

Hix
 
Hix said:
It took two weeks to see a tui? I thought they were fairly common?
Click to expand...
they are reasonably common. But basically all I've been doing this year is getting up, biking up the road to the gym (6 minutes away), going to work, going to sleep. So no birding, except on the first day of the year when I got a short break in the storm we were having to have a quick walk to the river mouth (that's why most of the birds are 1 Jan).
 
In the UK, the British Ornithological Union defines the following species categories:

Category A
Species recorded in an apparently natural state at least once since 1 January 1950.

Category B
Species recorded in an apparently natural state at least once between 1 January 1800 and 31 December 1949, but have not been recorded subsequently.

Category C
Species that, although introduced, now derive from the resulting self-sustaining populations.

Category D
Species that would otherwise appear in Category A except that there is reasonable doubt that they have ever occurred in a natural state. Species placed in Category D only form no part of the British List, and are not included in the species totals.

Category E
Species recorded as introductions, human-assisted transportees or escapees from captivity, and whose breeding populations (if any) are thought not to be self-sustaining. Species in Category E that have bred in the wild in Britain are designated as E*. Category E species form no part of the British List (unless already included within Categories A, B or C).​

The Egyptian Goose is currently treated as category CE: i.e. some individuals are recent escapees but there is also a self-sustaining population in the UK. As a comparison, the Black Swan is still treated as category E despite several successful, but isolated, breeding attempts. "The British List" is comprised of categories A, B and C.

My current 2013 stands at 90 species (highlight so far being a beautiful Great Grey Shrike at Cannock Chase last weekend).
 
robmv said:
The Egyptian Goose is currently treated as category CE: i.e. some individuals are recent escapees but there is also a self-sustaining population in the UK. As a comparison, the Black Swan is still treated as category E despite several successful, but isolated, breeding attempts. "The British List" is comprised of categories A, B and C.
Click to expand...

Learn something new every day! I just presumed that they would count as they are now self-sustaining (at least in Norfolk area) and are spreading across the country.

Thanks for the info though :)
 
CambsVet said:
Learn something new every day! I just presumed that they would count as they are now self-sustaining (at least in Norfolk area) and are spreading across the country.
Click to expand...

Its also been suggested Egyptian Geese are more successful in East Anglia because of the drier climate. Being early nesters, the goslings can succumb easily in wet weather. However, they do nowadays seem to be spreading into the Home Counties and Southern England generally.
 
Chlidonias said:
a bird needs to be part of an established population to "count".
Click to expand...

I once heard of a birder who visited New Zealand and would only 'count' N.Z. Saddleback if seen on the Hen and Chicken Islands, not anywhere that they were reintroduced. Purist birdwatcher!
 
Up to 52 now, including 6 lifers. Also one mammal (Rattus norvegicus) and one lizard (Eulamprus quoyii).

:p

Hix
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top