Hello Tony
I hope the below will not make it even more complicated.
It will depend on which taxonomic list you follow. If you use the SA list (2020, Horton, Blaylock & Black - any updates?) you will stay with A intermedia for the time being. That list is largely based on the ‘IOC’ (‘World Bird Names’) list which has not yet changed. Birds Queensland also follows ‘IOC’.
If you use eBird, your Australian ticks will change to A plumifera, and you will probably not tick any more Intermediate Egrets in Australia. Similarly, the change to A plumifera (Plumed Egret) was made in the Cornell Lab Birds of the World on 24 October 2023.
If you put ticks on a list based on the Birdlife Australia WLAB v3 or v4 it will depend on how your copy of the list was derived. If you use WLAB directly, eg if you or your local bird club just print or digitally display that list, in theory you would be ticking Plumed Egret A. plumifera since 2020, with no Intermediate Egrets in sight. However there has been a lag in implementation within Birdlife Australia. Birdata for the time being offers you ‘Intermediate Egret’ but not ‘Plumed Egret’. I am told this will be changed as resources become available.
I mention the possibility of variation in a WLAB-derived list because in some places WLAB might not be adopted directly. The bird list published by the ACT bird society (COG) still recognises A intermedia despite the change in 2020.
As to the Intermediate Egrets depicted on those posters on the wall of your bird hide, well, I expect there might be a bit of a lag there too.
GD
so what conclusions can be drawn following this chat. I'm afraid it largely leaves me totally confuzzed. I've certainly claimed intermediate along with other people in SA over the years , not frequently but in a number of locations.
Just checking my calendar ... nope. It's not April.
As the eBird update also includes a new species "Supertramp Fantail" I can only conclude that, even more than usual, the taxonomists are having a lend of us.
It was in 2014 that Birdlife International resurrected Gould’s Plumed Egret. This was followed five years later by Birdlife Australia in its WLAB v.3. According to the theory behind that, you only (or just about only) find Intermediate Egrets to Australia’s north. I know from bird hide conversations that this particular taxonomic update has been a surprisingly difficult pill to swallow. Even Birdlife Australia has difficulty with it. The Intermediate Egret A. intermedia is offered for ticking in the recent Aussie Bird Count. Australian Faunal Directory is also slow or unpersuaded. However, now that eBird and its associated taxonomy (Cornell Lab BoW) have accepted the return of plumifera the tide has surely turned, and I’d expect other lists to follow.
The real Intermediate Egret is listed as vagrant to Australia, but just how difficult will it be to add to your Australian list, maybe even retrospectively? It seems you’ll need to pay particular attention to those vaguely distinguishable bare parts. There is an intermedia/plumifera record for Christmas Island that will be due for revisiting, so check your diary or photo album for medium-sized egrets seen there. I see from the BARC archive that a claimed sighting of intermedia at Cairns in June 2019 is ‘under review’ (case number 1192).
Geoffrey
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