18th December 2010
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With more snow overnight I contented myself with a walk around the Golden Triangle, finding three Waxwings, a Fieldfare and three flyover Cormorants.
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Looking on Birdguides as I listen to the Norwich match on the radio I see that the Lesser White-fronted Goose has been seen again today, but a caveat has been put on that there has been an escaped one at Buckenham since August. From what I understand, this is not the case. The bird that has been there since the summer was a hybrid, and not the bird that is with the Taigas. That certainly doesn't prove that the LWFG is wild, but it seems that people are going over the top in dismissing it. If I am wrong and there has been a feral pure Lesser White-front seen regularly at Buckenham this year then feel free to correct me. I would be interested in peoples views in general, so have set up a poll (on the right hand side). You have until Christmas Day, please vote for something or I'll be sad looking at a load of zeros at Christmas.
Look at past copies of the Norfolk Bird Report for info on LWFG numbers in the county.
ReplyDeleteI'm amazed it even made the pager. I did see that they removed 'mega' status quickly though.
I would point out that all of the category E sightings are reproduced "as is" - i.e. some could well be mis-ID'd, hybrids or ringed escapes. Allowing for this, I take your point that there are unringed feral/escaped LWFG in Norfolk.
ReplyDeleteMy issue is that if people automatically dismiss a LWFG occurring in the Yare Valley (which has a number of accepted records) with a flock of wild geese in December after strong Northerly winds then presumably they would dismiss any LWFG in the county as an escape. Does this mean that no-one believes LWFG can occur as a vagrant in Norfolk anymore? I maintain that there is probably no way of proving a wild origin, but I would like to hear something more than "there are escaped birds in the county, therefore this bird is an escape."
Well, no one is saying it's an escape. I suspect most sensible people are of the opinion that you can't know and the LWFG situation in the county (where nowhere near all LWFG sightings in Norfolk will reach the pager or the bird report) make it even harder to know.
ReplyDeleteOf course it could occur as a vagrant. Proving it is near-impossible. For example, some of those birds over the last 20-30 years have spent time with wild geese so unless you get a ringed bird from the reintroduction project or, say, a neck-collared Russian bird, you're pretty much scuppered.
I agree with everything you have just said - except the first sentence. The results of my (very non-scientific poll) are that at least 10 people, 45% of the respondents, are saying that it is an escape. Anyway, we both agree that it is impossible to be sure of the birds origins (as it would be with any unringed wildfowl that has been recorded in Britain that was acting in a "wild" way). I see no reason why any LWFG in summer and/or with Greylags should reach the pager, but to come full circle and address your original comment, I can see why this one did reach it!
ReplyDeleteThank you for your input, and best wishes for the New Year.