The
Ornithological Society of New Zealand Rare Birds Committee
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The
Ornithological Society of New Zealand Rare Birds Committee |
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| Seen a Rare Bird and want to report it fast - email the Regional Representative within the region the bird was seen, or Brent Stephenson, or better still - BOTH! Not sure whether it is Rare or unusual for the Region/Country, email us anyway. Reporting forms can be downloaded below and submitted in due course. | |
| Click here to go straight to the lists.... | |
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The
following is an outline of the presentation by David Medway to the Scientific
Day gathering in Napier on 4 June 2000. |
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| To see a rare or unusual bird is always
a thrill for birdwatchers, no matter how experienced they may be. Many of
us hope that will happen to us every time we go out in the field, but most
of us are only occasionally rewarded with such a bird. To have one’s
sighting of a rare or unusual bird accepted, and the record published, is
an additional pleasure. The Society’s Rare Birds Committee has been in existence for about 25 years – the first published report was for 1974-75. The Committee then consisted of four members. In that year it received only six submissions for consideration. Published annual reports of the Committee for the next few years show that only a few sightings were considered by the Committee in each of those years. The Committee currently consists of eight members appointed by Council for a three-year term – a Convenor and seven others all of whom have voting rights. The function of the Committee is to consider reports of rare or unusual birds seen in New Zealand. The Committee is the sole authority within the Society for the recognition of such records. Those species requiring consideration include any that are not in the current Checklist of the Birds of New Zealand (1990), as well as a number of those included in the Checklist which are still considered to be rare or unusual in this country. The last list of birds to be reported to the Committee was that published in OSNZ news No. 63 in June 1992. The list is currently under review and a revised list will be published in Southern Bird in due course (the revised list is also currently available on this site - click here). The Committee remains prepared to consider reports of any birds that are unusual to the observer, but sightings of those not on the reviewed list should be checked first with Regional Representatives or Regional Recorders who may very well be able to identify them without the need to refer them to the Committee for its consideration. Records of species new to New Zealand will not be included in the Checklist until they have been accepted by the Committee. Neither should they, or records of any other species included in the reviewed list, be accepted for publication in Notornis, including in Classified Summarised Notes, until they have been accepted by the Committee. One of the problems arising from inclusion before acceptance is that such records are often quoted in other ornithological literature, and thereby even incorrect records can find their way into that literature at which point it would probably be very difficult, if not impossible, to correct them. Therefore, the editors of the Society’s publications, and Regional Representatives and Regional Recorders and the compilers of Classified Summarised Notes, must be very careful to ensure that no such records find their way into the formal literature of the Society until they have been confirmed by the Committee. An Unusual Bird Report form, which may undergo some revision, is to be used wherever possible in the interests of uniformity when reporting sightings to the Committee for its consideration. These forms can be obtained from Regional Representatives or Regional Recorders or myself (or from this website - click here). They provide for such details as the observer’s name, and the names of any other observers, the date, place, habitat, duration of observation, aids used, description of bird, including its plumage, behaviour, etc. Details should be those obtained while the bird was under observation and should be as complete as possible. Even seemingly unimportant details can turn out to be most useful. A sketch of the bird showing its principal features can usefully be included. This need not be a work of art. Good photos and/or video are invaluable in enabling the true identity of a bird to be determined with certainty. Reports received by the Convenor fall into various categories. In cases where there is no doubt about the identity of the bird involved, and this can be the case even with some rarely sighted birds, the Convenor can confirm the record on behalf of the Committee without needing to circulate the report among members for their consideration. In all other cases, a copy of the report and any accompanying documentation is circulated among members, and they are given a period of time within which to get their comments back to the Convenor. In the case of first New Zealand records, Committee members need to be unanimous before such records can be accepted. With other than first New Zealand records, generally the requirement is that two-thirds of members must agree on identity before acceptance. In cases of difficulty, expert opinion can be sought from within or outside New Zealand. It is intended to publish six-monthly reports in Southern Bird showing the status of records then before the Committee for consideration. In addition, a report will be published annually in Notornis describing the more significant records accepted by the Committee during the previous year. This will not, of course, prevent the observers of those birds from separately publishing their own accounts after their records have been accepted by the Committee. Thirty reports have so far been received by the Committee for 2000. This is considerably more than is normal for this time of year. Whether this is a reflection of knowledge that the Committee is up and running again, or whether it is because more rare or unusual birds have been seen recently by members, or both, is not known. However, processing of records is now up to date. Therefore, do not hesitate to complete and send in reports requiring consideration by the Committee, preferably through your Regional Representative or Regional Recorder who will vet them first and add his or her comments. DAVID MEDWAY Convenor, Rare Birds Committee 25A Norman Street New Plymouth |
