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Wildlife conservation is concerned with protecting wildlife at the level of species or perhaps population. With the exception of species that number in the hundreds, conservation biologists are not as concerned with the fates of individual animals, it is only when such fates of many individuals are added up do they begin to worry.
Perhaps our outrage at invasive species can be a bit hypocritical at times. Listers are quick to put aside their condemnation of invasive species once they attain that coveted status of exotic: not native, not fully naturalized, but established well enough to be countable by the prevailing authority. That’s where we come in.
They give short shrift to NewZealand’s birds, lumping them with odd names no one here uses because the names are shared elsewhere and God knows America isn’t going to take a hit for us. Then someone decided that the Canary Island birds were a separate species. I’m not blind to the list’s faults, though.
After writing this last sentence, I looked up the species in the HBW and found the sentence “Song poorly documented” in the appropriate section, while with regard to calls, the description is that “call is a two-note raspy nasal ‘ryeeh-reh’”. In NewZealand, the Spotted Dove is an introduced species.
Another example of its staggering wealth is the fact that the 22,000 hectare Table Mountain National Park situated within the city of Cape Town has more plant species than the whole of the British Isles or NewZealand! It is common in the Fynbos and succulent Karoo regions.
NewZealand, where I live, am the 10,000 Birds Beat Writer of, and of which I very occasionally actually write about, is home to several species of heron. Like most of the rest of the world this species is kind of new here, having recently colonised from, well, wherever those things actually came from.
During July, 11 beats birded 11 countries (USA, UK, Australia, Spain, NewZealand, Costa Rica, Japan, UAE, Mexico, China and Saudi Arabia) and submitted 82 checklists. They accounted for 562 species at this sluggish time of year. Cattle Egret – Bubulcus ibis. NewZealand Kaka – Nestor meridionalis.
beats have still managed to share 82 checklists and accounted for 737 species. Our two newest contributors have shared from Mexico and China, bringing the countries birded this month (also including; Costa Rica, Greece, Serbia, USA, UK, India, UAE and NewZealand) to 10. Cattle Egret – Bubulcus ibis. 01 Jun 2019.
In publishing the most current thinking, eBird have become the month’s biggest contributor to the life list, expanding it by 7 brand newspecies and pushing it to 3774. 7 species were added to the life list in the time-honoured fashion of actually identifying the birds in the field. Cattle Egret – Bubulcus ibis.
Included in the numbers are 2 new life-listers; a Long-tailed Koel from Duncan and a White-throated Rock-Thrush from Kai. 7 countries (Costa Rica, China, USA, UK, Mexico, NewZealand and Serbia) were birded by 11 beats during October. They submitted 124 checklists for 671 species of bird. 316 Mew Gull – Larus canus.
December’s numbers looked like this; 10 beats visited 11 countries (Bahrain, NewZealand, USA, UK, Costa Rica, China, Mexico, Australia Nigeria, Uganda and Serbia) during December. They contributed 150 lists accounting for 1032 species and more than 36,000 individual birds. Cattle Egret – Bubulcus ibis.
This shows the top birders, by species or checklists submitted. 12 beats birded 10 countries (Costa Rica, USA, Brazil, China, India, Serbia, UK, Australia, NewZealand and Mexico), submitting 187 lists and spotting 902 birds. Cattle Egret – Bubulcus ibis. Cattle Tyrant – Machetornis rixosa.
The engaged and generous beats ( 10 of them) have shared 188 checklists during January and have accounted for 859 species from 8 countries (USA, Australia, Costa Rica, Brazil, Argentina, UK, NewZealand and Serbia. NewZealand Pigeon – Hemiphaga novaeseelandiae. Cattle Egret – Bubulcus ibis.
2013 was a strange year for me, staring in the UK, ending in Borneo and spending large tracks of the year not really seeing many birds in NewZealand. Since I’m the NewZealand beat writer I’ll be using their names for their species, but for clarity I will give other commonly used names if a species has them.
Tom’s odyssey continued through NewZealand and passes on to Australia. April’s number are below; 11 countries were visited by 9 beats; Australia, USA, UK, India, Serbia, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Uruguay, Brazil, NewZealand and Argentina. Their 185 checklists contained 951 species during April!
During March, 11 beats shared 122 checklists to accumulate 680 species from 8 countries; USA, Costa Rica, Serbia, India, Australia, NewZealand, UK and Japan. NewZealand King Shag – Phalacrocorax carunculatus. Ulva Island, South Island NewZealand. NewZealand Kaka – Nestor meridionalis.
Last year they shared over 1200 checklists and managed to achieve a stunning total of 2647 species from 32 countries. Last year’s magnificent total of 2647 species is the target to beat, but other results could prove interesting. 1499 species were seen in the eastern hemisphere in 2016. Cattle Egret – Bubulcus ibis.
