ABA Big Year 2016 (1 Viewer)

[GrizGrouse]

Both of them went for both birds? The egret (a vagrant in any case, whatever species it turned out to be) was still potentially an Intermediate when both went (don't think it had been photo'ed at that point). The duck - well - what if it had been a first? But yes ...

Yes, they both went, and my point applies to both. Great Egret is a vagrant in AK but it's not a year bird for either. I believe the photos were out when they went actually...as Olaf mentions them as part of his deliberations on his blog and John actually arrived after Olaf. The duck, well sure, let's say it was a genuine vagrant -- it still wouldn't pass muster for several more years once (presumably) a pattern of vagrancy is established. That's just where the bar has been set for waterfowl and other species commonly kept in collections. Anyone with any experience with records committees in this country and knowledge of the distribution of that species knows that bird would have never been accepted. Anywho, I guess it's better to be safe than sorry, but if you know your stuff and you know the ABA, you don't chase either of those birds.

Cheers,
Andy

 

[njlarsen]

An analogous story: a few years ago, a duck appeared in a lake in Denmark with native range far east in Siberia. It was immediately shot down as a certain escapee, with arguments similar to the SpBD. However, someone managed to find a feather certainly shed by this duck while at the lake, and some analysis (stable isotopes) showed that the bird had grown that feather while in the native range of the species. Not 100% conclusive, but food for thoughts?

Niels

 

[Mark]

John finally has his list on ebird

http://ebird.org/ebird/top100?locInfo.regionCode=aba&yr=cur

 

[lewis20126]

Yes, they both went, and my point applies to both. Great Egret is a vagrant in AK but it's not a year bird for either. I believe the photos were out when they went actually...as Olaf mentions them as part of his deliberations on his blog and John actually arrived after Olaf. The duck, well sure, let's say it was a genuine vagrant -- it still wouldn't pass muster for several more years once (presumably) a pattern of vagrancy is established. That's just where the bar has been set for waterfowl and other species commonly kept in collections. Anyone with any experience with records committees in this country and knowledge of the distribution of that species knows that bird would have never been accepted. Anywho, I guess it's better to be safe than sorry, but if you know your stuff and you know the ABA, you don't chase either of those birds.

Cheers,
Andy

I agree with these points - there is no way in the world anyone in the UK would fly to (say) Shetland for an Intermediate Egret, without seeing images first and probably discussing the identity with birding friends.

cheers, alan

 

[Mysticete]

I agree with these points - there is no way in the world anyone in the UK would fly to (say) Shetland for an Intermediate Egret, without seeing images first and probably discussing the identity with birding friends.

cheers, alan

How difficult is it to get to the Shetland islands. I would guess last minute travel to the Kenai peninsula is far more logistically challenging, and if you wait for good pictures (which might take awhile since their are not exactly a ton of birders in the state), the rarity might be long gone before you show up. Certainly, if you have nothing better to chase (I don't think either person really did at that time), it's better to go after this than risk missing a potentially good bird.

 

[Mysticete]

John finally has his list on ebird

http://ebird.org/ebird/top100?locInfo.regionCode=aba&yr=cur

well better than nothing, although given that he only posted 7 checklists covering all of those birds, I am guessing the data won't be as informative as the more detailed ebird reports of the other viewer.

 

[anothergecko]

well better than nothing, although given that he only posted 7 checklists covering all of those birds, I am guessing the data won't be as informative as the more detailed ebird reports of the other viewer.

7 'complete' checklists - not seven checklists in total. If he submitted a checklist with only one bird on it, and didn't include every other species he saw at that birding site, it doesn't count as a complete checklist. So he will have submitted hundreds of checklists, but most would be 'incomplete'.

But I agree - these checklists won't be anywhere near as informative as the many complete ones submitted by others.

Cheers,

Nigel

 

[Nutcracker]

How difficult is it to get to the Shetland islands.

Not so much difficult, as very expensive; also rather time-consuming, risking missing other birds if there's any elsewhere.

 

[lewis20126]

How difficult is it to get to the Shetland islands. I would guess last minute travel to the Kenai peninsula is far more logistically challenging, and if you wait for good pictures (which might take awhile since their are not exactly a ton of birders in the state), the rarity might be long gone before you show up. Certainly, if you have nothing better to chase (I don't think either person really did at that time), it's better to go after this than risk missing a potentially good bird.

I agree that is there is (i) nothing else around and (ii) nothing else is likely to turn up elsewhere then there is nothing to lose by trying. However I thought in this case images were available? Furthermore, the chance of something turning up elsewhere may have been greater than a difficult to identify bird actually being the species claimed!