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The list below
includes only species currently on the New Zealand
Checklist. Any species not on the list below, and which are not currently
on the New Zealand Checklist should also be reported, as they could be
potential 'first sightings' in this country. Please also check the New
Zealand Recognised Bird Names (NZRBN) database held at http://bird.org.nz/nzrbn.htm |
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For a rare birds reporting form in either PDF (8K) or Word RTF (72K) format please click on the icons below. |
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Reporting form |
Reporting form |
A copy of the list below can also be
downloaded in PDF and Word format, by clicking on the icons below. |
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| Reportable species | |
| Little Spotted Kiwi | except Kapiti Island |
| Great Crested Grebe | in north South Island and in North Island |
| New Zealand Dabchick | in South Island |
| Hoary-headed Grebe | |
| Australasian Little Grebe | except Northland |
| Black-footed Albatross | |
| Yellow-nosed Mollymawk | except Northland and Bay of Plenty |
| North Atlantic Shearwater | |
| Pink-footed Shearwater | |
| Wedge-tailed Shearwater | except Kermadecs |
| Christmas Island Shearwater | |
| Manx Shearwater | |
| South Georgian Diving Petrel | except Codfish Island |
| Tahiti Petrel | |
| Snow Petrel | |
| Antarctic Petrel | |
| Fulmar Prion | |
| Stejneger's Petrel | |
| Pycroft's Petrel | except Hauraki Gulf and Coromandel |
| New Caledonian Petrel | |
| Chatham Island Petrel | |
| White-naped Petrel | |
| Juan Fernandez Petrel | |
| Phoenix Petrel | |
| Kermadec Petrel | except Kermadecs |
| Providence Petrel | |
| Magenta Petrel | |
| White-headed Petrel | |
| Soft-plumaged Petrel | except Antipodes |
| Leach's Storm Petrel | |
| Black-bellied Storm Petrel | except Sub-Antarctics |
| White-bellied Storm Petrel | except Kermadecs |
| Penguins (all taxa as per checklist except Blue) | except their respective breeding grounds |
| Red-tailed Tropicbird | except Kermadecs |
| White-tailed Tropicbird | |
| Australian Pelican | |
| Brown Booby | |
| Masked Booby | except Kermadecs |
| New Zealand King Shag | except Marlborough Sounds |
| Chatham Island Shag | except Chatham Islands |
| Bounty Island Shag | except Bounty Island |
| Auckland Island Shag | except Auckland Islands |
| Campbell Island Shag | except Campbell Island |
| Macquarie Island Shag | except Macquarie Island |
| Pitt Island Shag | except Chatham Islands |
| Darter | |
| Greater Frigatebird | |
| Lesser Frigatebird | |
| White-necked Heron | |
| Little Egret | |
| Intermediate Egret | |
| Nankeen Night Heron | |
| Little Bittern | |
| Glossy Ibis | |
| Australian White Ibis | |
| Yellow-billed Spoonbill | |
| Grass Whistling Duck | |
| Cape Barren Goose | |
| Chestnut-breasted Shelduck | |
| Australian Wood Duck | |
| Brown Teal | in areas south of Great Barrier (not Kapiti) |
| Northern Shoveler | |
| White-eyed Duck | |
| Pink-eared Duck | |
| Blue-billed Duck | |
| Nankeen Kestrel | |
| Black Falcon | |
| Bobwhite Quail | |
| Red-legged Partridge | |
| Grey Partridge | |
| Auckland Island Rail | except Adams Island |
| Black-tailed Native-hen | |
| Dusky Moorhen | |
| Takahe | except Fiordland and introductions |
| Brolga | |
| Painted Snipe | |
| Black Stilt | except McKenzie Basin, Waitaki, Kawhia, Kaipara and Tauranga |
| Australian Red-necked Avocet | |
| Oriental Pratincole | |
| Red-capped Dotterel | |
| Ringed Plover | |
| Large Sand Dotterel | |
| Mongolian Dotterel | |
| Oriental Dotterel | |
| Red-kneed Dotterel | |
| Shore Plover | except South East Island (Chathams) |
| American Golden Plover | |
| Grey Plover | |
| New Zealand Snipe | except Auckland Island, Snares and Antipodes |
| Chatham Island Snipe | except Chathams |
| Japanese Snipe | |
| Great Knot | |
| Sandering | |
| Dunlin | |
| Baird's Sandpiper | |
| White-rumped Sandpiper | |
| Western Sandpiper | |
| Broad-billed Sandpiper | |
| Ruff | |
| Asiatic Dowitcher | |
| Little Whimbrel | |
| Bristle-thighed Curlew | |
| Black-tailed Godwit | |
| Hudsonian Godwit | |
| Upland Sandpiper | |
| Wandering Tattler | |
| Siberian Tattler | |
| Common Sandpiper | |
| Greenshank | |
| Marsh Sandpiper | |
| Lesser Yellowlegs | |
| Grey Phalarope | |
| Red-necked Phalarope | |
| Wilson's Phalarope | |
| Brown Skua | in areas north of Otago Peninsula |
| South Polar Skua | |
| Pomarine Skua | |
| Long-tailed Skua | |
| Whiskered Tern | |
| Gull-billed Tern | |
| Sooty Tern | except Kermadecs |
| Antarctic Tern | except Stewart Island and sub-Antarctic Islands |
| Fairy Tern | except Northland |
| Arctic Tern | |
| Crested Tern | |
| Common Tern | |
| Bridled Tern | |
| Common Noddy | |
| White-capped Noddy | except Kermadecs |
| Grey Ternlet | except Kermadecs |
| White Tern | except Kermadecs |
| Kakapo | except introductions |
| Red-crowned Parakeet | on the mainland except Northland |
| Oriental Cuckoo | |
| Pallid Cuckoo | |
| Fan-tailed Cuckoo | |
| Channel-billed Cuckoo | |
| Barn Owl | |
| Spine-tailed Swift | |
| Fork-tailed Swift | |
| Kookaburra | except north of Auckland city |
| Dollarbird | |
| Bush Wren | |
| Australian Tree Martin | |
| Fairy Martin | |
| Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike | |
| Australian White-winged Triller | |
| Red-vented Bulbul | |
| Yellowhead | except Fiordland and Arthur's Pass |
| Satin Flycatcher | |
| Stitchbird | except Little Barrier and introductions |
| Red Wattlebird | |
| Cirl Bunting | except eastern South Island |
| Kokako | in areas south of Taranaki |
| Saddleback | on the mainland |
| Masked Woodswallow | |
| White-browed Woodswallow | |
| This site is maintained by Brent
Stephenson and is copyrighted by the Ornithological Society of New Zealand
2000. All photos (unless otherwise stated) were taken by Brent Stephenson
@ Eco-Vista and are copyrighted
2002. Updated last on |
