| Expedition
Birding
The Check-list |
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Fellow
birders.
Below
follows a slightly longer message about the score system, than
the one that was sent out to various lists as an introduction
to “EXPEDITION BIRDING”. This message contains the
complete set of rules. All in all the score system reflects the
conservation need of the bird and the need for more visitors to
the areas where an expedition birding bird has been found. While
this score system is an incentive to travel to see rare birds
off the beaten track, one does not have to keep scores to be an
expedition birder. The score system is merely a general guideline
to help the birder making the right choices and lure him off the
beaten track. His/her observations and the mere presence at the
birding site, will in this way have a greater value and importance
for the local economies and for the conservation of the threatened
birds.
Please don’t get me wrong. I am not a fanatic lister. The
expedition birding concept has been created to make list keeping
a purposeful and legitimate conservation tool not to be ashamed
of.
The
Expedition Birding forum is for the discussion of threatened (RDB
species) and endemic (EBA species), as well as newly discovered
or rediscovered species, world wide. Share your sightings, report
discoveries and expeditions and post trip report summaries where
these birds are mentioned. Send an empty e-mail to expeditionbirding-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
To
make the birding and listing more purpose-full I hereby present
an idea that would both help bird conservation and promote direct
benefit and income to some of the poorest areas on the globe.
The listers will be an asset for bird conservation. During the
last 15 years of birdwatching and expeditions in Peru I have found
that going to unknown places and looking for little known birds
is absolutely the most rewarding birding there is.
Expedition
Birding ought to be spread around, as a very rewarding way of
birding and which could have tremendous impact for bird conservation
around the globe.
If
the competitiveness among some birders could be used as an asset
for directing them to where their presence would have most positive
impact on local eco-tourism and conservation projects dealing
with threatened birds, this may just make the difference. It would
promote birders going on expeditions into relatively unknown areas
to find endemic and rare birds. The result would be conservation
through avi-tourism to remote areas with relatively few bird species,
but highly endemic and threatened species. These focused birders
would be the fore-troops that would allow local investments to
cater for more comfort demanding birders in a near future.
Dr.
Jon Fjeldså has developed a system of scoring study sites
in terms of the rarity and the endemism in the birds present,
to be able to compare the conservation value between different
sites in the Andes. Generalists and common widespread birds do
not get any points, while rare (threatened) and endemic birds
get high scores.
I
suggest that a similar system can be applied to World birding
to create a comparative measure of the quality of one’s
list. Most threatened birds of the world would gain in a more
continuous flow of visitors to see these. The more threatened
the bird, the more it would gain from an increased flow of birders
to come and see the same. The money generated through small entrance
fees to conservation units would support local conservation projects.
One could easily imagine the creation of general ecotourism income
locally in terms of providing basic services of transport, guides,
horses, porters, food, shelter, etc even in the most remote areas.
Only very rarely would world birders be a problem for the species...and
in the cases where disturbance may have negative impact, the bird
watching could easily be channeled in a way to minimize these
effects and still allow for the generation of funds through visiting
birders. If the conservation guidelines are set so no visits can
be allowed for any what-so-ever reason these must be followed.
If you break any rules to see a species, do not follow the set
guidelines or sneak into a strict reserve, you should not count
these points in your expedition birding list. The whole purpose
behind this game is that it should be a benefit for the threatened
birds – not a threat.
The
following score system should be seen as the bird’s need
of conservation attention. The score
system has been modified from the original proposal!
10
points.
discovery of a new species, rediscovery of a generally thought
or suspected to be extinct species or species without sightings
the last 30 years. In some cases (such as Ivory-billed and Imperial
Woodpeckers) where there have been a number of searches for a
species without success a re-encountered population of these shall
also give 10 points.
8 points: Update of rules.
Runner-up expedition to bird yet to be described. 8 points countable
until the new species is published. There is a risk that a bird
in this category will prove not to be a good species and consequently
the points will be lost. On the other hand the information collected
by runner-up expeditions can help the discoverers to get the description
going.
7 points: Update of rules.
To achieve the points in this category there is 5 year limit after
the publication starting from the year after description. Thus
a species published as new to science in February 2000 will be
accountable for 7 points until the end of 2005. Thus during 2004
you may count species described as new to science in 1999. For
rediscovered species – the period counts from the year after
the publication year of the rediscovery. In some cases it may
be that the rediscovery is announce widely on the internet rather
than a printed journal.
If a newly discovered or rediscovered species does not generate
much traffic of birders and there are years when no birders or
ornithologists visit the area (remote islands or remote peaks)
added years for each year without observation is granted. (For
example, a species described in 1997 with no sightings in 1998
and 1999, but with sightings every year between 2000-2003 (four
years) does still give 8 points in 2004). There may also be restrictions
to visit an area for political or conservation reasons. In such
cases there will also be a year added for each year a species
has been off limits. However, the awkwardness of trying to find
out if there have been years without observations forces us to
make a limit to birds described or re-discovered 1994 or later.
Birds described or re-discovered before this count five years
in the way as mentioned above, unless it is obvious that no or
very few additional sightings (traceable) have been made..
5
points: RDB - Critically Threatened.
Also adding substantial data to Data Deficient birds so it will
get a true threat status by BirdLife International, is rewarded
with five points. It could for instance be finding the nesting
area of DD seabirds or other data that can be used for a more
proper status treatment.
