Larry Sweetland
Formerly 'Larry Wheatland'
It could be a slippery slope Richie. You might find yourself tempted to sneak into zoos, make holes in the fences..... and then tick 'em!
Last person to try that, got eaten by a tiger, if I remember rightly :eat:It could be a slippery slope Richie. You might find yourself tempted to sneak into zoos, make holes in the fences..... and then tick 'em!
Last person to try that, got eaten by a tiger, if I remember rightly :eat:
Actually, "zoo" (etc.) ticks might well be the wave of the future as more and more animals disappear from the wild. Applies less to birds at the moment than other taxa (e. g., amphibians, big mammals) but nobody's immune long term. . ..
and when can we count the Salisbury Plain Great Bustards?
What about a Wild White Stork that gets injured in Poland; has rehab in Norfolk and then escapes?? No prizes for guessing what I saw on the weekendo
Rich
Under our rules I'd probably say no on two fronts.
1 It was artificially sustained
2 It didn't get there naturally
A
... The owl and parakeet - no problem,
Surely it's the owl and the pussycat? :-O
I'd go ahead and tick the Mandarin Duck, western London area is their UK stronghold. I'd agree Egyptian Geese there are a bit dodgy though.
I've seen Egyptian geese with young in various parts of west London recently (some of them slightly too close to Barnes WWT for comfort) - should any of these count?Surely it's the owl and the pussycat? :-O
I'd go ahead and tick the Mandarin Duck, western London area is their UK stronghold. I'd agree Egyptian Geese there are a bit dodgy though.
I wouldn't hesitate to count free-roaming reintroduced species on a list, /QUOTE]
We do in the UK after a certain amount of time, is it three self sustaining generations?.
The most recent example is the Great Bustards which have been present for some years now but still not deemed 'tickable' AFAIK?
Previous to that it would have been White-tailed Eagles in Scotland, I think they're tickable now? Obviously as stated before, birds that take a long time to reach sexual maturity, will take longer to reach the three generations and thus become tickable.
A
I've seen Egyptian geese with young in various parts of west London recently (some of them slightly too close to Barnes WWT for comfort) - should any of these count?
Speaking of the WWT, I was in the Peacock Tower some years back next to someone who was contemplating ticking a bar-headed goose on the assumption that it "probably" came from the established(?) feral Dutch population. I don't have a list as such, but wouldn't count it any more than the ringed teals I've seen on the rivers Kennet and Avon.
Thames Valley is one thing...I'm just not so sure about 'tame' birds in Kensington Gardens, although they do breed...due to proximity of wildfowl collections in St. James's Park and (I think?) Regent's Park. Not saying tameness is a disqualifying factor on its own, othwerwise you couldn't count the ridiculously tame grey herons!There are hundreds of Egyptian Geese along the Thames valley- I have seen post breeding flocks of over 200 so you can tick them as a Cat C species. I'm pretty sure that they have never been part of the WWT collection at Barnes so any there are "wild".
The Bar-headed Goose on the other hand...
I wouldn't hesitate to count free-roaming reintroduced species on a list, /QUOTE]
We do in the UK after a certain amount of time, is it three self sustaining generations?.
The most recent example is the Great Bustards which have been present for some years now but still not deemed 'tickable' AFAIK?
Previous to that it would have been White-tailed Eagles in Scotland, I think they're tickable now? Obviously as stated before, birds that take a long time to reach sexual maturity, will take longer to reach the three generations and thus become tickable.
A
As I understand it the east of Scotland WTE reintroductions in Fife are only just starting to breed in the last few years (although some have gone west and paired off with the established population) so strictly speaking shouldn't be counted - I believe they can be readily identified by their wing-tags.