Hello Rob - Well done. As my comment might be of interest to others, I’ll send to the chatline list.
BirdLife Australia changed the English name to Great Pied Cormorant (A) mainly for the reason illustrated by your message – it is not necessary to say ‘Pied Cormorant (as opposed to Little Pied Cormorant)’. Why eBird
does not use Great Pied Cormorant in its English (Australia) names is ANOTHER MATTER.
I admit there is one advantage in retaining ‘Pied Cormorant’. See (B). The person or persons who need to correct the misidentification on the graphic exhibit at the Snipe vantage point can simply blur out the ‘Little’.
In my view this is not a sufficiently strong reason to forego the advantages of moving to Great Pied Cormorant, but there might be other views.
My third point is about the presence of the GPC in the ACT. In addition to Martin’s suggestion another useful source on this is the species records in eBird. Although not the most common cormorant locally, one or two
are reported quite regularly. My snap at (C) from Feb this year is included because the individual was at Kelly Swamp not far from the erroneous graphic exhibit, perhaps attracted by the publicity.
From: Canberrabirds <>
On Behalf Of regeraghty--- via Canberrabirds
Sent: Monday, June 10, 2024 10:02 PM
To: Canberra Birds <>
Subject: [Canberrabirds] Target species in ebird
I managed to increase my ebird count of species that I’ve identified in the ACT to 200 this weekend by spotting a Brown Treecreeper. Looking at the list of target species for the ACT in ebird, some of the species are either captive birds
or rare vagrants.
I’m pretty sure that these only appear as captive birds – Musk Duck (Ripper at Tidbinbilla) and Bush Stone-Curlew (at Mulligan’s Flat).
These seem to be rare vagrants – White-fronted Chat, Pied Cormorant, Azure Kingfisher, White-cheeked Honeyeater, Black-chinned Honeyeater, white-fronted Honeyeater, Singing Honeyeater, Cockatiel (although I saw a bird on the weekend at
Namadgi that I can’t fit to anything else), White-headed Pigeon, Zebra Finch. I know that a number of COG members managed to see Budgerigars (last year?), but they also seem to be rare vagrants.
I think the main two resident species that I haven’t seen are the Chestnut-rumped Heathwren and Painted Buttonquail.
☹
There’s a few species that I’ve seen nearby but not in the ACT like the Hooded Robin and Glossy Black Cockatoo.
I’m sure that someone will correct me where I’m wrong about certain species being rare vagrants.
😊 Put it this way; I think that most of the species left on the target list are either rare or very hard to find in the ACT.
Has the Pied Cormorant (as opposed to Little Pied Cormorant) really been seen in the ACT?
PS Not patting myself on the back, just expressing a bit of frustration over the challenge of increasing that list.
😊
