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2017 Western Palearctic Big Year (2 Viewers)

What's the history of the ABA region, has it remained stable and unaltered for the various record attempts?

I thought I'd read recently that the original ABA area was different than today's, though a (very) quick internet search did not reveal anything. I likely read it in one of the recent comment threads on the ABA blog. There is a parallel discussion going on now regarding the proposal to add Hawaii to the ABA area - one of the arguments against the proposal is the unwillingness to "invalidate" previous listing records by changing the boundaries.

Blog posts and discussion links if anyone is interested in further reading:
http://blog.aba.org/2016/09/your-voice-your-vote-will-we-add-hawaii-to-the-aba-area.html
http://blog.aba.org/2016/09/the-top-10-reasons-to-make-hawaii-part-of-the-aba-area.html

Perhaps I'm just less informed re: Eurasian listing, but it seems there is less precedent for a continent-wide listing region used for competition?
 
Dear fellow birders,

I'm one of the Swedes, nice to see the activity here. I'll try to address some of the questions, opinions raised in this thread.

- We'll be aiming for a high profile - social media wise. Updating the blog and the fb page continuously. Pics, stories, video clips. We're also planning to be transparent with our expenses, in an attempt to make it easier for other teams/individuals to beat us. Facebook page is http://www.facebook.com/bigyearwp

- Speling errors - uhhh - embarrassing. I'm blaming Erik!

- As for skipping out on the UK, we have quite a few gaps in the itinerary. If stray vagrants pop up, we might do UK. It's close and easily accessible.

- As for "L.G. Evans has already done a WP Big Year with 704 species seen" I'm getting mixed messages on that in the various Internet sources I've read. Anyone here has any definitive facts on that.
Regardless, we clearly aim to beat 704.

Cheers

/klacke
 
As for which borders to use. Difficult question, Initially we wanted to do the "new bigger WP" supposedly soon to be defined by Svenson et al. We decided against though. We have no strong opinions on what the best WP borders are, the main reason for sticking to the old borders were out of respect to all WP listers out there. Quite a lot of folks have spent quite lot of energy (and flying-miles) on their lists. We thought that our project would be more interesting for WP listers if we stuck to the already existing WP borders.
Iran would be awesome though !! Some other year.

Cheers

/klacke
 
As for which borders to use. Difficult question, Initially we wanted to do the "new bigger WP" supposedly soon to be defined by Svenson et al. We decided against though. We have no strong opinions on what the best WP borders are, the main reason for sticking to the old borders were out of respect to all WP listers out there. Quite a lot of folks have spent quite lot of energy (and flying-miles) on their lists. We thought that our project would be more interesting for WP listers if we stuck to the already existing WP borders.
Iran would be awesome though !! Some other year.

Cheers

/klacke

A sensible and good decision in my opinion, good luck!

Andy
 
What's the history of the ABA region, has it remained stable and unaltered for the various record attempts?


A

Prior to the formation of the ABA, NA birders used AOU checklist boundaries to determine the regions that would count for year-listing, which at the time included Baja Mexico and I think the Bahamas. This continued for the first year or so after ABA was formed, after which ABA defined their region to exclude both places (The AOU NACC checklist has of course since expanded to include all of Mexico, Central America, Hawaii, Greenland, and most of the Caribbean Island)

As already mentioned, there is currently a ballot initiative that would expand the ABA to include all of the Hawaiian islands. And there is a very strong and vocal element of birders who are against that solely because they feel there lists would suffer. The nonbinding referendum that was done back in 2012 however had a majority of membership in support, so there is a pretty good chance this will pass (unless a ton of non-ABA members join just to vote it down, which would be frustrating...)
 
