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ABA Big Year 2016 (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Mysticete
- Start date
Farnboro John
Well-known member
Might want hybrid Yellowhammer eliminated first, though with the competition near white-hot and the next miss probably critical, perhaps not!
John
Nutcracker
Stop Brexit!
Wouldn't Yellowhammer be even rarer in NAmerica?
dantheman
Bah humbug
Blog post from Christian -
http://www.thebirdingproject.com/blog/2016/11/22/the-day-i-saw-too-many-rails
http://www.thebirdingproject.com/blog/2016/11/22/the-day-i-saw-too-many-rails
Paul Chapman
Well-known member
Presumably any Pine Buntings will be vagrants from a lot further east than the hybrid/contact zone.
All the best
Mysticete
Well-known member
Looks like Olaf DID go for Hawaii and has now switched gears to focus on having the record US 50 states big year.
http://www.thepublicopinion.com/new...cle_73598718-a844-11e6-aa0b-b7b6e4c63252.html
I like that he thinks that the ABA changed their list to spite him...
http://www.thepublicopinion.com/new...cle_73598718-a844-11e6-aa0b-b7b6e4c63252.html
I like that he thinks that the ABA changed their list to spite him...
If his report gets some traction and draws action to stem the ongoing extinction of the native Hawaii birds, it would be the best possible justification for his efforts.
The lack of any attention by the various US conservation associations to this extinction wave in their own back yard while they pursue nebulous objectives such as 'climate change', where the main actors in China and India are entirely beyond their reach, is disheartening.
The lack of any attention by the various US conservation associations to this extinction wave in their own back yard while they pursue nebulous objectives such as 'climate change', where the main actors in China and India are entirely beyond their reach, is disheartening.
guy_incognito
Well-known member
It is interesting that in the ABA blog it is made very clear that Olaf cannot add any Hawaii birds to an ABA list for 2016. Guess he wouldn't be making any official US 50 record, but can set an unofficial benchmark.
"Danielson did, however, take a flyer earlier this month and spent a week in Hawaii, after the state was added to the ABA Area at the end of October. It is worth noting that the species Olaf saw there cannot be added to his ABA Area Big Year total for 2016, nor for any other year if my reading of the Recording Standards and Ethics rules is correct. Any Big Year attempt uses the checklist for that year. Birds seen in Hawaii cannot be retroactively applied to a Big Year total for the same reason that subspecies cannot be banked to count once they are split. But what Danielson has done is set a new standard for a USA Big Year, which is pretty notable, too."
http://blog.aba.org/2016/11/aba-big-year-update-three-past-the-record.html
"Danielson did, however, take a flyer earlier this month and spent a week in Hawaii, after the state was added to the ABA Area at the end of October. It is worth noting that the species Olaf saw there cannot be added to his ABA Area Big Year total for 2016, nor for any other year if my reading of the Recording Standards and Ethics rules is correct. Any Big Year attempt uses the checklist for that year. Birds seen in Hawaii cannot be retroactively applied to a Big Year total for the same reason that subspecies cannot be banked to count once they are split. But what Danielson has done is set a new standard for a USA Big Year, which is pretty notable, too."
http://blog.aba.org/2016/11/aba-big-year-update-three-past-the-record.html
temmie
Well-known member
I don't know if I understand your comment right, but now it seems to me you are arguing that climate change is 'nebulous' while birds are nearing extinction in Hawaii. Do you agree that climate change is the very clear reason that avian malaria mosquitos can survive at to higher altitudes and as such, drives most of those endemic Hawaiian birds to extinction?
dantheman
Bah humbug
What's the betting that he just missed John out there by a few days? 
And if he didn't, wonder what the closure of that one access road would do to the total?. I suppose John would have to go out there for the same reasons Olaf did - although he probably has less 'need' to go there (being in an almost unassailable lead, ABA-wise). Plus there's of psychology going on ...
And if he didn't, wonder what the closure of that one access road would do to the total?. I suppose John would have to go out there for the same reasons Olaf did - although he probably has less 'need' to go there (being in an almost unassailable lead, ABA-wise). Plus there's of psychology going on ...
Jon Turner
Well-known member
I went up over 4000 ft on Kau'i in 2014. I got there early enough to see down to the sea and into the really thick forest before the cloud rolled up and engulfed everything. Fleeting glimpses of Thrush-sized birds I couldn't identify were very frustrating, and the only common Hawai'ian endemic I saw was Apapane. I stayed up there for a few hours and as other people arrived (in the mist) they all said "Where's the view?" Shoulda been here earlier! So Olaf with proper guiding did really well. Laysan Albatross and Red-tailed Tropicbird were standout birds along with Nene of course.
Mysticete
Well-known member
It would be the official USA 50 States record (since that listing category already exists, just tends to not be emphasized).
It just wouldn't be valid for the new ABA region in general, since Hawaii will not be added until 2017.
I doubt John will pursue the 50 States record. He already has the record for the traditional ABA area locked down, which will continue to be relevant years from now. Olaf I am pretty sure is only pursuing this because its the only way he can beat John at this point in SOME category.
Paul Chapman
Well-known member
Won't someone immediately set a new ABA record next year? It is going to last one year surely.
All the best
DMW
Well-known member
I don't understand the rationale of not updating lists to take into account taxonomic changes. It leaves the door open to the possibility that the record could be broken simply by dint of being allowed to count newly-split species that the previous holder also saw.
It's not exactly difficult for those going for the record to keep a record of any distinctive sub-species seen, so that their yearlist can be updated with changes in taxonomy.
Just that the birds are dying right now with no visible action by conservation bodies (The Nature Conservancy excepted, they manage a large conservation forest on Maui), while there is big focus on climate change where any western action is irrelevant compared to the surging emissions in China and India. Fiddling while Rome is burning comes to mind....
If you would take a look at the data, you would see you are wrong. Yes China is indeed the largest regarding CO2 emissions (with 30% of the world's total), but number 2 is the US with 15 percent and the EU comes third with almost 10%, India comes 4th with "only" 6.6%, which is less then half of the US. Additionally to that comes that we import a lot of stuff from China (and other Asian countries), so they emit CO2 for our "profit", so taking action against climate change makes a lot of sense for the US..... And then we are not even talking about per capita emissions, in which the US is only surpassed by the gulf states and Australia, with a value over twice as high as China...
dalat
...
Strange thing to say in times when the critical actor in climate change, your soon to be government, is close to walk away from urgently needed joint efforts of China, Europe and all others...
It works both ways. Species that are de-listed counted for Big Year birders of the past. If you look at my lists you'll see both sides.
The big reason, though, it that it's a game. Games are only fun if everyone plays by the same rules, and if there's a winner; in this case, there's a winner every year. You need rules that make things comparable, and fair from a competitive standpoint. Otherwise, why play the game?
Joe
Andy Adcock
Worst person on Birdforum
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