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Bird species Number of Each country (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Lihu_Xiong
- Start date
Charles Harper
Régisseur
Good morning. 0-934797-16-1, B'man.
birdman
Орнитол&
I guess that would be Scottish Crossbill Loxia scoticus (Scientific name off the top of my head so may be incorrectly spelt!)dennis said:
It is supposed to be halfway between Common (or Eurasian or whatever) Crossbill, and Parrot Crossbill regarding bill size, although I think there are other slight distinguishing features also.
Truth be told, I think someone down at the "Let's get the UK an endemic" Society has been putting in some overtime.
Species differentiation is a little bit of a bugbear of mine, and if this qualifies for definite, then I think someone should take a look at the credentials of the St. Kilda Wren.
Good evening Charles, and many thanks!
Michael Frankis
conehead
Hi Birdman,
Spot on (except its L. scotica). I agree about the "Let's get the UK an endemic" Society; the other big reason was that there was a need for a 'flagship species' confined to the native Scots Pine forests in Scotland - the main aim being to attract EU money for preserving the forests, a very laudable aim.
Unfortunately, it now turns out that most of the crossbills nesting in the native pinewoods are Parrot Crossbills, and most Scottish Crossbills are in exotic conifer plantations, with (shock horror) one of the best areas for them being the dreaded plantations disfiguring the Sutherland Flow Country, that conservationists are trying hard to get rid of . . . .
As to its taxonomy, personally, I think Scottish Xb should be treated as a race of Parrot Xb. The best case for a UK endemic is actually Red Grouse, why that hasn't been split I don't know.
Michael
Spot on (except its L. scotica). I agree about the "Let's get the UK an endemic" Society; the other big reason was that there was a need for a 'flagship species' confined to the native Scots Pine forests in Scotland - the main aim being to attract EU money for preserving the forests, a very laudable aim.
Unfortunately, it now turns out that most of the crossbills nesting in the native pinewoods are Parrot Crossbills, and most Scottish Crossbills are in exotic conifer plantations, with (shock horror) one of the best areas for them being the dreaded plantations disfiguring the Sutherland Flow Country, that conservationists are trying hard to get rid of . . . .
As to its taxonomy, personally, I think Scottish Xb should be treated as a race of Parrot Xb. The best case for a UK endemic is actually Red Grouse, why that hasn't been split I don't know.
Michael
Just attempted to count the Manx list.
From the 2001 list it came out at 313 (give or take a few cus I cant count)
and i know of 3 more since then
so thats 316...
I wouldnt mind knowing how the other islands fair, like Anglesey, Isle of Wight, etc etc if anyone knows.
ta
Pete.
From the 2001 list it came out at 313 (give or take a few cus I cant count)
and i know of 3 more since then
so thats 316...
I wouldnt mind knowing how the other islands fair, like Anglesey, Isle of Wight, etc etc if anyone knows.
ta
Pete.
Tannin
Common; sedentary.
Antarctica is bird-rich, though there is not a great variety of species. At a rough guess, if Antarctica was a country, there would be something like 50 species on its list. (Caution: wild guess. I could comb through the seven volumes of HANZAB counting them, but I'm not that bored.
Tannin
Common; sedentary.
Oh, and Easter Island is a special case. It is a terribly degraded environment, and it would be no surprise at all to discover that there were many other birds there before humans arrived and started breeding, breeding, breeding.
Easter Island was densely forested, but when man arrived, the trees were cut down one by one, the birds and their eggs were eaten, and eventually there were no trees left at all.
With no wildlife left to eat, and no wood left with which to build boats to go out fishing either, starvation set in on a massive scale. The only convenient source of protein that remained was human flesh. Society collapsed, the human population crashed to a fraction of its former size, and Easter Island now hosts just a handful of species.
It's a fair bet that there were any number of endemic plants that are now wiped out, and who knows what birds lived in the forests?
Easter Island was densely forested, but when man arrived, the trees were cut down one by one, the birds and their eggs were eaten, and eventually there were no trees left at all.
With no wildlife left to eat, and no wood left with which to build boats to go out fishing either, starvation set in on a massive scale. The only convenient source of protein that remained was human flesh. Society collapsed, the human population crashed to a fraction of its former size, and Easter Island now hosts just a handful of species.
It's a fair bet that there were any number of endemic plants that are now wiped out, and who knows what birds lived in the forests?
christineredgate
Winner of the Copeland Wildlife Photographer of th
Tannin,that really is a very grim story,one which I should think has been repeated many ,many times ,as man has been responsible for wiping out entire species of wildlife and indeed still is doing so,as they cannot bear to see a "green patch " before they have to build even more houses etc and and are very slowly just destroying the environment plus the wildlife,
Christine.
Christine.
birdman
Орнитол&
It occurs to me that we are mistaken, Michael.birdman said:
I understand Red Grouse also occurs in the Irish Republic, which would still mean it is a British Isles endemic, but not a UK endemic.
Can't remember, in spite of the regular prompting of ouer Manx members, whether Man is UK or not, but it's there too.
I'm back with St. Kilda Wren.
Michael Frankis
conehead
Hi Birdman,birdman said:
Too right, should've said British Isles!
For UK endemics, the UK races of Ptarmigan, Crested Tit, Willow Tit and Coal Tit are as good as any (and Ireland has its own endemic race of Coal Tit too, tho' I'm not sure where Manx Coal Tits fit in, whether Parus ater britannicus or P. a. hibernicus or a yet-to-be described endemic Manx race!)
Michael
Tannin
Common; sedentary.
Christine: just so.
Damnit! Do you think, if we ever get invaded by Martians and they go around requiring us all to register our details, that I could get away with lying about my species and putting myself down as an elephant or a frog or something? It's so embarasing being a human. Hell, I'd almost rather be a Manchester United supporter.
Damnit! Do you think, if we ever get invaded by Martians and they go around requiring us all to register our details, that I could get away with lying about my species and putting myself down as an elephant or a frog or something? It's so embarasing being a human. Hell, I'd almost rather be a Manchester United supporter.
Tannin
Common; sedentary.
(Please excuse Tannin: he gets rushes of blood to the brain now and again. He will be perfectly OK once he stops frothing and sputtering.)
Errr .. Andrew. I rather imagine that the tour companies do charge that sort of money for a trip to Easter Island. It's incredibly remote (yes, even by Australian standards) and the travel cost alone would put a substantial dent in that £2k.
Errr .. Andrew. I rather imagine that the tour companies do charge that sort of money for a trip to Easter Island. It's incredibly remote (yes, even by Australian standards) and the travel cost alone would put a substantial dent in that £2k.
Michael Frankis
conehead
Hi Pete & all,peteh said:Not sure if that helps or hinders with your discussion on Red grouse though
Guess what it does show is the silliness of using political boundaries to define biological endemism!
Not sure if there are any Red Grouse in IoM though, if CJW's experiences are anything to go by . . .
Michael
Lars_H_Hansen
Member
Just curious, does anyone know which country in Africa has the most total species of birds?
Peter C.
...just zis guy, you know?
According to Avibase, it's the Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly, Zaire), with 1181 species (going by Clements 6th edition). Not surprising, given that it 1)is the second-largest country in Africa and 2) occupies a large part of the wet tropics of the continent.
christineredgate
Winner of the Copeland Wildlife Photographer of th
I would think that any earlier quotes on this thread would now be obselete,due to the fact it was last accessed in 2003!!!!,very interesting.
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