Prior to the formation of the ABA, NA birders used AOU checklist boundaries to determine the regions that would count for year-listing, which at the time included Baja Mexico and I think the Bahamas. This continued for the first year or so after ABA was formed, after which ABA defined their region to exclude both places (The AOU NACC checklist has of course since expanded to include all of Mexico, Central America, Hawaii, Greenland, and most of the Caribbean Island)

Didn't Kenn Kaufman (and others) still visit Baja California during his Big Year in 1973 (five year after ABA formation)? So I guess it took some time before everybody adapted to the changes...

I think you can read about it here, however unfortunately I don't have the time to do it myself right now.

Maffong
 
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Prior to the formation of the ABA, NA birders used AOU checklist boundaries to determine the regions that would count for year-listing, which at the time included Baja Mexico and I think the Bahamas. This continued for the first year or so after ABA was formed, after which ABA defined their region to exclude both places (The AOU NACC checklist has of course since expanded to include all of Mexico, Central America, Hawaii, Greenland, and most of the Caribbean Island)

As already mentioned, there is currently a ballot initiative that would expand the ABA to include all of the Hawaiian islands. And there is a very strong and vocal element of birders who are against that solely because they feel there lists would suffer. The nonbinding referendum that was done back in 2012 however had a majority of membership in support, so there is a pretty good chance this will pass (unless a ton of non-ABA members join just to vote it down, which would be frustrating...)

From other conversations regarding biological rather than political zoning, if the ABA is to include Hawaii, they may as well include the whole of the Americas, after all, it is one contiguous land mass?

Including the Americas would make far more sense than including Hawaii IMHO. Perhaps if the ABA became the NABA, it would be easier?

Andy
 
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From other conversations regarding biological rather than political zoning, if the ABA is to include Hawaii, they may as well include the whole of the Americas, after all, it is one contiguous land mass?

Including the Americas would make far more sense than including Hawaii IMHO. Perhaps if the ABA became the NABA, it would be easier?

Andy

Actually, the division into "Western" & "Eastern" Palearctic makes little sense biogeographically, but is understandable from a historical/political point of view. Somebody mentioned a European Big Year which would be a logical thing to do IMO, but hey, history and all that...

And best of luck to you and the team Klacke!
 
Have fun next year!

I agree that expanding boundaries of the regions is a kind of injustice for former Big Year birders, because it obliterates their records. A bit like in sports would be progressive shortening the distance of a race or making lighter barbells. It also makes the whole thing uninteresting - why bother with a race, where in 3 years time there would be 20 more splits and a new area added with 30 more species, so all the records?

Second problem is that Iran is inaccessible politically to many birders, at least British and Israeli ones.

Overall, as already pointed, borders of biogeographical regions are artificial. One should shift the Western Palearctic to include half of Siberia, and a border in Sahara and Arabia and the Middle East should be curving in a complex way, precisely where unknown. The border would also shift between the years as birds and mammals shift their ranges. And his type of exercise requires by definition a sharp border, which of course is artificial and meaningless in the field.
 
I agree that expanding boundaries of the regions is a kind of injustice for former Big Year birders.

Second problem is that Iran is inaccessible politically to many birders, at least British and Israeli ones.

Ecozones aren't designated to assist Big Year birders, nor to relate to ease of travel.

Not at all detracting from these Swedish guys attempting the Big Year however, I reckon this is going to be a fun one. Inclusion or exclusion of Iran is probably it is not going to make a lot of difference to their overall totals, most of the species will be equally available elsewhere in the Western Palearctic, but perhaps a dozen or so could be more easily available. Likewise if the UAE etc were included.

If I were to contemplate a future WP Big Year, I would include these territories, but full respect for these guys and their choice.
 
From other conversations regarding biological rather than political zoning, if the ABA is to include Hawaii, they may as well include the whole of the Americas, after all, it is one contiguous land mass?

Including the Americas would make far more sense than including Hawaii IMHO. Perhaps if the ABA became the NABA, it would be easier?

