Is it Countable?

[Trillian Flummox]

Not a lot of birding going on for me lately and not a lot of activity here on the forums, so here's a funny blog post for you to enjoy:

http://www.thebirdist.com/2013/06/is-this-bird-aba-countable.html

[thouc]

Thanks for posting, really funny  :lol:

[newfoundlander61]

Thats funny. It reminds of seeing and photographing a Ibis species in ontario a while back and I sent in a cd full of images to the ofo along with a rare bird report. About 6 months later they contacted me and said they could not accept the report. I won't be sending in any again for anything, too much politics.

[Rotarran]

That is very funny.  Yeah the rules are complicated and I get most of them.  But there is one instance where a sighting of mine was not counted on ebird and that's of the Muscovy Duck.  To me it hits all the criteria for a countable bird:
1. Does it live, unassisted by humans, in the wild? -  yes
2. Does it eat, sleep and procreate in the wild?  - yes
3. Does it have an extensive and sustainable population in the wild? - yes

I get that it is an offshoot of a domestic version of the Muscovy Duck...but now feral populations have established themselves in the wild and have become part of the eco-system.  They are wild again.  Plus I think it's a countable bird in the United States.  But not in Ontario apparently.  So my personal list is currently 1 higher than my OFO list.  I wonder if they'll ever revise this current ruling.

[thouc]

Probably doesn't fulfill all the requiremetns set out here:

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