10 countries were birded by 9 beats and 892 species were noted from 144 checklists. NewZealand Scaup – Aythya novaeseelandiae. NewZealand Grebe – Poliocephalus rufopectus. NewZealand King Shag – Phalacrocorax carunculatus. Cattle Egret – Bubulcus ibis. 23 May 2018.
During October, 7 countries (Costa Rica, Australia, USA, India, Hong Kong, UK, Serbia) were birded by 11 beats who shared 135 checklists and noted 697 species. NewZealand Grebe – Poliocephalus rufopectus. Cattle Tyrant – Machetornis rixosa. NewZealand King Shag – Phalacrocorax carunculatus.
They noted 598 species as a team, bringing the year total to 2118 and pushing the life list to 3555. NewZealand Grebe – Poliocephalus rufopectus. Cattle Tyrant – Machetornis rixosa. NewZealand King Shag – Phalacrocorax carunculatus. NewZealand Kaka – Nestor meridionalis.
146 shared checklists (an increase on last year’s 97, well done chaps) noted 664 species (ooooh, down on 826 from last February) and brought the yearly total to 1063 (1303 at this time in 2016, ouch!). NewZealand Scaup – Aythya novaeseelandiae. Cattle Egret – Bubulcus ibis. 15 Jan 2017. Western Australia.
978 species were tallied this month from 163 checklists. Only 123 species appear on both sides of the life list. NewZealand Scaup – Aythya novaeseelandiae. NewZealand Grebe – Poliocephalus rufopectus. NewZealand Pigeon – Hemiphaga novaeseelandiae. That’s just 3.35%.
April was a busy time for the beats with 10 of them contributing 164 lists to accumulate 744 species from 7 countries; Costa Rica, USA, Australia, Serbia, UK, Brazil and Barbados. NewZealand Fantail – Rhipidura fuliginosa. Cattle Egret – Bubulcus ibis. NewZealand Pigeon – Hemiphaga novaeseelandiae.
The year list ends on a provisional (some beats will be birding ’til the final whistle to try and salvage a ravaged year) 1803 species from 1602 checklists submitted by 12 beats from 16 countries. Imagine that, 13 lists per year where once there were only 12.
In reverse order, the medals were awarded for “most species seen in a country”, to Australia with 420, USA got the silver, scoring 556 while the runaway winner was Costa Rica with 646 species. NewZealand Scaup – Aythya novaeseelandiae. NewZealand Grebe – Poliocephalus rufopectus.
Thus; As at April 30 th 2017, the collaborative year total stands at 1432 , with 895 species noted this month from 164 shared checklists. 9 beats contributed their sightings (this knocks last April’s efforts of 116 lists for 672 species into a cocked hat and claws back some ground on the 30th April 2016 running total of 1707).
All birds are equal on this list; parking lot birds or pelagic species, breeders or fly-overs, all will be accorded the same status and each shall be worth 1 credit on the list. NewZealand Scaup – Aythya novaeseelandiae. NewZealand Grebe – Poliocephalus rufopectus. Cattle Egret – Bubulcus ibis.
All birds are equal on this list; parking lot birds or pelagic species, breeders or fly-overs, all will be accorded the same status and each shall be worth 1 credit on the list. NewZealand Scaup – Aythya novaeseelandiae. NewZealand Grebe – Poliocephalus rufopectus. Cattle Egret – Bubulcus ibis.
All birds are equal on this list; parking lot birds or pelagic species, breeders or fly-overs, all will be accorded the same status and each shall be worth 1 credit on the list. NewZealand Scaup – Aythya novaeseelandiae. NewZealand Grebe – Poliocephalus rufopectus. Cattle Egret – Bubulcus ibis.
All birds are equal on this list; parking lot birds or pelagic species, breeders or fly-overs, all will be accorded the same status and each shall be worth 1 credit on the list. NewZealand Scaup – Aythya novaeseelandiae. NewZealand Grebe – Poliocephalus rufopectus. Cattle Egret – Bubulcus ibis.
Despite recording 370 species during the month, the list total has advanced by just 45. Just to confuse things a little, only 14 newspecies were recorded since June 1 st. Cattle Tyrant – Machetornis rixosa. NewZealand King Shag – Phalacrocorax carunculatus. As at June 30 th , it stands at 1796.
All birds are equal on this list; parking lot birds or pelagic species, breeders or fly-overs, all will be accorded the same status and each shall be worth 1 credit on the list. NewZealand Scaup – Aythya novaeseelandiae. NewZealand Grebe – Poliocephalus rufopectus. Cattle Egret – Bubulcus ibis.
All birds are equal on this list; parking lot birds or pelagic species, breeders or fly-overs, all will be accorded the same status and each shall be worth 1 credit on the list. Cattle Tyrant – Machetornis rixosa. NewZealand Scaup – Aythya novaeseelandiae. NewZealand Grebe – Poliocephalus rufopectus.
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