Anthony,
I think the ABA's stance on Egyptian Geese is stated here:
http://blog.aba.org/2014/08/aba-checklist-committee-adds-
egyptian-goose-to-aba-checklist.html
If you read the discussion below the article, you'll see comments/questions
about where you can "count" Egyptian Geese. Some of those are from Nick
Block, who was/is the Secretary of the ABA's Recording Standards and Ethics
Committee (RSEC). My take on it is that it was/is an open question (for
RSEC) about where (which states, counties, etc) you count species X once it
has been added to the ABA list.
The ABA/RSEC also has an outline of when an exotic is considered
established:
http://listing.aba.org/criteria-determining-establishment-exotics/
The TBRC (Texas Bird Records Committee) more or less follows those same
guidelines (I hope to have something up on our website in the coming
months) and, as of now, does not have enough data/information to consider
Egyptian Goose as established in the state. Thus, it is not on the
official state list. Still, we encourage folks to record their sightings
and eBird is a good place to do that. eBird has taken a great approach to
'count' free-flying exotics whether they are established or not so that
this data can be available for questions just like this.
The TBRC is not the "list police" so really does no tell you what to
"count" but rather what is considered established. If there is such a
thing as a list police, I'd say that would be the RSEC if you feel you need
to follow ABA rules to count something. I believe the RSEC has ruled that
Aplomado Falcon (and California Condor) is countable though certainly there
is some debate about either being successfully re-established. These birds
are formerly native birds (unlike Egyptian Goose) so perhaps a different
discussion altogether, but you can see where official state lists and
countability might start to diverge a little.
--Eric
Eric Carpenter
Secretary, Texas Bird Records Committee
Edit your Freelists account settings for TEXBIRDS at
//www.freelists.org/list/texbirds
Reposting of traffic from TEXBIRDS is prohibited without seeking permission
from the List Owner
