2017 Western Palearctic Big Year (3 Viewers)

I added the latin names and categories (A, B, C, D) to the list.

Furthermore I made these changes to your list Paul:
Added:
Pale-legged Leaf Warbler as A*, 7
American Tree Sparrow as A*, 7
Swan Goose as C, 3
Yellow-headed Amazon as C, 3

Deleted:
Fork-tailed Flycatcher, retracted by Spanish rarity committee

making it a clean 1000 species for the WP.

With the ssp list I'm ca. 70% done, but I might make some taxonomists wince a few times, when I made probably completely wrong taxonomic decisions. But everyone can have their own look once I attach it

Maffong

Maffong said:

... but I might make some taxonomists whince a few times, ...

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Just reading this makes me wince :-O

Sorry, not a native speaker. And I felt, that I had it wrong, but didn't care to double-check. My bad

Maffong

Maffong said:

Sorry, not a native speaker. And I felt, that I had it wrong, but didn't care to double-check. My bad

Maffong

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Don't worry, just an excuse for a bad joke! 8-P

Your English is very good :t:

Am I the only one unable to open the website www.bigyearwp.com?

nikothomsen said:

Am I the only one unable to open the website www.bigyearwp.com?

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works for me

They've implemented the IGoTerra information to their website, making it possible to follow up on their observations on a daily basis. Also it looks as if they will upload complete checklists, just like Noah did during his World Big Year on Ebird!

Concerning my subspecies list, I'm currently working on an elaborated one and am mostly done with non-passerines. Before I upload it, here are my suggestions as to what sspp they should keep an eye out, in case of future splitting. In brackets I put a (purely subjective) score of how likely I believe it to be, that a split will follow on netfugl (or IOC).
Bewick's Swan
Tundra Swan (2)
Taiga Bean Goose
Tundra Bean Goose (5)
Greater White-fronted Goose
Greenland White-fronted Goose (2)
Dark-bellied Brant
Pale-bellied Brant (1)
Black Brant (2)
American White-winged Scoter
Siberian White-winged Scoter (4)
Willow Ptarmigan
Red Grouse (2)
Black Kite
Black-eared Kite (1)
Yellow-billed Kite (3)
Northern Long-legged Buzzard
Atlas Long-legged Buzzard (3)
European Osprey
American Osprey (1)
Eurasian Black Tern
American Black Tern (3)
Lesser Black-backed Gull
Heuglin's Gull (4)
Steppe Gull (3)
Yellow-legged Gull
Atlantic Gull (3)
American Herring Gull
Vega Gull (4)
Oriental Turtle Dove
Red Turtle Dove (3)
Little Owl
Desert Little Owl (3)
Tawny Owl
"North African" Tawny Owl (2)
African Green Bee-eater
Arabian Green Bee-eater (4)
European Green Woodpecker
Iberian Green Woodpecker (5)


Do others agree with my scores and chosen sspp?

Maffong

Yellow-billed Kite, American HG and Iberian Green Wp are already split by IOC :t:

Presume the higher the number in brackets, the more likely to be split?

I'd want a proper think but some thoughts off the top of my head as to what I would look to cover off on the non-passerines if opportunity rose in addition to yours:-
Desertas/Fea's Petrel
Baroli/Boyd's Shearwater
Mediterranean Shag/Shag
Bourne's/Purple Heron
Both Western Reef Heron subspecies
Cape Verde Buzzard/Common Buzzard
Cape Verde Peregrine/Peregrine
Both Cape Verde Kestrels
Sicilian Rock/Rock Partridge
Lesser Sand Plover/Mongolian Sand Plover
Cyprus Scops/Scops Owl
Cape Verde Barn Owl
Fuscus Lesser Black-backed Gull
Both White-backed Woodpecker subspecies

All the best

To add to Pauls suggestions on non passerines:

Mediterranean Storm-petrel? Not easy.
The two vocal forms of Little Owl (and any other forms in the SA book)
Madeira Barn Owl
Heuglins & Steppe Gulls

Cheers, alan

Paul Chapman said:

I'd want a proper think but some thoughts off the top of my head as to what I would look to cover off on the non-passerines if opportunity rose in addition to yours:-
Desertas/Fea's Petrel
Baroli/Boyd's Shearwater
Mediterranean Shag/Shag
Bourne's/Purple Heron
Both Western Reef Heron subspecies
Cape Verde Buzzard/Common Buzzard
Cape Verde Peregrine/Peregrine
Both Cape Verde Kestrels
Sicilian Rock/Rock Partridge
Lesser Sand Plover/Mongolian Sand Plover
Cyprus Scops/Scops Owl
Cape Verde Barn Owl
Fuscus Lesser Black-backed Gull
Both White-backed Woodpecker subspecies

