"Countability" of exotics is a recurring topic of discussion among birders
and the question is complicated by the differing attitudes of the
organizations interested in birds.  In general, "countability" is an issue
of interest only to the American Birding Association.  The American
Ornithologists' Union keeps a checklist for scientific purposes of birds
that regularly occur in a designated area of interest to them.  The aims of
that list are to provide a reference of the distribution and taxonomy of the
birds in that area and to standardize their names, both scientific and
vernacular. As Ned Keller points out, the goals of the OBRC are similar.

The ABA, however, is not a scientifc organization.  The aims of the AOU do
not suffice to settle questions of interest to listers; therefore, ABA
publishes its own checklist.

Briefly, the ABA Listing Rules Committee says you can count wild,
unrestrained birds found in the ABA area (which is incidentally NOT the same
as the AOU area) if they are on the ABA checklist.  Whether the bird is on
the ABA checklist is the purview of the ABA Checklist Committee.  There are
a number of rules governing the criteria for inclusion in the ABA checklist
and the process for including or demoting species.  The question of exotics
is one of the thorniest the committee deals with.  The criteria governing
the "establishment" of exotics can be found in its entirety here:

http://www.aba.org/checklist/exotics.html

The time requirement referred to by Ned Keller is 15 years, but just because
a species hangs around for 15 years does not make it _ipso facto_
"established".  Furthermore, once a species is "established," it is not
perpetually so.  In at least two cases (Black Francolin and Crested Mynah),
the populations eventually failed.  The ruling of the checklist committee
was that these failures were proof positive that the species was never
"established" and ABA listers were ordered to remove them from their lists.


Removing the Crested Mynah was a particularly contentious issue.  After all,
the bird had been a part of the urban ecosystem in Vancouver for more than a
century.  Is it then realistic to pretend that the bird never existed?  What
if in the far future, starlings die out in North America.  We may be ordered
to disregard a species whose introduction had profound effects on the
distribution and population levels of many "native" species.  Does that seem
right?

And what about my California Condor, seen in 1982 before all the wild
condors were "retrieved?"  By logical extension, I suppose it could be
argued that every bird is "introduced."  It is just that some were
"introduced" much longer ago. And eventually, all species die out.  Does the
extinction in the wild of the California Condor invalidate my experience of
this magnificent bird?  I think not.

Of course, this is only a matter of interest for records submitted to the
ABA for inclusion in their annual list of listers.  You personally are
entitled to count whatever you want: bats, B-52s, whatever.  On a trip to
Panama in 2007, my step-daughter and I stumbled across a Harpy Eagle on
Pipeline Road.  The bird was almost surely an escapee from a captive
breeding project, but that didn't dilute the thrill of my encounter with it
in the least.  That bird is definitely on my list.  When I submit my list
totals to ABA (a nasty habit it seem I cannot break, much harder than
quitting smoking), I'll just subtract one.

Cheers,

Bob

--
Robert D Powell
Congress Farm Research Institute
Wilmington, OH, USA
[log in to unmask]
http://rdp1710.wordpress.com

Nulla dies sine aves

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