In a busy Autumn for vagrants, few keen twitchers in the UK would want to put themselves in a remote location in late September-mid October unless the bird being chased was highly likely to be genuine. There is too much risk of another new bird turning up in another remote location and travelling remote location - hub - remote location, is clearly much more difficult. This theory explains perhaps why the very keenest twitchers are more likely to be sat at home or work in the Autumn, than birding a hard to reach location to find their own birds.

cheers, alan

 

[trptjoe]

Here are the updated lists, as I have them. I've added Olaf's Yellow Grosbeak, but not the Intermediate Egret, as I don't believe the egret is showing up in his eBird total. I know the grosbeak has been there for quite a while, which is why my previous spreadsheets showed one fewer species than his eBird tally.

Joe

 

[Paul Chapman]

Here are the updated lists, as I have them. I've added Olaf's Yellow Grosbeak, but not the Intermediate Egret, as I don't believe the egret is showing up in his eBird total. I know the grosbeak has been there for quite a while, which is why my previous spreadsheets showed one fewer species than his eBird tally.

Joe

So with Brambling and Rustic Bunting, Olaf could cut the lead to two?

All the best

 

[Paul Chapman]

I agree with these points - there is no way in the world anyone in the UK would fly to (say) Shetland for an Intermediate Egret, without seeing images first and probably discussing the identity with birding friends.

cheers, alan

Alan

People went to Ireland for a reported Little Blue Heron that was a dark/melanistic-type Grey Heron.

Are you sure some wouldn't roll the dice for a reported Intermediate Egret?

(I find the bill on the Alaskan bird oddly thin. Is that an Eastern thing?)

All the best

 

[Mark]

New blog post up from Olaf- his numbers still seem awry? 772+4 ? He hasn't seemed to have added the la Sagres Flycatcher into the main total from previous blog posts and am guessing has added in the spot-billed duck into the +4 ? He's on his way to Washington...

 

[lewis20126]

Alan

People went to Ireland for a reported Little Blue Heron that was a dark/melanistic-type Grey Heron.

Are you sure some wouldn't roll the dice for a reported Intermediate Egret?

(I find the bill on the Alaskan bird oddly thin. Is that an Eastern thing?)

All the best

That Heron was quite a long time ago - I'm not sure the same would happen again. Of course the further back in time you go, then of course none of us had seen images of the bird prior to twitching it.

I'm not saying there aren't a few people who would travel for a hint of a tick, however duff it is likely to be - clearly they might. Personally, I find it hard to think of a bird I've traveled for in the last ten years which I hadn't seen an image of prior. Indeed, the last three birds I've traveled for were "found" on the internet! Customers of the bird news services are literally paying the operatives to find birds for them - and they are very good at it. :t:

Anyway back to North America - John has clearly got this all sewn up.

Ref Egret - I couldn't see anything odd about it, but then maybe I don't look closely enough at them.

cheers, a

 

[janinmt]

Actually, at the end of Olaf's blog for December 8th, he has his total as 773 + 4. He now has added La Sagra's Flycatcher into the list. Here is what he wrote at the end of the blog:

Big Year Total: 773 (plus 4)

Coded Birds: 100
provisionals: 4
checklist 2
IDs pending 2

It may mean that of his 4 provisionals there are 2 on checklists and 2 with IDs pending.

Jan in MT

 

[Paul Chapman]

That Heron was quite a long time ago - I'm not sure the same would happen again. Of course the further back in time you go, then of course none of us had seen images of the bird prior to twitching it.

I'm not saying there aren't a few people who would travel for a hint of a tick, however duff it is likely to be - clearly they might. Personally, I find it hard to think of a bird I've traveled for in the last ten years which I hadn't seen an image of prior. Indeed, the last three birds I've traveled for were "found" on the internet! Customers of the bird news services are literally paying the operatives to find birds for them - and they are very good at it. :t:

Anyway back to North America - John has clearly got this all sewn up.

Ref Egret - I couldn't see anything odd about it, but then maybe I don't look closely enough at them.

cheers, a

A few in the last ten years. Personally, I can think of the second Irish Kingbird and the Kinglet off the top of my head but there are certainly not many.

All the best

 

[Mysticete]

presumably the other provisional ID is the dodgy Eastern Spot-billed Duck?

 

[Maffong]

Christian finally got N Saw-whet Owl putting him at 748+2. Given that those two are very likely to pass can we say that he's the 4th person this year to surpass the old record? Truly unbelievable

Maffong

 

[Microtus]

Here are the updated lists, as I have them. I've added Olaf's Yellow Grosbeak, but not the Intermediate Egret, as I don't believe the egret is showing up in his eBird total. I know the grosbeak has been there for quite a while, which is why my previous spreadsheets showed one fewer species than his eBird tally.

Joe

What is the story on this Yellow Grosbeak? There are no eBird records from the United States for this year. Pardon me if I missed a previous post about it.

 

[Microtus]

Christian finally got N Saw-whet Owl putting him at 448+2. Given that those two are very likely to pass can we say that he's the 4th person this year to surpass the old record? Truly unbelievable

Maffong

You mean 748, not 448...
|=)|

And that is wonderful that all four of the big year people have surpassed the old record!