All the best

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Interestingly I had thought about every single one of your mentioned species, but thought, they were well established as sspp already (apart from the Shearwaters. But better safe, than sorry

lewis20126 said:

To add to Pauls suggestions on non passerines:

Mediterranean Storm-petrel? Not easy.
The two vocal forms of Little Owl (and any other forms in the SA book)
Madeira Barn Owl
Heuglins & Steppe Gulls

Cheers, alan

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Heuglins and Steppe are covered in my approach, but I hadn't heard about Madeira Barn Owl before. Thought about the other two ones too, but over-eagerly dismissed them

What other vocally distinct Owls not adressed above can be found in WP?

Maffong

I implented your suggestions and a few more to this new list

Bewick's Swan/Tundra Swan (2)
Taiga Bean Goose/Tundra Bean Goose (5)
Greater White-fronted Goose/Greenland White-fronted Goose (2)
Dark-bellied Brant/Pale-bellied Brant (1)/Black Brant (2)
American White-winged Scoter/Siberian White-winged Scoter (4)
Willow Ptarmigan/Red Grouse (2)
Rock Partridge/Sicilian Rock Partridge (2)
Fea's Petrel/Desertas Petrel (4)
Baroli/Boyd's Shearwater (3)
Mediterranean Storm-petrel/British Storm-Petrel (2)
Purple Heron/Bourne's Heron (2)
"Oriental" Reef Heron/"West African" Reef Heron (1)
Shag/Mediterranean Shag (1)
European Osprey/American Osprey (1)
Black Kite/Black-eared Kite (1)/Yellow-billed Kite (3)
Northern Long-legged Buzzard/Atlas Long-legged Buzzard (3)
Common Buzzard/Cape Verde Buzzard (3)/Steppe Buzzard (1)
Peregrine/Cape Verde Peregrine (2)
Common Kestrel/Alexander's Kestrel (2)/Neglected Kestrel (2)
Lesser Sand Plover/Mongolian Sand Plover (3)
Eurasian Black Tern/American Black Tern (3)
Lesser Black-backed Gull/Heuglin's Gull (4)/Steppe Gull (3)/Baltic Gull (1)
Yellow-legged Gull/Atlantic Gull (3)
American Herring Gull/Vega Gull (4)
Oriental Turtle Dove/Red Turtle Dove (3)
Barn Owl/Slender-billed Barn Owl (1)/Cape Verde Barn Owl (2)/Madeira Barn Owl (1)
Scops Owl/Cyprus Scops (2)
European Little Owl/Cucumiau Little Owl (2)/Desert Little Owl (3)
Eagle-Owl/Arabian Eagle-Owl (2)
Tawny Owl/Maghreb Tawny Owl (2)
African Green Bee-eater/Arabian Green Bee-eater (4)
European Green Woodpecker/Iberian Green Woodpecker (5)
White-backed Woodpecker/Lilford's White-backed Woodpecker (2)

Somewhat distinct forms, that I didn't score are
Russian Graylag Goose
White-breasted Cormorant
Eastern Great Egret
Mauritanian Heron
Pacific Eider
Atlas Lanner Falcon
Moroccan Guineafowl
Canary Island Houbara
Kumlien's Gull
Algerian Great Spotted Woodpecker

Maffong

Basically, 'insurance ticks' could be all Nearctic subspecies identifiable, all Siberian subspecies identifiable, local subspecies from Cape Verde, Canaries, North Africa and Cyprus, and all races visually different enough to get a separate picture in Mullarney et al.

Since subspecies not much different genetically are later proposed as splits on the species level, this may be the way on.

