Losing ABA-area Species?

Of interest to ABA members who keep bird lists for Florida and for the ABA Area, the Florida Records Committee (FOSRC) has received proposals to delist three introduced bird species that, as far as I can determine, only occur in the ABA Area on the official Florida state checklist.  The three species are: White-winged Parakeet, Budgerigar, and Red-whiskered Bulbul, all with populations that are small and whose numbers have declined noticeably since they were added to the official Florida list. These species, plus Muscovy Duck and Spot-breasted Oriole, have never been evaluated to determine if they meet the FOSRC criteria to be considered established exotics.

 FOSRC rules state (part 5b of Appendix A)

5b.  “When reviewing an Established Exotic for possible Disestablishment, the Committee shall first publish a call for evidence of the continued persistence of a viable population of that species in Florida and should allow sufficient time, not less than one year, for that evidence to be collected and provided by the Society’s members and others."  After at least one year of fact-finding, the FOSRC may decide to remove any or all of these species, and if delisted in Florida, the ABA Checklist Committee would likely follow suit. From the Smithsonian Guide to the Birds of North America [Budgerigar] “is established and formerly numerous in Florida, but numbers have declined by more than 99%...; [White-winged Parakeet] is established in Florida, but population declining there; also present in California (not on the CA checklist); Red-whiskered Bulbul]… a small population established in Miami area since early 1960s; a few in L.A. area since late 1960s (not on CA checklist).”

We will have to wait to find out more about the fate of these species on the ABA Checklist.

Comments

[Birder]

Hope not, almost at 700 in the ABA Area. If they take off birds, I'll never make it to 700!!

[Derek]

Would the potential "de-listing" effect anyone's lifelist though? If Birder has seen all 3 species while on the official Florida and ABA list, why wouldn't they remain countable on his/her life list. The species aren't being lumped with another. I would assume they would remain on the ABA Checklist but be changed to Category 6, Extinct in the Wild; similar to California Condor. Or is the problem just because they are established exotics?

[Greg Neise]

@Birder-

If a species is de-listed then it's removed from the ABA list until it either re-establishes itself, or occurs as a natural vagrant.

Native species that go extinct are not de-listed.

But I don't know what happens if you have a species that's introduced, then de-listed, then occurs as a natural vagrant. Are you allowed to count the introduced birds you saw?