Hi Paul,
This isn't about whether a bird is ship assisted. It's about how you tell
if it arrived free or in a cage. Has anyone actually said you can't tick
the crow yet? That's because on the balance of probability it was a
free-living bird that got here on a ship. It becomes contentious when you
get a non-migratory/dispersing bird or a popular cage bird because you never
quite know if it got here as someone's pet. Think about it this way. Would
you tick a bird in a cage? How about if I got there five minutes before you
and opened the cage and it was sitting in a tree when you got there? Same
goes for feral populations. Unless there's a known population that is known
to be breeding, it's probably someone's pet or livestock gone wild. If they
survive a few years and numbers don't go down, but they're not breeding,
they're being refreshed by escapees most likely. So again, would you tick a
caged bird?
Anyway, hopefully this explains why there's often so much detective work
goes on when something unusual turns up. And why we could tick Rosy
Starling (a highly dispersing, migratory bird) and not Black-billed Magpie
(a very weak flyer unlikely to even survive on a boat on its own).
Regards,
Chris
On Fri, Mar 28, 2008 at 7:17 PM, Paul Dodd <> wrote:
> I have to admit that there's something I don't really understand -
>
> We'll rush to see and tick a vagrant that makes it to our shores
> supposedly
> under its own steam - and that "counts" as a tick. However, we can't tick
> the House Crow in case it was ship-assisted.
>
> Furthermore, we can't tick feral populations unless they have established
> self-sustaining breeding populations for at least ten years.
>
> I'll play by the rules, but they do seem somewhat arbitrary...
>
> Paul Dodd
> Docklands, Melbourne
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From:
> On Behalf Of David Robertson
> Sent: Friday, 28 March 2008 12:28 PM
> To: Birding-Aus
> Subject: [Birding-Aus] To tick or not to tick, that is the question
>
> Instead of one list, opne could adopt that used in the UK and adopted by
> Hong Kong:
> Category A Species which have been recorded in an apparently wild state
> in Hong Kong (Australia) within the last fifty years,
> Category B Species which have been recorded in an apparently wild state
> in Hong Kong (Australia), but not within the last fifty years. (? Paradise
> Parrot)
> Category C Species which, although originally introduced by man, have
> now
> established a regular feral breeding stock which may or may not be
> self-supporting.
> Category D Species which have occurred in an apparently wild state but
> for which the possibility or escape or release from captivity cannot be
> satisfactorily excluded.
> Category E Species for which all published records are suspected of
> being
> birds which have escaped or have been released from captivity.
> Category F Species for which all published records must be regarded as
> doubtful because of the possibility of mistaken identity.
> ==========www.birding-aus.org
> birding-aus.blogspot.com
>
> To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
> send the message:
> unsubscribe
> (in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
> to:
> ===========
>
> No virus found in this incoming message.
> Checked by AVG.
> Version: 7.5.519 / Virus Database: 269.22.1/1347 - Release Date:
> 27/03/2008
> 7:15 PM
>
>
> No virus found in this outgoing message.
> Checked by AVG.
> Version: 7.5.519 / Virus Database: 269.22.1/1347 - Release Date:
> 27/03/2008
> 7:15 PM
>
>
> ===============================
> www.birding-aus.org
> birding-aus.blogspot.com
>
> To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
> send the message:
> unsubscribe
> (in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
> to:
> ===============================
>
===============================
www.birding-aus.org
birding-aus.blogspot.com
To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
send the message:
unsubscribe
(in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
to:
===============================
|
