What status? "Rare to locally common"

[pardalote <>]

Thanks everyone.

The species I saw was the Hooded Plover.  I did a road trip around Victoria (Melbourne to the eastern coastal border) last week and found a pair of hooded plovers on Squeaky Beach at Wilson's Promontory. There was a tourist building at the Nobbies (Phillip Is) which had a display saying the number of breeding pairs on the Nobbies were down to 10.  I hope that helps clear up the issue, at least a little bit.

Matt.

On Sat, Oct 13, 2012 at 8:22 PM, Philip Veerman <> wrote:

Well I think that is an excellent answer. We had a good example at the COG meeting this week about the Bush Stone-curlew. The only other thing to add is that we are dealing with a very big continent. One book trying to explain status of each species across a big area is a big ask. Of course there is the issue that these words ultimately are not well defined. Also that there is no word for in-between, so we get even more intermediaries like moderately, very, etc.

 

Ultimately even the most abundant species are still rare in other places.

 

Philip

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Ian Fraser [
Sent: Saturday, 13 October 2012 5:40 PM
Cc:
Subject: Re: [canberrabirds] What status? "Rare to locally common"

I think the answer Matt, is that it depends where you saw it. We could offer a better answer if we knew what you'd seen, but one example could be a rare species - say a honeyeater or a finch - which is in low numbers overall, but which sometimes flocks when resources (flowers or seeds respectively in their case) are concentrated. For a while, in that one place, the bird would be 'locally common'. There is also the situtation of an overall rare species which survives in good numbers in a few isolated sites. You might drive for days without seeing one, then camp in a particular forest site and have them all round you - but they might be the only ones for 500km. There are doubtless other circumstances that others might suggest too, but overall the concept isn't as daft as it first sounds.

Now, what was it? (and where!)

cheers

Ian

On 13/10/2012 17:26, pardalote wrote:

Hi All

I have recently encountered a bird species which is described in my Slater Field Guide as being "rare to locally common."  I don't understand what this means, and to me, seems to be a contradiction of itself.  My understanding of "rare" and "common" don't seem to fit.  Could someone please explain to me what this means?  Is the bird species I have seen rare, or common?

Matt.

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Ian Fraser, 
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