looduskalender.ee

February 2nd

Siberian stonechat 17.05.2010 Vaisi, Läänemaa. (Margus Ots)

 

It is not particularly appealing to go out on birding trips In the hard frost and so for a couple of days I was busy with indoor tasks. We made a large number of decisions in the Estonian  Bird Rarities Committee (RC). And what is the Rarities Committee and how is its work done?

The RC works at the Estonian Ornithological Society (EOÜ) and the main task of the committee  is to check and evaluate reports of difficult to identify and rare species. In addition the RC administers the list of bird species and subspecies found in Estonia. 5 regular members and 4 substitute members belong to the committee. A substitute member is mostly called in when an observation made by any regular members is being processed. And there are many such observations because the RC members are active birdwatchers themselves. Per year the RC handles about 100-150 reports. In case of more difficult groups (as for instance gulls) expert opinion from specialists abroad is also sought. In some problematic cases, particularly when the observers are all, or nearly all, RC members we have also asked for an opinion from the Finnish RC.

If a species within the RC's authority is observed the observer submits all the data together with a detailed description of the bird and any material evidence (photos and similar) to the RC. After this the RC members individually check the reports and give their evaluation independently of each other. If at least four approvals are given and the fifth is not a refusal, the report is taken as approved; when at least three members have decided not to approve, the report counts as refused. In the remaining cases the report is discussed at an RC meeting and if needed a final decision is taken by vote. Evaluation of reports and decision-making is largely done by Internet. Generally we make the decisions within a couple of months, but often even within a few days.

We are frequently asked how much the RC committee members are paid for this work? Once more I can repeat that RC members are not paid for their work, all expenses connected with the activities of the committee are carried by the members themselves. In the RC a gang of hardcore enthusiasts have collected who are seriously interested in dealing with bird rarities. All RC members are also “hardcore birders” themselves, on finding some greater rarity almost the whole RC member list can be seen twitching  in the first few hours. Often a pending decision or two are then made too because it isn’t easy to meet otherwise – of the RC regular members one resides in Tartu, one in Tallinn, one in Pärnumaa and two even in Finland.

What was decided in the last few days? In the setting up of the list of Estonian bird species the RC follows the proposals presented by the  Association of European Rarities Committees Taxonomic Advisory Committee (AERC TAC). At the end of last year the AERCTAC  made several long-awaited decisions and the RC decided to employ the  AERC TAC 2011 proposals at once. With this a number of minor changes were made in the Estonian Bird Species list, but Estonia also gained one more bird species. The African stonechat (Saxicola torquatus) was split up  into several species, and the Estonian species list now has two species instead of one: Siberian stonechat (Saxicola maurus) and European stonechat (Saxicola rubicola). Both species are only aberrant visitors in Estonia and both have been seen about equally frequently, 9 times. There are now altogether 383 species (A-D categories) in the Estonian species list. All changes in the names in the species list can be seen on the  RC web page and all changes have also been introduced in the Estonian bird species list on the EOY web page.

In addition the RC read nearly 40 reports, of the most interesting observations for instance the following were approved:

Black brant  Kirde-mustlagle Branta bernicla nigricans

 26.09.2011 Ristna, Hiiu mk. ad. (Juho Könönen)

27.-29.09.2011 Ristna, Hiiu mk. ad. (Juho Könönen) (Photo).

3rd and 4th Estonian observations.

First rarity of the year– the grey phalarope. (Laoküla shore, Harjumaa, , 01.01.2012)

Grey phalarope; Puna-veetallaja, Phalaropus fulicarius

04.-05.12.2011 Jämaja, Saaremaa 1a (Uku Paal, Mariliis Märtson, Margus Ots) (Photo).

17.12.2011 Võiste, Pärnumaa 1a (Aivo Klein) (Foto), same specimen 18.-19.12.2011 Pikla, Pärnumaa (Tarvo Valker, Marko Valker jt.) (Photo).
31.12.2011-03.01.2012 Laoküla, Harjumaa 1a (Uku Paal and others) (Photo).

13th-15th Estonian observation, also 1.-3. winter month observation.

Short-toed lark;  Välja-väikelõoke, Calandrella brachydactyla

22.-24.10.2011 Haversi, Läänemaa (Tarvo Valker, Marko Valker, Uku Paal) (Photo).

6^th Estonian observation. 

Little bunting;  Väiketsiitsitaja, Emberiza pusilla

 17.09.2011 Sõrve säär, Saaremaa 1a (Jouni Saario) (Ringed, photo).

8^th Estonian observation.

In addition a number of observations, of booted warbler, light-bellied brent goose, long-tailed skua, yellow-legged gull, snow goose and other species were approved. All observations accepted by the RC are shown on the RC web page as before. Many rarity photos are shown in the  Estbirding rarities gallery.