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Counting Introduced Species - World (1 Viewer)

M

Mark Hodgson

New member
Hi,
For world life lists, is there a rule of thumb on counting introduced species? I've done some web searching about this, but have not found anything. I know about "your list, your rules", but it seems like there must be some guideline when world counts are ranked.

I know some countries have rules about which can be counted, but don't know where to look for world lists.

For example, seeing a Helmeted Guineafowl in Puerto Rico doesn't seem to me as good as seeing a wild one in its native Africa.

I'm thinking of splitting my puny world list into "in-place or wandering" species plus a list of species seen that are introduced where I saw them. The Helmeted Guineafowl would be on the second list until I see it wild in its natural range.

Apologies if I posted this in the wrong forum.

Mark
USA
 
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I think its OK to put it here.

To avoid the ludicrous (such as the Budgerigar I saw on a Jacksonville telephone wire in 1988, nowhere near a feral population) or a flock of guineafowl being farmed free range - its not always obvious where they are based - you would be best advised to check the county in question's official list, and see which of their feral populations they acknowledge.

If that doesn't help, make a sensible decision based on how many birds, what habitat, condition etc.

If its legitimately feral, then its a tick and goes on your world list, though you might want to annotate that with where you saw it. Then seeing one where it should be will feel like another tick!

John
 
I keep a note in my records of where i have seen introduced birds, but they are filtered out when producing my true world list and I am unlikely ever to go searching them out when birding overseas. I would much rather spend a day birding swamps and forests in Florida than city streets looking for introduced/escaped Parrots.
 
Hi,

I count only birds which are on that country list. However, I don't count domestic species like feral chicken, ducks, doves or guineafowl.

This creates some strange situations, like male Lesser Scaup which wintered for years in the place on river Rhine where meet borders of Germany, France and Switzerland. Commitees from two countries counted it as wild, third as a probable escapee. I seen it in the third and waited for some years to count another one.
 
Mark Hodgson said:
Hi,
For world life lists, is there a rule of thumb on counting introduced species? I've done some web searching about this, but have not found anything. I know about "your list, your rules", but it seems like there must be some guideline when world counts are ranked.

I know some countries have rules about which can be counted, but don't know where to look for world lists.
Click to expand...

Hi Mark,

For world lists submitted to the ABA (American Birding Association), the bird must be "wild", and for introduced birds that also means "established" under the criteria the ABA checklist committee uses for developing the list of countable birds in the ABA area:

http://listing.aba.org/criteria-determining-establishment-exotics/

Of course, there is no requirement that you follow the ABA rules unless you are submitting your list to the ABA.

However, you are right that there is no central list of what birds meet these criteria, or where, outside of the ABA area. I think the basic rule of thumb most American birders follow for world lists is whether there is a self-sustaining wild population. To get information about whether this is the case, the relevant field guide for the area will usually give you information about the bird's status. If you cannot find a bird in the field guide, and you know it is introduced and not a vagrant, that is a good indication it is a temporary population rather than a self-sustaining population.
 
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I count anything that a reasonable case can be made for it being established - a good rule of thumb would be anything that has substantially increased its population since introduction, and been present for let's say, 5+ years. Also acceptable would be a small population that has sustained itself over a long period of time.

So on my British list would be Mandarin Duck, Ruddy Duck, Red Crested Pochard, Egyptian Goose, Red-legged Partridge, Common Pheasant, Little Owl, Monk Parakeet and Ring-necked Parakeet. The only contentious one there really would be the Monk Parakeet, which if I recall rightly on the British list.

On the other hand, I wouldn't count my local escapee Harris' Hawk, even though they have bred here because a) they aren't really properly established and b) this one wasn't even connected to the ones that did.
 
Mark Hodgson said:
Hi,
For world life lists, is there a rule of thumb on counting introduced species? I've done some web searching about this, but have not found anything. I know about "your list, your rules", but it seems like there must be some guideline when world counts are ranked.
Click to expand...

Mark

I don't count introduced species and only count re-introduced species if there are no other accessible populations. I think most British birders with a world list follow the same approach but its more about standards than "rules".

So for example I count Campbell Island Teal on Campbell where it is likely a re-intro (but the bird I saw just possibly wild coloniser) but would never count it on (say) maud island where it is not native.

I woud never count an Erkel's Francolin on Kauai - you must see than one in Ethiopia IMO.

