Genuine or escapee ?

[jcyprus]

Hi all,
I spotted a canary today and they are all considered escapees same whith the 5 red breasted gese that have been ranging around the suffolk coast at the moment but with no certain way of tracing there origin and when they arent ringed , how can you automatically put these birds down as escapees .
Thanks,

HAPPY NEW YEAR

[Robert S J Smith]

Simple answer is you cant but looking at weather conditions, the chance of general vagrancy, the behaviour of the individual, the carrier species can all help...

Happy new year,

Regards,

Robert

[faz]

welcome to WAB neither are native to the uk so yes escapess lots of private owners have red breasted geese as well as zoos etc
what colour was the canary may be a mistake resident uk bird



happy new year

[RoyW]

Canary is generally considered to be a very unlikely vagrant because they are a sedentary species confined to a couple of island in the Canaries group. It is also rare for the birds that are frequently observed elsewhere in Europe to be of "wild type" plumage (and if they show signs of the numerous artificial breeds then the likelihood that they are escapes increases even further - generally showing that they are certainly escapes).


The Red-breasted Geese present more of a problem for those that assess the occurrence of vagrant birds (the British Birds Rarities Committee). In this case the known presence of escaped birds, which have been present all year in the Suffolk area, will mean that the natural occurrence of any Red-breasted Geese in the south-east this winter will be difficult to prove. Any records in Suffolk will probably be considered most likely to refer to the escaped birds, and any seen elsewhere will be under suspicion of being these individuals. It is not generally possible to say that they are definitely the escaped birds, but the suspicion might be enough to get any records rejected (for the official record it needs to be considered far more likely that the occurrence is natural - if there is suspicion that it is not then the record is best rejected).

[jcyprus]

the carrier species can all help...

Whats a carrier species ?
The canary that i saw was your stereotypical bright yellow cage individual !
Thanks for the quick responses .... :P

[Robert S J Smith]

Originally Posted by jcyprus

Whats a carrier species ?

example: the lesser white-fronted goose that is currently in the cantly area is with tiaga bean geese (the carrier species) this makes the lwfg look better as a vagrant because it's not hanging around with a flock of greylags or canada geese...

Robert

Edit: I hope i haven't got it wrong about the carrier species and i haven't made a fool of myself

[Adam Cheeseman]

Originally Posted by jcyprus

Whats a carrier species ?
The canary that i saw was your stereotypical bright yellow cage individual !
Thanks for the quick responses .... :P

A carrier species is a different species with which a vagrant might migrate with. Genuine wild RB Geese would end here with Brent Geese normally. A Black-throated Thrush would tag along with Redwings and Fieldfares for example.

There are no accepted wild Canary records because of the reasons given and the fact that it was yellow points very strongly to it being a cage bird. Wild birds are streaky green.

RB Geese are native in that they occur here naturally under their own steam, albeit accidentally, but they are one of the commonest captive held waterfowl in collections. A lack of rings would be a good sign of a wild bird,but no guarantee of such. They are quite good at escaping from collections too. Reasons given above about seasonality, location etc are all valid. East Anglia is a fair location for wild birds to turn up but also is a hot spot for escapees. Many of the Ross' and Snow Geese that occur are of captive origin.

Cheers,

Adam

[RoyW]

Originally Posted by jcyprus

Whats a carrier species ?
The canary that i saw was your stereotypical bright yellow cage individual !
Thanks for the quick responses .... :P

The stereotypical bright yellow Canary looks nothing like the streaky greenish natural birds (so certainly an escape!).


Carrier species are naturally occurring wild bird species that lost individuals of rarer species may join up with, and thus be "carried" even further afield.

In recent years the majority of Red-breasted Geese have been found with Brent Geese flocks, which they may have joined up with further east.
If a Red-breasted Goose is with a Brent Goose flock it doesn't necessarily mean that it's wild though (escaped birds, including one of the Red-breasted Geese I've seen in the UK, sometimes join wild Brent Geese during the winter). On the other-hand, a Red-breasted Goose that spends all of its time with resident feral Greylag and Canada Geese is less likely to be considered wild.

[Adam Cheeseman]

Originally Posted by Robert S J Smith

example: the lesser white-fronted goose that is currently in the cantly area is with tiaga bean geese (the carrier species) this makes the lwfg look better as a vagrant because it's not hanging around with a flock of greylags or canada geese...

Robert

Edit: I hope i haven't got it wrong about the carrier species and i haven't made a fool of myself

No you haven't, but it should be Taiga Bean Geese.

Cheers,

Adam

[Robert S J Smith]

Originally Posted by Adam Cheeseman

No you haven't, but it should be Taiga Bean Geese.

Cheers,

Adam

Oops yeah thanks