Proposal
(690) to South American Classification Committee
Transfer Crex crex from Hypothetical List to Main
List
Effect on
South American CL: This
transfers a species from our Hypothetical List to the Main List.
Background: The species account in the
Hypothetical List is as follows:
“Photographed
on Fernando de Noronha, Brazil, 28 November 2012 (Burgos and Olmos
2013). SACC proposal badly needed.”
From Kleber de Burgos, http://www.burgos.com.br/]:
“[On 28 November 2012,
noticed a bird walking fast, but without trying to fly, from the plant-covered
reservoir [Açude do Xaréu, Fernando Noronha 03°51’60”S; 32°25’42”W] to the
surrounding forest and scrub about 15 m from his position. Realizing it was a
rail, [Kleber] quickly made a sequence of nine digital photographs [three of
these images are available in the article] before the bird disappeared into the
vegetation.”
Fernando de
Noronha has previously attracted several Palaearctic and African vagrants (e.g.
Silva e Silva & Olmos 2006). Crex crex now joins this
interesting group. Despite C. crex being
a long-distance migrant, Fernando de Noronha lies close to commercial shipping routes,
so the possibility of this bird being ship-assisted for all or part of its
journey cannot be excluded.
The original
paper of Burgos & Olmos (2013) is available at:
The best
photo of Noronha´s Corn Crake record is at:
http://www.wikiaves.com/1174069
The existence
of recent and almost regular records of Crex
crex in Iceland, the Azores, Newfoundland, and Labrador (also a photo from
2003 from Guadeloupe, Se. Caribbean) indicates a recurring movement pattern
westward from Europe (Howell et al. 2012, p. 207).
Because some
records from North America are not considered to ship-assisted (Howell et al.
2012, p. 23), I see no reason to treat the trans-Atlantic individual at
Fernando de Noronha any differently.
Literature Cited:
Burgos, K. & Olmos, F. 2013. First record of
Corncrake Crex crex (Rallidae) for South America. Revista Brasileira de Ornitologia, 21:
205-208.
Howell, S. N. G., Lewington, I., and Russell, W.
2014. Rare Birds of North America. Princeton University Press.
Silva e Silva, R. & Olmos, F. 2006. Noteworthy
bird records from Fernando de Noronha, northeastern Brazil. Revista
Brasileira de Ornitologia, 14: 470-473.
J. F. Pacheco, November 2015
=========================================================
Comments
from Remsen: “YES. This meets all criteria for inclusion in Main
List. As for the problem of
ship-assistance, I suspect a large percentage of all trans-oceanic vagrants
spend at least some time resting on ships (as do many landbirds crossing large
expanses of water), and there is no way to determine which have and have not. I
regard that as irrelevant anyway because natural floating debris and Sargassum has probably been used by
birds migrating over oceans “forever”; ships differ in that they are larger and
sturdier but otherwise function in a similar way. What counts is evidence of restraint
on a ship, i.e. humans capturing and restraining a migrating bird, and then
transporting it to a destination not on the bird’s itinerary.”
Comments
from Stiles: “YES – the
photos are decisive, especially as there is no indication of previous restraint
(cage wear of flight feathers, etc.).”
Comments
from Zimmer: “YES. The photos supporting this record are
conclusive as regards the identification, there is an established pattern of
long-distance vagrancy, and there is no evidence of prior restraint of this
individual bird. I would add that Van’s
comments regarding the “problem of ship-assistance” are spot-on in my
estimation – in cases like this, there is no way of knowing if the bird hitchhiked
or not, and even if it did, we are talking about a natural behavior – it’s what
birds lost at sea do.”
Comments from Robbins: “YES, for adding Crex crex to the accepted list because
the photos make that component unequivocal.
As has been pointed out, we’ll never know how the bird got there.”
Comments
from Jaramillo: “YES –
Identification is sound based on photos and publication. Do we have a policy on
ship assistance of a wild and unrestrained bird?”