3 points: RDB - Endangered
2 points: Red Data Book - Vulnerable
Undoubtedly getting the World Birders to focus on threatened birds
would be an
asset for bird conservation, both their skills in ID and collecting
valuable ecological data, as well as spreading eco-tourism dollars
to where it is most needed.
1 point: Endemic Bird Area (Statterfield et al)
species and Near Threatened
species regardless if they are endemic or not. Simple observation
of Data
Deficient birds.
The
score at the time of observation is the score that counts. If
the bird later becomes re-classified to a different threat level,
your score would not become higher or lower, but remain the same
as it was at the time of observation (the exception is if a non-described
taxon is better considered a subspecies than true species one
would loose the 8 points collected). The next time an expedition
birder plans a trip somewhere, he would look to where the birds
are that have the highest score. Very subtly, the attention has
been changed from trying to get as many lifers as possible to
getting as high score as possible – and it is especially
important to go for the high score birds first. The attention
is turned towards the birds that most need attention. The increased
stream of birders going for the most threatened and the newly
discovered birds can all of a sudden mean the economical difference
for some people living close to the where-about of the species
searched for. With observation of the critically threatened species
also comes a responsibility. Should a bird species become extinct
in the wild – the points that one may have attained for
this species previously, will be lost. One could easily imagine
specific funds for the most critically threatened birds, where
the people who have seen them could make annual contributions
for the protection of such and such species.
The attractiveness with this listing system compared to other
listing is that your total count of your list could be seen as
a conservation score or factor. Comparing just overall numbers
of birds has more to do how much money and time you have spent
on your bird-trips. It seems like many of these trips focus on
spending as little time as possible on each bird, in order to
have more time to look as little as possible at a maximum number
of bird species. It is not necessarily the most expensive bird-trip
to the most mega-diverse locality that will give the highest Expedition
Birding score. Island birding is particularly rewarding. Comparing
Expedition Birding points make one feel that one have contributed
to the overall conservation of threatened birds and their habitats.
For
some species it may be necessary to upgrade their RDB status if
new data is provided that the situation is worse than feared.
If expedition birders have left important information and documentation
that contributes to the decision of an upgrade (based on IUCN
criteria and published by BirdLife International on a regulare
bases), such an observer/data provider may count the new score
the bird receives in the next update.
Those
who have seen this bird previously, when it had a low threat status
and have not contributed with new data will not be able to count
the extra points, unless they go and see it again for a second
time. In this latter case – another observation after a
score increase – will allow you to count the higher score.
The
Expedition Birding bird list with species from around the world
(currently 3712 species) has been posted on www.birding-peru.com/forums/expeditionbirding.
This list is interactive, so you can register your own observations
and see how many points you have. There are also Excel sheets
available in the “files section” for the recently
described species, rediscovered species and species still to be
formally described. If you can help us supply data of observation
years for newly described and rediscovered species, this help
will be greatly appreciated. Send updates and info to Gunnar Engblom
kolibriexp@telefonica.net.pe.
We are in the final stage of providing different search tools.
You will be able to list scores country by country. You will be
able to register your score for your personal trips and compare
which trip has given you the highest score. And so on.
Expedition Birding is housed now on www.birding-peru.com
but this is a temporary solution. In a near future expedition
birding should have its own web-page operated from it own server.
Also, your observations will be available to other birders and
to BirdLife International as well as local conservation units
to take appropriate measures for the conservation of particular
species.
The
score system has been built using the following literature. Purchase
these and support BirdLife International. They are great to understand
the underlying principles of Expedition Birding.
EBA
birds are listed in Stattersfield et al (1998) "Endemic Bird
Areas of the World". BirdLife International
RDB
scores.
For 1988: Observations made prior to 1994: see Birds to Watch
(1988). International
Council for Bird Conservation. Technical Publication No. 8. But
categories of Birds to Watch 2 applies (CR, EN, VU). Species not
treated within a RDB category in Birds to Watch 2 have been classified
as VU (2 points) in the 1988 column.
For 1994: Observations 1994-October 2000. Birds to watch 2(1994).
BirdLife
International.
For 2001. Observations after Nov 1, 2000. Threatened Birds of
the World (2000). BirdLife
International.
Future
observations can be judged by frequent updates from BirdLife International
(available on line).
http://www.birdlife.net/action/science/species/globally_tbu/gtbu_main.html
Following the links you will find discussion forums for changes
in status of a number of birds. Obviously it will be hard to draw
a guide-line how to do with species that are suggested to become
upgraded. Say for instance that you go to see one of these birds
currently considered VU which is suggested to become upgraded
and listed either as Endangered or Critical. If you provide your
observation details to Birdlife International you may count the
additional points the species may receive in the update. For species
that are considered to be down-graded you may still count the
high score until the final list is published. But please, send
your observations nevertheless to birdlife through the forums.
Observations
from 2003 onwards: http://www.birdlife.net/action/science/species/globally_tbu/details.xls
The
e-group for Expedition Birding is meant to promote focused world
birding and to keep us all updated on various expeditions to rare
and endemic birds around the world. Trip report summaries are
most welcome, and special feats to see the rarest birds on earth
will be exciting to learn about. Go ahead – brag about your
latest hi-score birds. Once again, subscribe by sending an e-mail
to expeditionbirding-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.
You may leave the title and the body blank.
Happy
EXPEDITION BIRDING
Saludos
Gunnar
Engblom
Kolibri Expeditions
www.kolibriexpeditions.com
kolibriexp@telefonica.net.pe
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