At the end of the day you can tick what you want - there are plenty of tales of bird tour participants tick the bird at the evening log, when they didn't see the bird!

cheers, alan
 
I am more on the side of Alexjh1 than on the side of Alan (lewis20126). If you upload to a central repository for bird observations such as ebird, the best list is the one that includes all species seen with the exception of obvious fresh escapes. As such, I include Mitred and Yellow-chevroned Parakeets in Miami, because there is no denying that there are hundreds of (each of) them and they have been in the area for a very long time. I also include Nutmeg Manakin on my list for Dominica because I want to be able to follow the intro of that species to this island even if it is less than 10 years ago that it did arrive.

To me the most important thing is if the species is in an area and is likely to continue being there.

Niels
 
lewis20126 said:
Mark

I don't count introduced species and only count re-introduced species if there are no other accessible populations. I think most British birders with a world list follow the same approach but its more about standards than "rules".

So for example I count Campbell Island Teal on Campbell where it is likely a re-intro (but the bird I saw just possibly wild coloniser) but would never count it on (say) maud island where it is not native.

I woud never count an Erkel's Francolin on Kauai - you must see than one in Ethiopia IMO.

At the end of the day you can tick what you want - there are plenty of tales of bird tour participants tick the bird at the evening log, when they didn't see the bird!

cheers, alan
Click to expand...

This is pretty much what I do too, not counting introductions but counting re-introductions (I'm doubtless less strict than Alan on exactly what constitutes the latter though).

I'm with everyone else on it's up to you what you do.
 
Larry Sweetland said:
This is pretty much what I do too, not counting introductions but counting re-introductions (I'm doubtless less strict than Alan on exactly what constitutes the latter though).

I'm with everyone else on it's up to you what you do.
Click to expand...

Yea, what he said. Especially that last part.

I used to just completely ignore the distinction between native and introduced species. But I found that, as I travelled more, it got harder and harder to keep up with the latest information on whether a species is "established" or just "escaped." Now, I can't be bothered to make the call on these, so I just don't count anything if it's in the "Introduced" category (use the Avibase listings as my standard for that).

Peter C.
 
I generally count anything that is introduced that is also on an official checklist for the region (ABA for USA/Canada, BOU for Britain, etc. If a region lacks a regularly updated checklist, than I usually go with what the regional field guide says.

For Ebird, I would count everything, even things that are not officially established. That is WHAT people should do, but unfortunately a lot of regional editors dismiss records of non-established birds, making ebird less useful for tracking distribution changes.
 
I don't count anything that is introduced.
Wild bird = + 1, no wild bird = no tick.
A bit conservative, I know.

But so no Common Pheasant in Europe, no parakeets whatsoever,...
You can as well go to the zoo, but that's my personal feeling.
 
I count introduced birds when they are sustainable. I won't count a random escaped lovebird or rosybill, but I would consider ticking something like little owl or Canada goose.

When it comes to eBird I do report all birds even the obvious feral birds, the reviewers can help me decide if it is needed or not.
 
temmie said:
I don't count anything that is introduced.
Wild bird = + 1, no wild bird = no tick.
A bit conservative, I know.

But so no Common Pheasant in Europe, no parakeets whatsoever,...
You can as well go to the zoo, but that's my personal feeling.
Click to expand...

Hooray! Agreed....I thought it might just be me....
 
Not sure I follow the logic of ticking a re-introduced species but not an introduced one. The individual birds have gone through the same process whether the species used to be there or not.

I count established introduced populations but grey them out on my list so that when I see non-introduced birds I still get to improve my list by un-greying them.
 
I'm probably half way between the two extremes ( "confused"? ) as I will count long established introductions. Common Pheasant in the UK "count", Blue-nape Parrot in Kota Kinabalu don't, Kakapo ( "recently introduced" to all the islands they are on ) "count", as do the BoP's on Tobago ( but only ticked in pencil until I can drag myself to New Guinea ), and damn near everything in Florida doesn't. ;) It really does come down to your personal preference. :t:
 
As far as I know the BoPs on Tobago are no more after one of the big hurricanes. No sign of them when I was there anyway.
 
Remember: most Common Pheasants and Red-legged Partridges in the UK were only introduced about half a year ago...

I don't count obvious introductions and try to note reintroductions (so no Red Kite in the UK because I have not seen it in Wales), but the latter is virtually impossible!
So there is a case to be made to strike Eagle Owl, Lesser White-fronted Goose and Crested Ibis off my list. Luckily I have seen Mute Swan in Kazakhstan...
 
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