Provenance

by Mike Stiles

It is every birder's dream to find the mega-rare bird, maybe a first for the county or the state, or better yet, one that is so rare it will attract birders from around the country. But, in order for the bird to be "officially" countable, that region's bird record committee must accept the sighting as valid.

I know, it's your list, add to it as you wish, but many birders would not add a bird to their own state list, for example, if it is not accepted into the official state list.

Those bird record committee members have a difficult job. Not only are they tasked to decide from written descriptions or (possibly poor) photographs if the bird in question is identified correctly, they must also consider a bird's provenance—where it comes from—because to be accepted a bird must be naturally occurring. An escaped bird or a bird considered to be assisted by humans in its journey would not be accepted.

As you can imagine, this can be a contentious issue, especially to the birder who first found the bird. Don Roberson, one of California's top birders and former member of the state's record committee, found California's first Swallow-tailed Gull in 1985. After several rounds through the committee, it was decided that this southern hemisphere gull was ship-assisted, and was not accepted.

Don made an impassioned plea to the committee for acceptance but which was rejected. His lengthy notes can be found here — Creagrus - Monterey Bay. It wasn't until a second Swallow-tailed Gull showed up near the Farrallon Islands 14 years later, that "Don's" bird was re-examined and accepted.

Another recent example of this provenance problem is the Hooded Crane, a bird that breeds in Siberia and winters in Japan.  Several of these cranes were found in North America in the last several years and the issue of natural occurrence arose immediately. Hooded Cranes are kept in some zoos and animal parks in the country, and zookeepers and managers of parks and crane rehabilitation centers were contacted. Even though some were reported missing, two states, Indiana and Tennessee, accepted their respective sightings into their state lists. As of this writing though, the American Birding Association has yet to accept any sightings of the crane into the North American list.

Interestingly, there is a national database, the International Species Information System (ISIS) that contains listings of animals held in zoos and other institutions. It is utilized by record committees when questions of natural occurrence arise to know if a certain species is held in captivity, and if  any have recently escaped.

We have some of the same problems locally. As I write this a Crested Caracara is being seen in Los Osos. This species occurs in Mexico and its range just peeks into the US in southern Arizona and Texas. It has been accepted in California's state list, but Curtis Marantz, another top birder and former records committee member, is of the opinion that all sightings in this state are suspect. He contends that these birds could have been held in captivity, possibly by a falconer.

Another bird, the Painted Bunting, with only a handful of sightings in San Luis Obispo County, is a much desired bird for any local lister. The problem is, the male is an incredibly beautiful bird and is commonly found as a cage bird and for sale in northern Baja California. Many sightings of males have not been accepted due to "natural occurrence questionable." Local birders all joke that if we see a Painted Bunting, we hope it's a female.

I don't envy the task of the bird record committee. This idea of determining provenance is a tricky call, and I understand the wisdom of erring on the side of caution. Just not on any bird I may happen to find.

Burrowing Owl on Banner by Cleve Nash

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