Andy

If you wanted to define it biogeographically, the most recent major analysis of Zoogeography defines the Nearctic as being the current ABA area, plus Hawaii, plus Mexico down to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. The nearest landfall to Hawaii is California, and the majority of its birds are North American in origin. So from a biogeographic standpoint you still need to add Hawaii.

Politically (which honestly is what it was always based on, more so than anything else), defining it as Canada, all US states, and enclaves included within this territory is actually simpler. If we should someday add more states (Puerto Rico, Guam, etc), we can address those then (This I feel is very very unlikely due to the current political situation).

Making ABA = NACC is also pointless I feel, because the NACC already exists. Why have two checklists that do the exact same thing.

Adding Hawaii I feel does make biogeographic and political sense, and its inclusion wouldn't greatly alter the ABA checklist (about 80 new species excluding extinct taxa, 5 of which are vagrants. out of the 75 species, some are seabirds likely to eventually turn up within the ABA or exotics that have mainland populations)
 
I am rather surprised they are including Turkey, as the east and south-east are very volatile at the moment. For example, there was a recent attack in Van which I think is one of the main bases for getting some of the speciality birds. Hard to see this changing by this time next year?

Would be great to see their data helping towards the ongoing EBBA 2 Atlas:

http://www.ebba2.info/contribute-with-your-data/finding-gaps/

I think they aim to see those E Turkey species (Paddyfield Warbler, Mongolian Finch, Grey-necked Bunting etc.) in other Caucasus countries and use Turkey for its more Mediterranean-type species.
If that's the case though then I think it's a bit weird that they go to Caucasus in May and Turkey in June. The opposite would be better IMO. Not many migrants in Caucasus during May but plenty in Turkey.
 
Morgan said
Making ABA = NACC is also pointless I feel, because the NACC already exists. Why have two checklists that do the exact same thing.

I disagree that they would have the same role: ABA is meant to help listers, NACC is meant to be keeping the best possible taxonomy.

Why is there only one ABA area? ABA should to my mind support listers wanting to have a NACC list as well as the current area as well as the US + Canada area. That way the people interested can do what they want. o:D

Niels
 
I think they aim to see those E Turkey species (Paddyfield Warbler, Mongolian Finch, Grey-necked Bunting etc.) in other Caucasus countries and use Turkey for its more Mediterranean-type species.
If that's the case though then I think it's a bit weird that they go to Caucasus in May and Turkey in June. The opposite would be better IMO. Not many migrants in Caucasus during May but plenty in Turkey.
I would think they would aim to be left with as few species as possible in Turkey (Brown Fish Owl, See-see Partridge, Red-wattled Lapwing, Eastern Rock Nuthatch, Iraq Babbler, Cinereous Bunting, the Petronia's, Asian Crimson-winged Finch, Olive-tree and Upcher's Warbler - some also possible in Israel or Greece).
 
Morgan said

I disagree that they would have the same role: ABA is meant to help listers, NACC is meant to be keeping the best possible taxonomy.

Why is there only one ABA area? ABA should to my mind support listers wanting to have a NACC list as well as the current area as well as the US + Canada area. That way the people interested can do what they want. o:D

Niels

ABA is more about encouraging and supporting the hobby of birding, which is far larger than listing, even if hardcore listing was one of the major reasons for its founding.

The ABA already allows a variety of categories for listing purposes, from State to world. Creating a separate list that is exactly identical to NACC wouldn't be that useful, anymore than them creating their own world checklist.

one of the major reasons for wanting to add Hawaii to the ABA area is to elevate the public awareness of endangered Hawaiian birds. Adding such birds to the checklist would result eventually in those species being added to field guides covering North America (Which is something several field guide authors have confirmed to ABA folks). By raising awareness its is hoped that more conservation dollars can be spent on Hawaiian birds

Anyway, regardless of your definition of the Western Palearctic, it almost certainly wouldn't include Hawaii ;) So this tangent may best be continued in a new thread or the previous Hawaii and the ABA thread here.
 

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