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2017 Western Palearctic Big Year (2 Viewers)

Maffong said:
Surely it would be difficult to even define such an overlap zone and it would make comparable Big Years almost impossible if everyone could just choose their own definition.
Click to expand...


Wallacea is such a zone in Asia and it must be far easier to identify than a sharply defined area? This is my point, the line gets moved and moved to a point that Eastern birds are commoner and easier to tick.

I don't really care what they do with the WP from a listing perspective but every time the boundary gets set further East, the birds become less representative of the true WP.

A
 
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Fat Paul Scholes said:
Where would you draw the boundaries of the transitional area?
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How was it done with the Wallacean line? Wallace identified an area where Asian species still occur but Australasian species would start to be more apparent.

We don't abruptly get from Western to Eastern Palearctic species, it's gradual and the further we push the boundary, the less truly WP it becomes?

If anyone ever does a big year in Asia, expect boundaries to get questioned and changed.


A
 
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Apart from Grey-cheeked Thrush in Ireland, Yellow-billed Cuckoo on Scilly, Eye-browed Thrush in the Netherlands and Hooded Warbler and Black-throated Green Warbler on Corvo, all seems quiet in the WP today.....

All the best
 
Paul Chapman said:
Apart from Grey-cheeked Thrush in Ireland, Yellow-billed Cuckoo on Scilly, Eye-browed Thrush in the Netherlands and Hooded Warbler and Black-throated Green Warbler on Corvo, all seems quiet in the WP today.....

All the best
Click to expand...

Plus B&W found dead on ship at Seaforth Docks in scouseland (North West Birding FaceThing)

and a Pied Bushchat just mega'd in Italy via FaceyThings Global Rare Bird Alert group...
 
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Wallacea is a relatively small area and even that is disputed and not clearcut. There are different definitions e.g. by Huxley and Meyr.
I think it is absolutely impossible to have a perfect definition of the WP or any biogeographic regions. It's not only in the Ural region and Iran that the boundaries are disputable, but in pretty much every direction one could argue in favour of expansions or reductions.
Have a look at this work, that shows how much scope there is for definitions.

I believe it was the right decision for them to choose the extant definition as this makes it possible to compare their results with other WP birders.

And even if we all agreed that they should've used a different definition I heavily doubt they would now change anything on their approach ;)
 
Maffong said:
It's not only in the Ural region and Iran that the boundaries are disputable, but in pretty much every direction one could argue in favour of expansions or reductions.
Click to expand...

In south-east Iran, though not further north, there is a fairly clear cut line where the boundary lies.
 
Maffong said:
Wallacea is a relatively small area and even that is disputed and not clearcut. There are different definitions e.g. by Huxley and Meyr.
I think it is absolutely impossible to have a perfect definition of the WP or any biogeographic regions. It's not only in the Ural region and Iran that the boundaries are disputable, but in pretty much every direction one could argue in favour of expansions or reductions.
Have a look at this work, that shows how much scope there is for definitions.

I believe it was the right decision for them to choose the extant definition as this makes it possible to compare their results with other WP birders.

And even if we all agreed that they should've used a different definition I heavily doubt they would now change anything on their approach ;)
Click to expand...

Agree with all,
maybe someone should just do a Europe only big year?



A
 
Paul Chapman said:
5th - Agnes (controversial for some), St Kilda & this is the 3rd for Corvo. I think.

All the best
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Controversial for me certainly as I was on the island at the time and the story that was later published didn't exactly accord with my recollection. The finders were certainly cagey about it and not at all forthcoming! Had they been so myself and my fellow birders might have had a chance to see the bird!
 
andyadcock said:
Agree with all,
maybe someone should just do a Europe only big year?

A
Click to expand...

Even then, there are a few questionable areas, such as:

-Azores: Corvo and Terceira on American continental plate
-Small Italian islands of Pantellaria, Linosa and Lampedusa (all closer to Tunisia than Italy)
-Caucasus: Including or excluding Georgia and north-east Azerbaijan?
 
Captain_of_Crunch said:
Even then, there are a few questionable areas, such as:
Click to expand...

Since Europe is more a political entity than geographical:

-Azores: Corvo and Terceira on American continental plate - included, part of Portugal
-Small Italian islands of Pantellaria, Linosa and Lampedusa (all closer to Tunisia than Italy) - included, part of Italy
-Caucasus: Including or excluding Georgia and north-east Azerbaijan? - excluded; the trad boundary is along the Caucasus crest, i.e., the southern border of Russia here. What one does about recent Russian conquests in Abkhazia, I don't know.

The other technical question, does one include France Outre-mer as part of Europe . . . after all, they use the Euro, and send MEPs the EU parliament . . . get Kagu and Kerguelen Tern on that European yearlist 3:) :eek!:
 
Captain_of_Crunch said:
Even then, there are a few questionable areas, such as:

-Azores: Corvo and Terceira on American continental plate
Click to expand...

The Azores lie on the North American plate and so does the North American Continent and the western half of Iceland.

I guess we should not mix plate tectonics and biogeographical concepts. Otherwise Greenland and Cuba would be in the same region, because they are located on the same tectonic plate.
 
Nutcracker said:
The other technical question, does one include France Outre-mer as part of Europe . . . after all, they use the Euro, and send MEPs the EU parliament . . . get Kagu and Kerguelen Tern on that European yearlist 3:) :eek!:
Click to expand...

Will Great Britain then be part of Europe after the Brexit?

Sorry I couldn't resist:-O
 
DanielDoer said:
As I wrote in this forum some time ago the eastern boundary of the WP is rather political and not quite good based on the range of species. For example in Russia are the Urals no such biogeographical border and the WP boundary should be far more east at the river Jennisey in central Siberia from that point of view.

And of course the change is rather gradually...
Click to expand...

Personally i agree with you. And i also think that most of Central Asia should be in the WP too, the Kazakhstan steppes at least. Was chatting about this recently with a WP listing friend. Needless to say he didn't agree, but then i listed the breeding species of the steppe...;)
 

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