birding-aus

Ticking parsimony

To: "birding-aus" <>
Subject: Ticking parsimony
From: "Glenn Holmes" <>
Date: Wed, 14 Feb 2001 17:47:47 +1000
To avoid wasting effort to see birds like the House Crow that may not be tickable, it may be time to adopt a consistent approach.  Consequently, don't bother chasing some of the wagtails, gulls and others that doubtless were also ship-assisted.
Shipping is a fact of life, a part of the built environment.  Birds have taken advantage of ships to assist their movements for centuries.  I clearly remember even in an old Emu [1950s ?] that a wagtail boarded a ship somewhere in the Pacific and hitched quite a long ride.  These birds will depart the ship probably at first sight of land [e.g.  Fraser Island Black-backed Wagtail], or in port [e.g. Darwin Black-tailed and Sabine's Gulls, April 1982].
Trying to separate the putatively unassisted from the clearly assisted birds seems faintly ridiculous.  It is spurious to assess records inconsistently.
I would be interested to see an enumeration of criteria that may be useful to validate the provenance of all such birds.  I think it is impossible.
Glenn
 
Glenn Holmes & Associates
**birding & botanical specialists**
PO Box 1246 Atherton   Qld 4883
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