2017 Western Palearctic Big Year (1 Viewer)

jurek said:

Club300 in Germany just admitted seven category C species on the list. Domestic Swan Goose and Yellow-headed Amazon and now established in the WP. I am sure they did it to entice the team to visit Central Europe.

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Fly to Stuttgart, visit the zoo or Schloss Rosenstein for the Amazon, then drive to Heidelberg (1:30 h) and try the Swan Goose at the Neckarwiese. Drive back and leave Central Europe.

I went through the Netfugl list when this was originally touted. It didn't really seem possible to use the ABA codification so I fell upon the following categories and tallies:-

Category 1 - 323 species - widespread & not tricky within range - unmissable but may need to visit specialist habitat - mainstream locations.
Category 2 - 229 species - trickier & some restricted range species but unmissable if targeted at a well known location - normally available at a number of sites.
Category 3 - 122 - restricted range species - one or a small number of sites & some can be tricky or at more tricky locations including non-breeders (two Category C species may be extinct).
Category 4 - 9 - resident but at inaccessible sites (Algeria, Mauretania, Iraq & Chad).
Category 5 - 48 - vagrants that should be available to twitch during the year on more than one occasion at mainstream locations.
Category 6 - 68 - very rare vagrants available in some but not all years - normally more than twenty records.
Category 7 - 191 - extreme vagrants - generally less than twenty records.
Category 8 - 7 - extinct including extinct in the region and not known as vagrants.
Total - 997 species

If I was setting a target for someone, it would be:-
Category 1 - 323 species
Category 2 - 229 species
Category 3 - 105 species
Category 5 - 36 species
Category 6 - 20 species
Category 7 - 7 species
Target - 720 species

Workings attached on categories and happy to expose my thinking and be corrected on any! A few Category 3 species as well as examples.

All the best

Paul

The extent to which they look to future proof taxonomy eg Fea's Petrels, Cyprus Scops Owl, Crimson-winged Finches, Mourning Wheatears, etc and future proof Category C species eg Pin-tailed Wydah, Scaly-breasted Munia, Yellow-headed Amazon, Swan Goose, etc will be interesting.

Embarrassingly, having checked, I'm getting myself as needing 12 Category 2 species - 'unmissable if targeted' - although four of them are Category C species. I score:-
Category 1 - 323/323
Category 2 - 217/229
Category 3 - 64/122
Category 5 - 42/48
Category 6 - 59/68
Category 7 - 50/191

If doing a WP Big Year, I think that I'd start in the first week or so of January by cleaning up as many Category 6 and 7 species as possible - eight currently available in Northern Europe?

All the best

Paul Chapman said:

The extent to which they look to future proof taxonomy ....

... cleaning up as many Category 6 and 7 species as possible - eight currently available in Northern Europe?

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Including Eastern Black Redstart? (Or is that a cat. 1-2 by reason of P. o. semirufus breeding in eastern Med?)

What are the others?

Stejneger's Scoter surely a 7... Is that American White-winged still visiting Iceland?

Currently Category 6 and 7 I think:-
Bufflehead
Hooded Merganser
American Coot
Killdeer
Red-necked Stint
Greater Yellowlegs
Blyth's Pipit
Dusky Thrush
Hume's Leaf Warbler

Most important Category 5 available:-
Pacific Diver
White-winged Scoter
Pine Bunting

I've got Siberian Accentor as Category 3 because got in Russia this summer but worthwhile targeting now....

All the best

Xenospiza said:

Stejneger's Scoter surely a 7... Is that American White-winged still visiting Iceland?

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Another piece of future proofing there! Available annually for at least four or five years so same as say Pacific Diver - though ultra rare - annual:-

https://notendur.hi.is//~yannk/birdnews.html

All the best

Paul Chapman said:

Currently Category 6 and 7 I think:-
...
Hume's Leaf Warbler

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Thanks! I'd think Hume's is cat. 5, with around 5 per year in UK alone; they also often stay a good while, and are usually vocal (easy to re-find).

Thoughts on EBRedstart?

