I know, I know, always a question that provokes discussion, but I thought I’d ask anyway. Not wanting to argue, just interested in people’s opinions.
I’m currently in Wellington and just got back from a trip to Zealandia sanctuary. This is a place on the outskirts of Wellington where they have built a predator-proof fence and reintroduced some of the species that were originally there, as well as a couple from other parts of the country. These birds are free-flying (apart from the takahe which is flightless) and most have now been breeding in the sanctuary for between 5 and 10 years.
So, can I legitimately count on my life list the birds that I saw in the sanctuary (apart from the takahe which I wouldn’t count as it is definitely ‘in captivity’)? Is seeing the birds in this sanctuary any different from going to Kapiti Island, where many of the same birds have been reintroduced?
Regards, Koren
Koren Mitchell Sent from my iPad ===============================
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I would suggest the description ‘birder’ hardly fits…
Regards, Clive.
Yes – how can we track the spread of ferals if people don’t record them?
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I ticked my first nankeen night heron at Melbourne Zoo, but it was a free bird that flew on to one of the lemur islands.
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Tony, I have always thought the way you segregated introduced-species into a separate list had tones of an earlier era when Nelson Mandela was still in prison… However at least you acknowledge they exist. I know of a birder who point blank refuses to acknowledge that Feral Pigeons/Rock Pigeons/Rock Doves (whatever you choose to call them) actually exist in Australia. Won’t even report them on Birdata mapping surveys – which hardly helps monitor the birds properly!
Cheers, Ed
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Hi Koren (and everyone else),
Generally speaking, it’s your list, so your rules. I think that if you tick a House Sparrow in Melbourne, then you’re also fine to tick anything translocated in New Zealand. I have a couple of friends who consider me to have a fascist list policy in that I don’t tick introduced species (I keep them on a separate list), so I finally added Spotted Dove and Common Myna last week when passing through Singapore, rather than ticking them in Sydney. However, I understand that makes me a bit odd… Sadly, it looks like being a very long time until I can add something to my Australian list as I’m now in the cold dark islands of the North for at least the next two years. I’m just quite pleased that my last Australian tick was an Australian Bittern! Cheers,
Tony
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Quite agree Sonja – whilst clearly captive stuff is usually not tickable, anything wild (which often flies in and out of the cages – eg Red-browed Finches at Serendip Sanctuary) I regard as perfectly tickable. But I think the question was more about ticking birds from breeding programs that have been released. If they are free to come and go and are breeding in the wild then I would say yes. (If anyone disagrees then I would ask you to question any OBP, Regent HE etc sightings you may have made). Even things like Kiwi which cannot fly are possibly “tickable” in my book – Zealandia (a great place to visit) is basically an island surrounded by a fence not water, and if you can tick a Kiwi on an island where it may have been reintroduced then how different is this place?
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Hi gentlemen,
Regarding zoos, I think your view is slightly restrictive, as these days zoos are often well vegetated and attract wild, free birds that just pass through or benefit from seeds etc intended for display animals/birds.
For example, at the Australia Zoo, we saw on one scarlet bottlebrush outside any caged area, Blue-faced and Scarlet Honeyeaters, Little Friarbirds and Nosiy Miners. I’m interested to know if you would leave them off your list if they were the first and only time you saw them on a flying visit to Brisbane, for example, and you hadn’t seen them before?
It’s all a bit challenging, especially in view of Nikolas’ 1st paragraph which I tend to agree with.
Sonja
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Hi Koren,
With regards to NZ, I personally think that it is much more fun to see birds in their natural habitat (even though it is man-made natural habitat) than in degraded habitat dominated by European tree monocultures and lawns. So, even if these birds are (re-)introduced, to Tiritiri, Kapiti, Zealandia etc. the actual experience there is much more ‘real’ than seeing the same species in their natural range in ‘unreal’ habitat. I thought that birding the North Island is very depressive since the majority of the place is destroyed, same accounts for large parts of the South Island, too
Of course, I also wouldn’t “carry my little black book into a zoo”, Alistair! Although I remember that as a kid I ‘ticked’ a number of wild American birds attracted to the great conditions in an African Safari Park near San Diego.
Cheers, Nikolas
Only you can decide.
I’ve seen Gouldian Finch at Mareeba Wetlands. 50 meters later I got to the “cage” where birds can enter and leave. Scratching.
Personally, when I’m heading to a zoo (or other form of “sanctuary”) I have don’t even carry my little black book.
Al
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