Now here are my proposals for passerines
African Dunn’s Lark/Asian Dunn’s Lark (2)
Shore Lark/Atlas Horned Lark (2)/Caucasian Horned Lark (2)/Mongolian Horned Lark (2)/American Horned Lark (2)
British Rock Pipit/Scandinavian Rock Pipit (1)
„Alpine“ Water Pipit/“Oriental“ Water Pipit (3-4)
American Buff-bellied Pipit/Asian Buff-bellied Pipit (3-4)
Blue-headed Wagtail/British Yellow Wagtail(2)/Grey-headed Wagtail(2)/Black-headed Wagtail(3)/Spanish Yellow Wagtail(2)/Ashy-headed Wagtail(3)/Yellow-headed Wagtail(2)/White-headed Wagtail(2)/Eastern Yellow Wagtail(5)/Green-headed Wagtail(5, (2 within Eastern YW))
White Wagtail/Pied Wagtail (2)/Moroccan Wagtail (2)/Masked Wagtail (2)/Amur Wagtail (2)
Common House Martin/Asian House Martin (5)
Western Rufous-tailed Scrub Robin/Eastern Rufous-tailed Scrub Robin (1)
European Robin/Tenerife Robin (2)
„Western“ Black Redstart/“Oriental“ Black Redstart (1)/Eastern Black Redstart (1)
„European“ Common Redstart/“Asian“ Common Redstart (1)
Siberian Stonechat/Caspian Stonechat (4)
Northern Wheatear/Seebohm’s Wheatear (4)
Western Black-eared Wheatear/Eastern Black-eared Wheatear (4)
Mourning Wheatear/Maghreb Wheatear (2)
Asian Scrub Warbler/African Scrub Warbler (1)
Western Subalpine Warbler/Eastern Subalpine Warbler (5)
Lesser Whitethroat/Blyth’s Whitethroat (5)/Central Asian Whitethroat (5)
Common Chiffchaff/Siberian Chiffchaff (5)
Common Goldcrest/Azores Goldcrest (1)
Spotted Flycatcher/Balearic Spotted Flycatcher (4)
Eurasian Pied Flycatcher/Iberian Pied Flycatcher (2)
Eurasian Nuthatch/Siberian Nuthatch (3-4)
Daurian Shrike/Chinese Shrike (5)
Great Grey Shrike/Northern Grey Shrike (3)
Iberian Grey Shrike/Desert Grey Shrike(2)/Levant Grey Shrike(2)/Steppe Grey Shrike (5)
Eurasian Magpie/Maghreb Magpie (2)
Carrion Crow/Oriental Crow (4)
Common Chaffinch/African Chaffinch(2-3)/Canary Chaffinch(3-4)
Tenerife Blue Chaffinch/Gran Canaria Blue Chaffinch (3)
Common Redpoll/Greenland Redpoll (2)
Hoary Redpoll/Arctic Redpoll (2)
Asian Crimson-winged Finch/African Crimson-winged Finch (4)

Other somewhat differing sspp that I didn’t score include
Desert Larks, Dupont Lark, Lesser Short-toed Lark, Crested Lark, Thekla Lark, Olive-backed Pipit, Citrine Wagtail, White-throated Dipper, Eurasian Wren, Common Nightingale, Bluethroat, Ring Ouzel, Redwing, Reed Warbler, Savi’s Warbler, Moustached Warbler, Menetries’s Warbler, Sardinian Warbler, Long-tailed Tit, African Blue Tit, Coal Tit, Marsh Tit, Willow Tit, Eurasian Treecreeper, Eurasian Penduline-Tit, Woodchat Shrike, Eurasian Jay, Spotted Nutcracker, Common Raven, Twite, Cinereous Bunting, Common Reed Bunting

Likely future lumps: Barbary Falcon, Scottish Crossbill
Might be better off either completely split or lumped: Redpolls, Pied Flycatchers

Maffong

Maffong said:

Eurasian Nuthatch/Siberian Nuthatch (3-4)
Tenerife Blue Chaffinch/Gran Canaria Blue Chaffinch (3)

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I assume you mean the White-bellied birds in Scandinavia and eastwards - asiatica? Not to be confused with the endemic bird from Siberia, in some checklists, eg BLI, "Siberian Nuthatch", ie arctica.

I think the Blue Chaffinches need upgrading, now on BLI list and could well be followed by other checklists..

cheers, alan

No, I actually mean the Siberian Nuthatch asiatica, which according to AERC has been recorded as a vagrant.

I was going to score the Blue Chaffinches with a 4 but didn't find anything in that in HBW Alice, so wondered if I remembered things wrong

Maffong

The two Blue Chaffinches are split now :t:

http://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/finches/

Not yet split by netfugl and I have a feeling they might take some time before accepting this split too, hence a (subjective) score of 4

Spotted Flycatcher now split by IOC http://www.worldbirdnames.org/updates/update-diary/

Dec 26 Accept Mediterranean Flycatcher