Today I would like to take up one of the greatest ethical dilemmas of our age and one that I am surprised the Donald has not tweeted about more regularly.
I consider myself a man of good ethics and solid principles and
these have been put to the test over the last few days with regards to what can
be “ticked” or not.
The first dilemma concerns “tickable views”. This is a common
dilemma for a birder or twitcher and many a birder has scoffed over what
they know (or at least think) others have ticked based on (very) poor views. I
had this dilemma twice on Værøy last year with PG Tips and Pechora Pipit where
the identification of the bird was not in doubt but my views were poor. This year
I had the same dilemma with the Savi’s Warbler which was a Norwegian tick
although not a lifer. Kjell, the finder, had seen the bird very well and the ID
was secured but my views were very brief. I did see it was grey/brown and
unstreaked on the back and undertail coverts (it had its tail cocked) and that
its jizz and behaviour were typical acro but is that enough for a Norwegian
tick? I think so…
The second dilemma occurred yesterday when I saw a Red-crested Pochard
that had been found near Oslo.
 |
| eclipse male Red-crested Pochard |
This species is the classic
plastic wildfowl with it being a very popular bird in captivity and also one
that has established feral populations many places. So, the question is whether
this is a wild bird and therefore “tickable” or an escaped bird and therefore
“plastic” and untickable on official lists. I have always been very sceptical
of other records of this species in Norway with the species often turning up
with Mallards and some being very photogenic. The bird in question is also with
Mallards (a particularly large flock which today numbered 400 but was over 1000
at the weekend). All photos have been long range so no suggestions of it being
tame (yet) but was doesn’t do this bird any favours is that what must be the
same bird was seen very close by on 21 July which is not a particularly
promising date for wild vagrancy and begs the question as to where it has been in the meantime.
Here the decision of the national rarities committee (where I sit) will
determine this birds fate although based on precedence I would expect it go
into Category A (wild bird).
The third dilemma is one that perhaps fewer people will understand
and concerns ticking a bird in the hand. The Siberian Thrush on Værøy was not
surprisingly a lifer for me but is it really tickable? It is my understanding
that Dutch listing rules do not allow ringed birds to be ticked (even after
they have been released) but I do not know the reasoning behind this. For me
though it is a matter of ethics in so far as I do not think ringing purely in
the pursuit of a rare bird (and tick) should be allowed. This is because
trapping/ringing is an activity that is intrinsically bad for the bird and can
only be justified (in my mind) where the ringing will potentially give data
that can be helped in conservation – potentially sacrificing one bird for the
good of many.
Trapping that is solely focused on the hope of finding a rarity is
not good as there is no conservation value in the trapping of the single vagrant although if other
birds are regularly trapped, processed and ringed in the process then it can be argued
that some useful data is being
collected. The intentional trapping of a bird that has already been found and
documented in the field and which is usually stressed into the net can in no way
be justified though and is done purely to satisfy individual peoples desires
with no thought given to the bird. In some countries this isn’t allowed and
from what I read the BTO in the UK is cracking down on this type of trapping
with people losing their licences. In Norway however I would go as far as
saying that the main motivation for the majority of ringing is to find a
rarity. It is also allowed under “self-found” rules in Norway to include birds that you
have pulled out of a net which is just an absurdity and undermines the
perceived value of the list as a proxy for how good you are as a field birder.
The pictures I have posted of me and the Siberian Thrush tell their
own tale and I was clearly mighty happy to see the bird and be photographed
with it. The extreme rarity of the species in Europe and its mythical status
amongst birders clearly got the better
of me and principles seem to have been forgotten for a moment. For someone who
is anti rarity ringing I did get rather carried away although I do envy John the honour of trapping the bird. He had been out patrolling
the nets for 11 hours ringing large numbers of Redpolls and Yellow-browed
Warblers (30!) and on the last round of the day the bird was hanging in the net all
of its own accord. But should I tick it? It is not a question of self-found
tick as I was not at the net when it was discovered but should I refuse to
tick a ringed bird out of principle? I was sat in the house cracking open a can
of IPA after having given up birding for the day and had already done the
washing up that was overflowing in the sink. I didn’t even have to move more
than 10 meters to see the bird – it was driven to me in a bag! Seeing it in the
field after release did ease my conscience a tiny bit.
I’m sure that you are glad to see that I have chosen to address
ethics and principles that are of utmost importance to the world we live in ;-)