Nutcracker said:

Thanks! I'd think Hume's is cat. 5, with around 5 per year in UK alone; they also often stay a good while, and are usually vocal (easy to re-find).

Thoughts on EBRedstart?

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Fair enough on Hume's. Unaware of the status elsewhere in Northern Europe but a quick look at Tarsiger suggests Category 5. It can be as low as 2 or 3 in UK:-
http://www.tarsiger.com/news/index.php?&sp=find&find_button=ok&country=&lang=eng&species=70370

EBR certainly gettable if future proofing taxonomy but I've never seen it touted as a split. Our vagrants are from the far east on DNA results so maybe more than one insurance approach would be required but seems a low priority?

All the best

With multiple Buffleheads doing the rounds in the Netherlands in recent years, that can be scaled down to 5 as well (or C, haha!)
It will be interesting to see how old the Barendrecht bird will get: it's 12 now.

Xenospiza said:

With multiple Buffleheads doing the rounds in the Netherlands in recent years, that can be scaled down to 5 as well (or C, haha!)
It will be interesting to see how old the Barendrecht bird will get: it's 12 now.

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I'd do the Icelandic one with the American White-winged Scoter.

(Tonight's exercise has reminded me I 'need' Black Swan, Bar-headed Goose and Alexandrine Parakeet though so maybe I'll take it in next year.... :king

All the best

Black-headed Munia is extinct in Portugal, no sightings in the last 6-5 years

Pedro Ramalho said:

Black-headed Munia is extinct in Portugal, no sightings in the last 6-5 years

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Pedro

Noted. I did believe that was the case. (I dipped it when I looked quite a few years ago now!)

Paul Chapman said:

Category 3 - 122 - restricted range species - one or a small number of sites & some can be tricky or at more tricky locations including non-breeders (two Category C species may be extinct).

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The other one that I thought was probably extinct was Erckel's Francolin on the islands off Italy?

All the best

Paul Chapman said:

The other one that I thought was probably extinct was Erckel's Francolin on the islands off Italy?

All the best

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It would appear to be so. It was only ever on the tiny island of Zannone, which is uninhabited and not always accessible to the general public. Ringers are there every spring though, and while until a few years ago (about 5 or so) they commonly heard or saw francolins, the numbers apparently plummeted quite rapidly over the course of a couple of years or so. If it isn't actually gone by now, then it's certainly on its way out.

Thanks for the list Paul, good for putting some last missing bits and pieces on my life list. Some species could be differently put, but still very good.

I tried to guesstimate the categories for the first 100 bird species on the netfugl list too and got a match of over 90% with your categorisations, almost always you would give out a lower score than me. Upon reading through your category definitions again I normally agree with you in hindsight.
I'm happy with your approach, but I'd like to ask about a few ones, which surprised me. I might well be wrong about them, but I'd like to hear other opinions.

Bateleur & Northern Harrier in 7: Aren't they almost annual recently?
Pied Crow in 7: Not sure were to put it, but it has even bred in WP and might do so again soon
Dark Chanting Goshawk in 6: Has only been recorded once in the last decade AFAIK
American Coot in 6: Feels like it's rarer
Pacific Golden Plover in 6: I'd put it in 5
Blyth's Pipit in 6: Several birds in UK and Scandinavia every year and a few in other countries
Hume's Leaf Warbler in 6: Must be a mistake, rather common vagrant in Germany, Netherlands, UK, Scandinavia and others
Black Heron in 5: Where apart from Cape Verdes is it gettable?
Forster's Tern in 5: Is it really that common a vagrant?
Reed Cormorant, Grey-hooded Gull, Blue-naped Mousebird, Pygmy Sunbird in 4: Are Mauritania and the respective locations a) really inaccessible? b) within the WP borders used by netfugl?
Darter, African Silverbill in 4: Where can these be found?
Pink-backed Pelican in Cat. 3: Where can you reliably get this one within WP boundaries?
Lesser White-fronted Goose, Ruddy Duck, Greater Spotted Eagle, Gyrfalcon, Red-knobbed Coot, Yellow-browed Warbler in 3: All on the very low end of 3, maybe better in 2?!
Shikra in 2: Very range restricted and AFAIK not THAT easy
Crab-Plover in 2: Don't know much about its range in WP, but can't be too many sites where this is possible
Great Black-backed Gull in 2: If I look long enough out of my window I'll probably get it within a week

I'll also make a list for future-proofing with diagnostic subspecies included

Maffong

Thoughts...........

