ABA Big Year 2016 (1 Viewer)

[janinmt]

Another new blog from Christian, this time from the field (actually it sounds like from a Starbucks).

http://www.thebirdingproject.com/blog/2016/12/12/a-post-from-the-field

Jan in MT

 

[Mark]

Interesting comment from Olaf on facebook on Brambling and Kelp Gull...


""Yea on brambling I said why waste effort chasing brambling get one easy in Alaska. Well they were scarce up there. On kelp gull most of the time in January if you look on narba what was being called kelp gull was great black backed then when real gull reappeared later for a few days a cold snap hit and that lake froze over before I could get there as was dong Hatteras pelagic which was like miserable three days of cold. I think Laura Keene took 9 trips to get the real gull and she lives in Ohio, hind sight 2/20, should have gone for hat brambling""

And official confirmation on NARBA that all 4 have broken the old record

http://narba.org/big-year-standings

 

[pandrew1664]

I don't know of any rule that a bird MUST be accepted by the relevant bird record committee, but given that Yellow Grosbeak is a major rarity, it really should be submitted.

The only wrong in twitching is stringing. That is, stringing is dishonourable but there are no other rules. I don't think that means every tick needs a photograph but would have expected each would have to be accepted by the 'relevant bird record committee'. Is this not the case?
Regards

 

[guy_incognito]

The only wrong in twitching is stringing. That is, stringing is dishonourable but there are no other rules. I don't think that means every tick needs a photograph but would have expected each would have to be accepted by the 'relevant bird record committee'. Is this not the case?
Regards

I think most all would agree that a widely seen review species should only be counted if it is accepted by the record committee.

It was looking more and more like the Yellow-legged Gull candidate from earlier in the year wasn't going to be accepted, hence John felt the need to go and get a "better" one.

Will be interesting if we ever hear more about Olaf's Yellow Grosbeak. What if it isn't accepted? It presumably would be a different situation, probably not widely seen and documented. So if it isn't accepted, it could just be that it wasn't well enough documented to be conclusively accepted by the committee, but not that it is conclusively decided that it wasn't a Yellow Grosbeak. It it is in that gray zone, then what? But again, all just speculation until first hand information is divulged.

 

[guy_incognito]

Looks like Olaf is back in Hawaii.

Seems like bad timing for the big year birders with the addition of Hawaii. They can't officially set a big year record with Hawaii, but surely in the future, big year birders will include Hawaii and surpass their official ABA number from this year. Yes, they will retain the "ABA classic"/"ABA continental" (or whatever it will be called) number, but in the long run, that might just go down in the history books with an asterisk. Given the enormous success of the birders this year, I don't see why anyone else will want to repeat an ABA big year without Hawaii. Going forward, perhaps birders will mainly do ABA with Hawaii, or perhaps just a lower 48 year?

 

[Owene]

Presumably Olaf's score with Hawaii is both bigger than Johns total and likely to be a high bar to beat under the new rules. So any future ABA score with Hawaii is likely to have to be qualified with 'Olaf got more in 2016' while Johns ABA score is fairly easily surpassed by the first person to include Hawaii officially. They'll both be footnotes but 50 states plus Canada is going to be the comparison going forward and Olaf will have the score

 

[Microtus]

ABA Area Big Year Update: Four Record Breakers in 2016

 

[Mysticete]

this year was very unusual in that so many people seriously tried to beat the ABA record. Most years there may only be one serious attempt, or none.

I don't foresee any major attempts being made next year, so it's likely John's ABA record might last for a few more years. Same goes for Olaf's provisional Hawaii record.

I think someone WILL pass Olaf's record within a decade, if only because the addition of Hawaii will probably cause a more thorough look at big year strategy, and I don't expect Olaf to do a "clean" sweep of all the endemics, introduced birds, and seabirds possible in the islands.

 

[lewis20126]

and I don't expect Olaf to do a "clean" sweep of all the endemics, introduced birds, and seabirds possible in the islands.

I would think it is quite possible to see the extant endemics on the main four islands, depending on access issues on Kauai and Maui - I only missed one of them, the Maui Parrotbill, in a relatively short visit. I would think the introduced birds are the most difficult - I think some of the scarce ones are hard to find these days and are obviously not monitored as closely as the endemics. Seabirds are tough of course and what would be the Midway-Laysan-Nihoa strategy?

cheers, alan

 

[dantheman]

I mean I have this very vague memory of him actually mentioning thinking he had found/seen a Yellow Grosbeak way back in spring...but I might be mistaken.

Definitely rings a bell with me too ... mentioned on his blog or the comments section on it earlier in the year ... although think he was being a bit coy about it at the time.

 

[jurek]

I would think the introduced birds are the most difficult - I think some of the scarce ones are hard to find these days and are obviously not monitored as closely as the endemics.

