IUCN Red List 2012 (1 Viewer)

[Richard Klim]

BirdLife's Globally Threatened Bird Forums: Preliminary decisions for the 2012 Red List.

Confirms that the following species will be newly recognised in the 2012 Red List and BirdLife Checklist v5 (2012):

• Melanitta americana - American Scoter
• Melanitta deglandi - White-winged Scoter
• Melanitta stejnegeri - Stejneger's Scoter
• Canirallus beankaensis - Tsingy Wood Rail
• Psittacus timneh - Timneh Grey Parrot
• Merops mentalis - Blue-moustached Bee-eater
• Phibalura boliviana - Palkachupa Cotinga
• Myrmeciza palliata - Magdalena Antbird
• Grallaricula cumanensis - Sucre Antpitta
• Automolus lammi - Pernambuco Foliage-gleaner
• Cissa thalassina - Javan Green Magpie
• Prinia cinerascens - Swamp Prinia
• Passer zarudnyi - Asian Desert Sparrow
• Dendroica (Setophaga) flavescens - Bahama Warbler

 

[mb1848]

American Scoter is not copacetic is it?
http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=193635 .
And why do they get to keep using Dendroica?

 

[Richard Klim]

American Scoter is not copacetic is it?

(Mark, I'm glad I've got a dictionary.) It seems to be resilient.

 

[Melanie]

I am missing Puffinus bryani.

 

[Mysticete]

I don't think any checklist has accepted Bryan's Shearwater yet, and their still seems to be work to be done on figuring out it's distribution, etc.

I would guess that IUCN, being more interested in conservation than taxonomy, probably revises the higher level taxonomy much less frequently than other checklists.

 

[chris butterworth]

Nice to see they've elevated Ps. timneh and P. zarudnyi. About time.

Chris

 

[Bowland Birders]

Thanks a lot for sharing this Richard. Splits aside there are some very significant uplistings and the 'double jumps or more' that leap out at me are:

Long-tailed Duck and Velvet Scoter - Least Concern to Endangered!!!!!
White-backed & Rüppell's Vultures plus Black-bellied Tern - Near Threatened to Endangered
Knobbed Hornbill & River Lapwing - Least Concern to Vulnerable

Good to see some downward revisions though like Australian Bustard, Kittlitz's Murrelet and Black-footed Albatross.

Still lots of pended decisions so more bad news is on the way...

The list is a logical way to decide what to concentrate on when birding. The old 'Birds to Watch' title was a good one.

 

[jurek]

Long-tailed Duck and Velvet Scoter - Least Concern to Endangered!!!!!

Would be very surprised if this one holds. More likely it is an incomplete census or shift in wintering areas.

Black-bellied Tern - Near Threatened to Endangered
River Lapwing - Least Concern to Vulnerable

That one is more likely - naturally very restricted habitat.

The list is a logical way to decide what to concentrate on when birding. The old 'Birds to Watch' title was a good one.

Actually, very few "endangered" birds gone extinct or untwitchable in all these decades since red lists were first produced. IUCN and RSPB criteria are some easy, numerical criteria, which surprisingly badly predict whether the species will actually go extinct. So I don't seek endangered birds unless they are also attractive. But this is a topic for a longer discussion.

best,

 

[Richard Klim]

Velvet Scoter

Velvet Scoter - Least Concern to Endangered!!!!!

Of course, Melanitta fusca (sensu lato) would still be considered as 'Least Concern' if M deglandi/M stejnegeri hadn't been split.

 

[Dimitris]

I am also very surprised to see the Long-tailed Duck uplisted have there been decreases throughout its vast range?

 

[Richard Klim]

Long-tailed Duck

I am also very surprised to see the Long-tailed Duck uplisted have there been decreases throughout its vast range?

Here's the discussion: Long-tailed Duck (Clangula hyemalis): uplist to Endangered?

