Most contested vagrant-escape cases? (2 Viewers)

[kb57]

Surprised to see Paddyfield Pipit in Category D in Britain - does anyone know the story behind that? It doesn't strike me as a likely cage bird, although its range doesn't provide much vagrancy potential.

 

[Welsh Peregrine]

Re the Redstart, Indeed, seen to enter a burrow, where it died, leading to Not BB calling it the Daurian Deadstart!

 

[Farnboro John]

Surprised to see Paddyfield Pipit in Category D in Britain - does anyone know the story behind that? It doesn't strike me as a likely cage bird, although its range doesn't provide much vagrancy potential.

BOURC tried to suggest it had hopped a lift on a passing C-17 from Afghanistan to Brize Norton then caught a Cornwall-bound Skybus from Bristol. Desperate stuff.

John

 

[Andrew Clarke]

Can’t remember full details, but what about the mid-Wales Black/Cinereus/Monk Vulture from around 1970’s?

Read an article somewhere by (IIRC) Keith Vinicombe regarding this bird and the likelihood that it was of wild rather than captive origin. Intriguing record for sure!

 

[Farnboro John]

Re the Redstart, Indeed, seen to enter a burrow, where it died, leading to Not BB calling it the Daurian Deadstart!

Keith Brockie the artist implicated IIRC.

John

 

[Mysticete]

BOURC tried to suggest it had hopped a lift on a passing C-17 from Afghanistan to Brize Norton then caught a Cornwall-bound Skybus from Bristol. Desperate stuff.

John

This reminds me of the Colorado Rufous-collared Sparrow, which had at one point been conjectured to hop on a plane transporting some ?lions? for either a circus or zoo, from Argentina.

 

[Paul Chapman]

Wasn't there a Daurian Redstart on the Isle of May once upon a time?

Re the Redstart, Indeed, seen to enter a burrow, where it died, leading to Not BB calling it the Daurian Deadstart!

The Redstart is well documented & whereas that was an incarnation of BOURC that produced some clearly flawed analyses & whose attention to detail fell outside of the range that I consider competent, the analysis of the Daurian Redstart seems waterproof.

It was almost certainly an escape or an assisted vagrant being of the southern subspecies & an individual with plumage damage suggestive of captivity - British Birds Vol. 86 No. 8 pages 359-366. A good article.

Clearly timing was good & location was good - 29th April 1988 on Isle of May - reinforcing the fact that such circumstances can be replicated in escaped individuals. If there was not a specimen, then this bird would have been touted as a first.

All the best

Paul

 

[Paul Chapman]

Surprised to see Paddyfield Pipit in Category D in Britain - does anyone know the story behind that? It doesn't strike me as a likely cage bird, although its range doesn't provide much vagrancy potential.

A bird does not need to be an escape not to be admitted to Category A. It simply needs a reasonable doubt that it has occurred naturally ie in an unassisted fashion (subject to the nuance on ship assistance). Difficult coherently to argue that with the range & proven records of this species & the condition of the bird, that there was not a reasonable doubt as properly understood. Some work was done by the Committee to evaluate extralimital records in the Middle East.

That said, we are probably only a couple of Committee reshuffles off the lines being blurred & in the absence of coherent documentation as to the barrier to acceptance, I would not bet against acceptance with no further evidence!

If this was actually a wild unassisted vagrant, we can expect additional records to lead to a re-evaluation.

Paper on Paddyfield Pipit attached. A good article.

All the best

Paul

 

[kb57]

A bird does not need to be an escape not to be admitted to Category A. It simply needs a reasonable doubt that it has occurred naturally ie in an unassisted fashion (subject to the nuance on ship assistance). Difficult coherently to argue that with the range & proven records of this species & the condition of the bird, that there was not a reasonable doubt as properly understood. Some work was done by the Committee to evaluate extralimital records in the Middle East.

That said, we are probably only a couple of Committee reshuffles off the lines being blurred & in the absence of coherent documentation as to the barrier to acceptance, I would not bet against acceptance with no further evidence!

If this was actually a wild unassisted vagrant, we can expect additional records to lead to a re-evaluation.

Paper on Paddyfield Pipit attached. A good article.

All the best

Paul

Thanks - a very interesting paper, very open about the thought processes and evidence requirements for category A acceptance vs allocation to Cat D.

 

[Andy Lakin]

Chinese Pond Heron and Dalmatian Pelican both sparked healthy debate in the U.K when they turned up both for and against acceptance. There must be the odd record of birds being tracked through other European countries (and subsequently being accepted) and presumably the same bird occurring soon after in the U.K but not being accepted onto category A.

 

[Andy Lakin]

https://britishbirds.co.uk/sites/default/files/2017_V110_N06_345-354_BOURC.pdf The review of the Mugimaki Flycatcher is very interesting as it details how the voting went during the recirculations. It illustrates really well how high the bar is set to gain acceptance into category A

 

[kb57]

On the subject of pelicans, I wonder if anyone else remembers Percy, the white pelican which used to frequent the River Coquet between Warkworth and Amble? Percy the pelican set to come out of retirement at North East landmark (warning - the Chronicle is infested with ads, don't attempt to open link on a mobile!).
I remember seeing him on a few occasions whilst birding in the area...I'd always wanted to see a 'proper' wild pelican after that, and have still not managed to do so.