Hopefully some are simply dying out?

 

[lewis20126]

Hopefully some are simply dying out?

Yes indeed, I agree that is welcome - although even more welcome would be to see the mongoose, pigs and so on dying out.

cheers, alan

 

[NYCbirder]

I think someone WILL pass Olaf's record within a decade, if only because the addition of Hawaii will probably cause a more thorough look at big year strategy, and I don't expect Olaf to do a "clean" sweep of all the endemics, introduced birds, and seabirds possible in the islands.

Very interesting strategy, and one that may make Olaf's unofficial "record" w/Hawaii more notable and lasting than John's official record. Right now, according to eBird Olaf is at 814 in the 50 states, and seeing as his last bird was Yellow-billed Cardinal I assume he's still got a decent number of birds to get.

http://ebird.org/ebird/top100?locInfo.regionType=country&locInfo.regionCode=US&year=2016

Guessing he has about 10 additional birds from Canada this year (I counted 6 coded ones on his list), you've got to figure his ABA+Hawaii number will end up at over 830 and maybe substantially over 830? ABA has said Hawaii will add 100-115 birds to the checklist, but I'm not sure if that includes rarities sighted over the years in Hawaii and which would not be reliable in a typical big year? So if future big year birders get to Neil Hayward's 750 "continental" and add all 100 or so Hawaii birds that would still only get them to 850. So Olaf's number may stand up for quite a while. Curious to see where he ends incl/Hawaii.

 

[janinmt]

There was a Brambling photographed on Vancouver Island, BC on December 5th. Maybe Olaf should head there after Hawaii if it is sticking around. I am not sure if Laura & Christian still need Brambling.

http://ebird.org/ebird/subnational1/CA-BC?yr=cur

Jan in MT

 

[jurek]

About how long these records will stand - I wonder how much improvement year to year is from larger number of rarities discovered, and more new species on the list (splits and established)?

 

[njlarsen]

Hopefully some are simply dying out?

In an analogous situation, I read a few years ago that worldwide, there was a bird species where the then currently healthiest population was the introduced population in Puerto Rico. Kind of puts this remark in perspective, doesn't it?

Niels

 

[Nutcracker]

I think someone WILL pass Olaf's record within a decade, if only because the addition of Hawaii will probably cause a more thorough look at big year strategy, and I don't expect Olaf to do a "clean" sweep of all the endemics, introduced birds, and seabirds possible in the islands.

On a sadder note - I doubt that anyone will reach his record again. Extinction rates due to climate change and human degredation of ecosystems are likely going to go through the roof over the next few years. And even when birds don't go extinct, population reductions will make them harder to find.

:-C

 

[Mysticete]

On a sadder note - I doubt that anyone will reach his record again. Extinction rates due to climate change and human degredation of ecosystems are likely going to go through the roof over the next few years. And even when birds don't go extinct, population reductions will make them harder to find.

:-C

I'm not so sure about that. There are some potentially useful solutions on the way to cope with the Mosquito problem. If those can be fast tracked, I think they will stop the decline of most of Hawaii's endemics, and may even reverse trends enough that several species very difficult to get now may be able to increase in number.

Also, given taxonomic changes and a much better year for Asian vagrants (this was actually a pretty crappy year in that regard), I don't see Olaf's record lasting the decade.

People were pretty sure Sandy Komito's record was unbeatable, and clearly it wasn't.

 

[etudiant]

I'm not so sure about that. There are some potentially useful solutions on the way to cope with the Mosquito problem. If those can be fast tracked, I think they will stop the decline of most of Hawaii's endemics, and may even reverse trends enough that several species very difficult to get now may be able to increase in number.

Also, given taxonomic changes and a much better year for Asian vagrants (this was actually a pretty crappy year in that regard), I don't see Olaf's record lasting the decade.

People were pretty sure Sandy Komito's record was unbeatable, and clearly it wasn't.

Mosquito extermination via some genetic engineering technique seems a possibility for Hawaii. Mosquitos were reportedly introduced deliberately by a whaling captain as an act of revenge, so they surely don't belong.

Sadly even if the mosquito plague is solved, removing the mongoose (that were also deliberately introduced) will be much harder. But the ground nesting Hawaii birds are unlikely to recover until that is achieved as well.

 

[Mysticete]

Mosquito extermination via some genetic engineering technique seems a possibility for Hawaii. Mosquitos were reportedly introduced deliberately by a whaling captain as an act of revenge, so they surely don't belong.

Sadly even if the mosquito plague is solved, removing the mongoose (that were also deliberately introduced) will be much harder. But the ground nesting Hawaii birds are unlikely to recover until that is achieved as well.

True but IIRC Kauai doesn't have mongoose, so it would help that island alot, which I think has seen the most precipitous collapses of avifauna in recent years