Bateleur - less than twenty records but one maybe two gettable recently - I'd probably keep in Category 7
Northern Harrier - less than twenty records but with three or four gettable recently - I'd probably keep in Category 7
Pied Crow - the breeding birds did not flourish - though there is one currently in Morocco seen intermittently for a year - http://www.magornitho.org/2016/03/corvus-albus-mhamid/ - I'd probably keep in Category 7
Dark Chanting Goshawk - I agree - it should now be Category 7
American Coot - Azores, Iceland, every other year longstayers in Britain & Ireland - I'd probably keep in Category 6 - no higher certainly
Pacific Golden Plover - not really sure - Northern Europe mainly? - is it really twitchable several times annually?
Blyth's Pipit - on balance, probably gettable several times annually so Category 5
Hume's Warbler - - on balance, probably gettable several times annually so Category 5
Black Heron - only Cape Verde but guaranteed on Santiago for a decade??
Forster's Tern - available annually in Ireland so I would maintain at Category 5

Mauritania - https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/mauritania - inaccessible to me

Reed Cormorant - Banc d'Arguin - http://www.netfugl.dk/ranking.php?id=wp&mode=hhhb&species_id=54
Grey-hooded Gull - Banc d'Arguin - http://www.netfugl.dk/ranking.php?id=wp&mode=hhhb&species_id=377
Blue-naped Mousebird - Choum but arguably no longer present - http://www.netfugl.dk/ranking.php?id=wp&mode=hhhb&species_id=497

Pygmy Sunbird - Tibesti, Chad - inaccessible to me!
Darter - Hawizeh Marshes, Iraq - inaccessible to me!
African Silverbill - Tamanrasset, Algeria - inaccessible to me!

Pink-backed Pelican - it previously has been regular at Abu Simbel? - http://www.netfugl.dk/ranking.php?id=wp&mode=hhhb&species_id=58

Lesser White-fronted Goose - it just struck me as range restricted - its just that range is northern Europe
Ruddy Duck - arguably now ungettable? - I know British yearlisters that struggled last year! Definitely no lower.

Greater Spotted Eagle - I agree - it should be Category 2
Gyrfalcon - it does really need specific targeting in my view
Red-knobbed Coot - happy with Category 2 but it does need specific targeting in Spain & Morocco
Yellow-browed Warbler - difficult really - definitely missable unless you think about it as no real sites & only areas at specific times of year?
Shikra - Kuwait & Azerbaijan - it should be Category 3
Crab Plover - Kuwait (unmissable at right time of year) & Egypt - happy with Category 3
Great Black-backed Gull - surprisingly absent/difficult in large parts of the WP as northern & coastal but relaxed!

All the best

Maffong

I look forward to your subspecies list.

All the best

Maffong said:

Forster's Tern in 5: Is it really that common a vagrant?

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Paul Chapman said:

Forster's Tern - available annually in Ireland so I would maintain at Category 5

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Yep, Forster's is very rare (perhaps even only 3 or 4 new birds per decade?), but the ones that there are, tend to be very long-staying wintering birds often returning multiple winters, so agree Cat 5.

Paul Chapman said:

Thoughts...........Ruddy Duck - arguably now ungettable? - I know British yearlisters that struggled last year!

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On a European scale still available at e.g. Starrevaart near The Hague or Wanteskuup (Zeeland) in the Netherlands. Another one for the C-list extravaganza in the country that does not have a C-list.
Pacific Golden Plover is annual in the Netherlands, with multiple birds. There may even be one wintering, although it's not been reported for a while.