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American Avocet in Colombia (1 Viewer)

Calonectris

Calonectris

Active member
Greetings,

Two weeks ago I returned from a birding trip to Colombia where on May 30th we (a party of three and our guide) visited the saltmarshes and mangroves of Isla Salamanca on the Caribbean coast. On one of the lagoons there we saw a first summer (2nd cy) American Avocet. Our guide (Pablo Flores) had never seen this bird in Colombia and didn't have any knowledge of this species being recorded in Colombia (it was even a lifer for him).

Is there anyone here who has any information about sightings of this species in Colombia? Is there any committee where such a sighting should be reported?

Participants in the birding trip:
Filip Beeldens (Belgium)
Regis Nossent (Belgium)
Filip Collet (Belgium)
Pablo Flores (Colombia, guide)

Thanks in advance,

Filip Collet.
 
Colombian checklist

There has been a Colombian checklist published since 2001 and which has been updated annually since 2007. The latest available online edition is the 2009 one, with the 2010 version only available in print so far. This checklist is used as the basis for the McMullan et al. field guide. The 2009 edition is available online here:

http://www.proaves.org/IMG/pdf/Aves_de_Colombia_2009.pdf

The list is largely (though not wholly) now converged to SACC taxonomy and is annually updated. All changes, including new national records, confirmations of "hypothetical" species and the rooting out of dubious records, splits and lumps are fully justified in accompanying papers in Conservacion Colombiana.

I am not sure the authors would call ourselves a committee, though we have put a considerable effort into getting the Colombian checklist into a better shape and into getting grey literature or unpublished records properly published. Examples of recent checklist updates are set out below:

http://www.proaves.org/IMG/pdf/Checklist_revision_2009_Con_Colombiana_8_80-86.pdf

http://www.proaves.org/IMG/pdf/Checklist_revision_2010_Con_Colombiana_13.pdf

Anyone who has novel records or who notes any omissions or additions that need making, please do get in touch!
 
Thanks Thomas!

it appears not to be present in the 2009 list nor in the attached checklist updates.

Colle, you possibly found a new one for Colombia. :)

Cheers,

Filip Beeldens
 
Dear Filip,
Congratulations on a magnificent new species for Colombia... a country that already has more species of bird than any other! If you refer to your copy of the "Field Guide to the Birds of Colombia" you will see the species is not there, as of 2010, so you can be sure it is new for the country. I also recommend you get the "Checklist of the Birds of Colombia" that Thomasdonegan mentions below and appears each year (I have the 2010 printed version from NHBS). A glowing review of the checklist and guide was published by the British Ornithologist Union and seen on the NHBS website. So I hope you can get your excellent record to that Colombian checklist committee for the next update.
 
Filip et al.
remember as well, that for the major official serious checklist of the birds of South America (http://www.museum.lsu.edu/~remsen/saccbaseline.html - in my opinion and many others), a record like this has to be published before being considered to be included... (see excerpt below)
so, as I already told to Pablo, go ahead and submit a short note to the Boletin SAO (http://www.sao.org.co/boletinsao.html)...
saludos and congratulations again!
Diego.



Criteria for inclusion: a species is included on the list if the evidence for its occurrence in the area is supported by tangible evidence that is available for verification, namely a museum specimen or an archived or published photograph, videotape, or sound recording. The main list currently includes 3,299 species (3070 native breeding species, 1 of which is extinct; 147 nonbreeding residents; 68 vagrants; 14 established, introduced species). Of these, 101 newly discovered species have been described since the publication of Meyer de Schauensee's (1970) classic compilation of the species of birds of South America (i.e., at a rate of 2.5 species per year). Species whose presence is supported only by sight records, or by unpublished or non-archived tangible evidence, are placed on the Hypothetical List.
 
Short heads up, I'm writing a short article on this observation. Not sure where (or when) it will be published. I will confer with Pablo Flores on that one.
 
Filip ...!
how's your paper on American Avocet NEW for Colombia evolving?.. already submitted!?...
if not, my 2 Sunrise Birding tour clients, my local guide (Waly) and I would be interested if you are in joining efforts and doing a joint paper on this.. WE GOT A BEAUTIFUL AMERICAN AVOCET today at Isla Salamanca NP and I made some photos of it....
Please talk to Pablo (called him but seems he does not have signal) and drop me an email ([email protected]) if interested ;-)
saludos,
Diego.
 
Hi Diego,
I saw the Amercian Avocet together with Filip on May 30th and I know that he already prepared a first draft version of an article that he had send to Pablo (but he couldn't open the document :s).

I will ask Filip to get in contact with you and Pablo to finalize it and get it published.

Cheers,
-Regis Nossent
 
RNossent said:
Hi Diego,
I saw the Amercian Avocet together with Filip on May 30th and I know that he already prepared a first draft version of an article that he had send to Pablo (but he couldn't open the document :s).

I will ask Filip to get in contact with you and Pablo to finalize it and get it published.

Cheers,
-Regis Nossent
Click to expand...

Hey Diego,

quick update; We've checked and updated the draft and will send it through later today by email to Pablo and put you in copy.

Cheers,

filip
 
Awesome photo!

No mistaking that one!! Well done.

Pablo, Filip and colleagues, thanks again for allowing us to include your sight record in the latest Colombian checklist update for 2011 (see page 5 of link below).

http://www.proaves.org/IMG/pdf/CC15/Conservacion_Colombiana_15_4-21.pdf

Do please indeed follow up with a paper! You and Diego are welcome as an alternative of course to submit to Conservacion Colombiana: we had five (5) new national species record papers in the last edition from a variety of authors.
http://www.proaves.org/proaves/inde...t/article/39/1794-no-15-aves-de-colombia-2011

Looking forward to Colombia's "confirmed" list increasing further again soon.
:t:

Thomas
 
Hello Thomas,

We've been in communication with Diego (with 'we' being Filip Collet, Pablo Florez, Regis Nossent and myself) and agreed that Diego would prepare the article.

KR,

filip beeldens
 
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