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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Extremely rare birds in the WP (2 Viewers)

Good idea Lukasz! I'll look into it. I noticed that Ornithos very recently published an update to the 2008 French avifauna book by Dubois et al. Dutch Birding seems an obvious choice for me...

I can now confirm that indeed I will be publishing an update in Dutch Birding, to be published later this year.
 
Just received my copy.

Well done, Marcel. It's a very useful compilation indeed - no more lengthy and frustrating searches of multiple sources for details of historic records!

Acquiring all the images of these mega-rarities must have been a considerable task. The shots taken in the field are gripping of course, although sometimes of rather poor quality for obvious reasons. But equally fascinating are the numerous photographs of actual museum specimens.

An essential reference for anyone interested in WP rarities.

PS. For anyone with a few hours to spare – it would be interesting to collate the total number of extremely rare species and the total number of extremely rare records for each WP country...

Cheers Richard. Indeed acquiring those photos was a huge task... And I still didn't manage to get them all...
 
I can now confirm that indeed I will be publishing an update in Dutch Birding, to be published later this year.

Hello Marcel,
Very good news! Add Polish Ross's Goose in 2010 (category A). In the report Polish RC for details and photos:
http://www.komisjafaunistyczna.pl/obrazki/OP_2011-2-raport_KF.pdf
Both records relate to the same, individually identifiable individual, who in addition was the same bird that was in the autumn of 2009 a group of four birds in the Netherlands.
In addition, in 2010 were Poland, two further records, but both have been classified in category D (uncertain origin). Judging from the chronology observations, a record from the Mietkowski Reservoir can apply the same individual, who records was then accepted to Category A, although no conclusive evidence for this. The other two observations in category D relate to another individual of unknown origin.
More photos of all the individuals of Polish you can find here:
http://www.clanga.com/index.php/gal...20rzadkie%20i%20nieliczne/%B6nie%BFyca+ma%B3a
All the best
Łukasz Ławicki
 
Wasn't there a record of Wire-tailed Swallow from Egypt in the '90s? ( + just a quick gloat - I've seen some of them, in the WP :king: ).

Chris
 
Wire-tailed Swallow

Wasn't there a record of Wire-tailed Swallow from Egypt in the '90s?
It's not listed by EORC or AERC.

PS. Jiguet et al 2010. First report of the Egyptian Ornithological Rarities Committee.
The following records have been considered as not proven by the committee. As a consequence, the following species are not considered to have occurred in Egypt.

Wire-tailed Swallow Hirundo smithii, Wadi Hagul, 1 ind., 30 March 1995. Several key features are not described (e.g. the dark ventral bar) and the description and drawing of the tail pattern is not appropriate for that species.
 
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There was a Chinese Pond Heron in Hungary in 2000, I think only the second ever record. It's in the concise BWP but not here?

Nick

It was accepted in category D and therefore not in the book... Actually, none of the European records have been accepted into category A...
 
Thanks all for the clarification. I was there at the time and saw the bird for myself but never really followed up on the Rarities List.

Cheers
Nick
 
British Birds

Reviewed by Paul Harvey: BB 105(7): 422.

[Harvey notes that the taxonomy follows that of the Dutch authorities, and comments that he was surprised to see Parulidae and Icteridae merged into Emberizidae. But exactly the same treatment was adopted by BOURC (wef 38th Report, Oct 2009).]
 
Indian Pond Heron

I see that Marcel Haas has included Indian Pond Heron in his book on the basis of a claim in Egypt but this has been found to be not proven (like the Wire-tailed Swallow in the same report). See:-

Jiguet et al 2010 First report of the Egyptian Ornithological Rarities Committee.

Indian Pond Heron Ardeola grayii. Luxor, Crocodile Island, 1 pre-breeding adult, 24 April 2004. The specific identification relies on correct aging as an adult which is challenged by the non-breeding plumage in April, while the lores are not described.

S
 
Interesting :)

In the report they write: record consideret as not proven - 'Indian Pond Heron Ardeola grayii. Luxor, Crocodile Island, 1 pre-breeding adult, 24 April 2004. The specific identification relies on correct aging as an adult which is challenged by the non-breeding plumage in April, while the lores are not described'.

This record is also not accepted by AERC TAC: Crochet P.-A., Joynt G. (2011): http://www.aerc.eu/tac.html

Only (?) confirmed record of WP comes out of Kuwait in November 2009.

Lukasz
 
When I wrote the text, the Egyptian Indian Pond Heron was still accepted as the sole WP record.

In November 2009, one was photographed in Kuwait (see http://www.birdsofkuwait.com/blog/?p=2265). After the recently formed Egyptian rarities committee rejected the Luxor record, the record in Kuwait now is the sole record.

I am not sure the Kuwait bird (quoted above) has been formally accepted by the Kuwait Ornithological Rarities Committee (KORC) as it has been suggested that it may be a Chinese Pond Heron Ardeola bacchus. A short discussion paper about this occurrence is being considered and may be prepared at a later date.

S
 
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