Dag, Ned, I love it when you talk like that!
Thanks a million for sharing your experience and knowledge. We could
hardly ask for a better friend and teacher, IMHO.
John Fox
Arlington, VA
Ned Brinkley wrote:
Hi Brian,
Many folks have been asking this question, in many media. There are two
questions here - first, Is there any information to suggest that these birds
have or have not been held in captivity? and second, Can a person add these
dabblers to an American Birding Association-sanctioned personal list?
The first question is easily answered: neither bird has provided any
evidence of having been held captive, whether physical evidence (bands,
clipped halluces, etc.) or behavioral evidence. (A White-cheeked Pintail
being seen in Louisiana currently, for instance, has a collector's leg band
on it.) The lack of evidence of prior captivity is not in itself a clear
suggestion that either bird was not from a zoo, park, or private collection.
A collector has Emu and Sandhill Cranes in Chincoteague village, and local
folks are making inquiries about the possibility of lost waterfowl in recent
weeks. I'm sure there will be discussion of this on this listserve.
The second question is far more challenging. First, the identification of
these ducks must be reviewed by the Virginia Avian Records Committee; during
that deliberation, the question of provenance will also be considered. The
state committee has a series of six Categories for accepted records, one of
which (Category 3, a and b), pertains to birds whose identification is not
in question but whose provenance is unknown. Such birds could well be
"wild," as we say, but the committee defers judgment in such cases. The
idea is to provided a category in which judgment about provenance is
suspended (later, if circumstances warrant, such records may be
re-reviewed). So potentially the birds could be *not* accepted (judged to
have been misidentified or insufficiently documented as to the
identification); they could be accepted in Category 1 (good evidence, such
as photos), Category 2 (sight record only), or Category 3 (provenance
uncertain; a = evidence, b = sight record). Deliberations can take a few
months, but a year or more may be required for careful consideration of the
documentation.
In the case of the the AOU Check-list Committee and more importantly the ABA
Checklist Committee, the questions become more interesting and more complex
still. The AOU is an ornithological body and does not deliberate about
questions of "countability" per se, though the Checklist (1998) does make
comments about possible provenance of birds detected out of core range. In
the case of White-cheeked Pintail, it notes that "most or all of these
reports" from the United States mainland and Florida Keys "probably pertain
to escape[e]s from captivity." The species is on the regular AOU list (not
the Appendix) because it occurs in the Caribbean. The AOU has never
investigated any individual report from Florida northward, as far as I know,
though it identifies one New Jersey record as referring to "a South American
race" (not clear which subspecies is involved). The bottom line is that
provenance of birds out of range is not considered in detail.
The most recent ABA Checklist (covers only US fifty states, Canada, St.
Pierre et Miquelon) notes, of this species:
"(Resident in the Caribbean, n. and w. South America, and Galapagos
Islands.) Status in the ABA Area greatly confused; common in waterfowl
collections. Perhaps casual in s. Florida, with 28 reports (at least 7
records) through 2007, usually during winter. Recent reports have been
rejected by the FOSRC on the basis of uncertain provenance; some of the
birds have been avicultural color morphs. One at Laguna Atascosa NWR,
Cameron, TX 20 November 1978�15 April 1979 and accepted by the TBRC
(Lockwood and Freeman 2004) may pertain to an escapee. Sightings from the
remainder of North America, including those from Alabama, California,
Delaware, Illinois, Louisiana, Nevada, New Jersey, Ontario, Qu�bec,
Virginia, and Wisconsin almost certainly involve escapees."
The ABA Checklist is thus more explicit ("greatly confused") about
status/distribution of the species in the ABA Area and provides more detail
than the ornithological checklist of the AOU, but it is not clear that any
report (other than the Texas report? not clear) would be "countable" by the
rules of the listing game. Sometimes, the ABA Checklist Committee concurs
with state committee decisions; sometimes, the Committee does not, though
individual records are rarely reviewed unless they are firsts for the ABA
Area. White-cheeked Pintail is on the main ABA Checklist as a Code 4
species (hard to see, but not as hard as a Code 5, such as Hawaiian Petrel,
recorded annually in California). So it would appear that at least some of
the records (more than one?) of White-cheeked Pintail, for instance, would
be "countable." Perhaps the state committee's decision would be the be
guide, unless there is specific objection from the ABA Committee on the
particular record, which would be presumably guided by careful deliberation
and review of the documentation.
I think an important point to keep in mind about the current birds at
Chincoteague: at this point, no one really knows where they came from.
Ned Brinkley
Cape Charles, Virginia
On Fri, Sep 17, 2010 at 8:11 PM, Brian Bockhahn <birdranger248@xxxxxxxxx>wrote:
Hadn't had time to pay closer attention to posts, but is the bird wild and_______________________________________________
countable? What about the Garganey reported. All sounds too good to be
true, hah!
--
Brian Bockhahn
State Park Ranger
Falls Lake State Recreation Area
birdranger248@xxxxxxxxx
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