birding-aus

RFI : Twitcher questions re NEW SPECIES FOR AUSTRALIA?

To: Birding Aus <>
Subject: RFI : Twitcher questions re NEW SPECIES FOR AUSTRALIA?
From: Ian May <>
Date: Thu, 17 Sep 2009 10:37:00 +1000
<>
Hi all

While counting up my Australian bird list recently some questions were raised by a non birding friend re geographical limits that apply to record species on the Australian national list. I showed some recent posts about Christmas Island birds titled "New Species for Australia" indicating that this is what we do and generally the list is developed around political boundaries relating to the nation and its territories.

However I was unable to give easy answers to the questions. For example, if the reason is political boundaries, why are not all New Guinea birds recorded on the Ausie historical list? Are birds recorded from French Polynesia in the Pacific or Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean considered part of the French national bird list? Are birds recorded from Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean part of the UK bird list? Outside of Australia do others follow the same rules? If so is there any part of the world that would not qualify for the US list? The exercise has left me wondering about the rationale of recording national bird lists.

During the exercise some interesting geographic facts about Australia and its territories were indicated. The closest Australian mainland location to Christmas Island (South Point) is North West Cape (Jabiru Point), distance 830 Nm. (1538 km.) However the distance from Christmas Island to Java, Indonesia is only185 Nm. Cocos Island to Australia (Jabiru Point) is 1137 Nm (approx. 2100 km).

Hoping we can have a friendly discussion about this subject.

Regards


Ian May
PO Box 110
St Helens Tasmania

0428 337956


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