 

[Bowland Birders]

Actually, very few "endangered" birds gone extinct or untwitchable in all these decades since red lists were first produced. IUCN and RSPB criteria are some easy, numerical criteria, which surprisingly badly predict whether the species will actually go extinct. So I don't seek endangered birds unless they are also attractive. But this is a topic for a longer discussion.best,

I ought to clarify. It is not just about seeking endangered birds before they go extinct for me (although that is an important consideration) but more which birds will be scarcer in the future. If possible I like to see birds more than once.

For instance I remember many years ago John Hewitt said I should go for every Sociable Lapwing that I could because future opportunities would be limited and I am glad I took his advice.

The two diving ducks stand out from a UK perspective. At a very local level the news makes this one an even more special event, maybe never to be repeated? It is useful to know which birds are going to be more difficult to see or maybe in smaller numbers in future when deciding how to spend your time, even locally.

Br, Mike

 

[jurek]

which birds will be scarcer in the future. If possible I like to see birds more than once.

Actually, most the endangered birds which I heard about in my childhood - Harpy Eagles, Hiacynth Macaws - are still with us, and not that difficult to see in their homelands. The same about things like Red Kite in Britain.

In a global perspective, I would rather go for birds in countries which might become politically unstable. Some years ago it was very easy to go to SE Turkey and Syria to see some localized species in the WP. Not so now. And I actually never moved my ass there...

Other thing to see are large manless habitats and mass gatherings of wildlife - they tend to disappear or become less spectacular. Maybe partially because of natural cycles of abundance in nature.

 

[njlarsen]

A couple of rare populations I saw back when have gone extinct, with Black Grouse in Denmark one of them. So there is some cause to look for the rare birds while they are still there.

Niels

 

[Snapdragyn]

An additional reason one might prioritize viewing endangered species is that by (presumably) traveling to an area to see them, you then infuse money into the local economy - thus, at least in theory, providing an incentive for local efforts to preserve the species. Of course the success of this strategy depends on responsible ecotourism.

 

[Jacana]

After reading the discussions for the Long-tailed Duck evaluation, it does seem to be a bit premature and drastic to upgrade to Endangered, at least until population trends in the holarctic are better understood. The apparent declines in the Baltic are worrying though, maybe Near Threatened would be more appropriate at this stage?

 

[jurek]

Having not studied LTD, I feel shy to comment with such prominent ornithologists, but with Long-tailed Duck:

- Stable population in North America is estimated as only 1m versus 6,5m in Baltic. I guess the stable American population is underestimated.
- There is no data from NW Russia, where wintering ducks from Baltic should short-stop.

BirdLife previously made mistakes with other species (Sociable Lapwing etc) which share the same characteristics as Long-tailed Duck: vast range, poorly surveyed habitat, ability to switch migration and wintering sites. And forming large local concentrations which are easily either overestimated or missed, making total numbers unreliable.

 

[DMW]

Isn't it preferable that BirdLife errs on the side of caution and - in the absence of complete data - potentially "overstates" the threat category of a species, than vice-versa?

There are instances where I believe BLI has seriously understated threat category (Jankowski's Bunting, for example, being a personal hobby horse), and the consequences of doing so are potentially far more harmful than being a little over-eager with an up-listing.

 

[Richard Klim]

Tongatapu Rail

BirdLife's Globally Threatened Bird Forums: Preliminary decisions for the 2012 Red List.
Confirms that the following species will be newly recognised in the 2012 Red List and BirdLife Checklist v5 (2012)...

Update 16 Feb 2012: add Gallirallus hypoleucus Tongatapu Rail (EX), ref Medway 2010.

 

[thomasdonegan]

Some of the posts on this thread are somewhat depressing. BirdLife / IUCN categories are not as far as I am aware developed to help birdwatchers tick a bird before it goes or gets rare. Threat categories are about prioritising species that lack protection for conservation measures. This may allow others to see the species in the future, but species should be regarded as having a right to persist regardless of whether they are on your list or not!