BOU online conference proceedings and abstracts

Wind, fire and water: renewable energy and birds
Proceedings

Recreational birds and disturbance
Proceedings

Woodland birds: their ecology and management
Proceedings

Lowland Farmland Birds II: the road to recovery
Proceedings
Lowland Farmland Birds I: their ecology and conservation available on CD)

Climate change and coastal birds
Proceedings

Introduced and naturalized birds
Proceedings

Avian Infleunza and other bird diseases
Abstracts / Proceedings not published

Birds as predators and as prey
Abstracts / Proceedings not yet published (due late 2008)

Bird conservation in response to global change
Abstracts / Proceedings not yet published (due late 2009)

Hooded Merganser admitted to the British List

Joint BOURC & BBRC Announcement

Hooded Merganser
Lophodytes cucullatus

Immature or female, Oban Trumisgarry, North Uist, Outer Hebrides
23 October – 1 November 2000

The British Ornithologists’ Union Records Committee (BOURC) has admitted Hooded Merganser Lophodytes cucullatus to Category A of the British List following a review of the occurrence of a female or immature at Oban Trumisgarry, North Uist, Outer Hebrides, from 23 October until 1 November 2000 (sight record, photographed).

Hooded Merganser has an extensive breeding range throughout wooded areas of the east and Pacific Northwest of North America. Its primary winter range includes the south-eastern United States for eastern birds and the Pacific coast north of California for western birds. In addition to records from the Azores, there are three accepted records (of four individuals) from Ireland, and there have been records of apparent vagrants from Iceland and the Canary Islands.

This species was formerly on Category B of the British List (on the basis of a record from the Menai Straits, Gwynedd, 1830-31), but was moved to Category E following a review in 1999. In 2001, following assessment of the 2000 Outer Hebrides record, Hooded Merganser was placed in Category D (BOURC 28th Report; Ibis 144: 181-184). There was considerable support for the record, but also caution about reinstating it on the British List given the very large numbers in captivity and the relatively large number of previous and contemporary records of escapes. The difficulties in assessing records of this species are illustrated by the fact that escaped Hooded Mergansers were recorded in both Sussex and Anglesey during October 2000.

Since then, an emerging pattern of vagrancy to the Western Palearctic (especially the Azores, where there have been four records since 2001) combined with some evidence of an increase in numbers counted during Christmas Bird Counts in the United States (www.audubon.org/bird/cbc), has strengthened the confidence of the committee that the Outer Hebrides record involved a wild vagrant. The committee remains of the opinion, however, that most records in Britain and Europe involve birds of captive origin.

The Outer Hebrides bird occurred during a month of active Atlantic depressions which brought 13 American Wigeons Anas americana, three Ring-necked Ducks Aythya collaris, three Lesser Scaups Aythya affinis and an inland Surf Scoter Melanitta perspicillata amongst other vagrants from the Nearctic.

Hooded Merganser should be placed after Smew Mergellus albellus on the British List as follows:

Hooded Merganser A
Lophodytes cucullatus (Linnaeus)
One record: Immature or female, Oban Trumisgarry, North Uist, Outer Hebrides, from 23 October until 1 November 2000.
V monotypic.

Bob McGowan, Chairman of BOURC, commented “Hooded Merganser has had a particularly troubled route through various categories of the British List, but this only emphasises the complexities in assessing genuine vagrancy in waterfowl, particularly with species which exhibit moderate to high escape potential. For example, the National Waterfowl Census revealed that 206 Hooded Mergansers were hatched in Britain in 2001 so caution was justifiable. Since 2000, documented occurrences in the Azores, the Canaries and Iceland, as well as from Newbiggin in 2002 (British Birds 96: 606) and Shetland in 2006 (British Birds 100: 752), have demonstrated a tendency of increasing natural vagrancy, probably a consequence of the species’ better fortune in North America. Largely as a result of this evidence, BOURC voted unanimously to admit Hooded Merganser to Category A of the British List.”

The British List stands at 579 species
(Category A = 559; Category B = 10; Category C = 10).

Ends

Information links -
Cornell Lab of Ornithology - All About Birds - Hooded Merganser
Audubon Society 108th Christmas Bird Count

British Ornithologists’ Union
http://www.bou.org.uk/ / http://www.ibis.ac.uk/

British Birds Rarities Committee
http://www.bbrc.org.uk/

The impacts of non-native species - one-day conference

19 November 2008
The Great Northern Hotel, Peterborough, UK

supported by
BTO / Defra / JNCC / Natural England

BOOKINGS CLOSE FRIDAY 14 NOVEMBER.

The conference will consider both the impacts of non-native birds, as well as the impacts of other non-native species on avifauna, both in the UK and overseas. A series of case studies, ranging from studies of well-established non-natives to those new or less well understood, will be presented through the two morning sessions of the conference. The afternoon session will focus on present and future monitoring of non-natives and their status, legislation and policy. A common theme running through the day’s presentations will be to highlight research and monitoring needs. A key focus will also be the need to link policy and management to sound science.

The conference is aimed at both non-government research and conservation organisations and the statutory government agencies responsible for policy and management regarding non-natives.

Programme / Booking form - online / Booking form - PDF download / Venue

All BOU meetings

Eagle Owl photo © S.P Dudley/BOU

The impacts of non-native species - programme

19 November 2008
The Great Northern Hotel / Peterborough

supported by
BTO / Defra / JNCC / Natural England

BOOKINGS CLOSE FRIDAY 14 NOVEMBER.

CONFERENCE PROGRAMME

0830 - REGISTRATION

0915
Conference opening
Alistair Dawson / President, BOU

0920
Conference overview: The impacts of non-native species - an introduction
Andy Clements / BTO

0940
Ruddy Ducks, an overview of population development and the planning and success of control programme
Iain Henderson / Central Science Laboratory

1000
Potential impacts of parakeets in Britain
John Tayleur / BTO

1020
Managing non-native mammals in seabird colonies – experiences from Canna
Richard Luxmoore / National Trust for Scotland

1040 - COFFEE

1110
Impacts of non-native mammals and plants on birds in UK Overseas Territories
Geoff Hilton / RSPB

1130
The spread of muntjac and fallow deer – a problem for woodland birds?
Rob Fuller / BTO

1150
The effect on the environment of Britain’s non-native geese
John Allan / Central Science Laboratory & Mark Rehfisch / BTO

1210
Non-native waterbirds in the AEWA area
Lucy Wright / BTO


1230
Eagle Owls in Great Britain: an assessment of potential impacts
Mike Toms / BTO

1300 - LUNCH


1400
Assessing non-native species for admission to the British List
Steve Dudley / BOU

1420
Present monitoring of non-natives and future requirements, including RBBP and national monitoring schemes such as WeBS
David Stroud / JNCC & Incoming Chairman of RBBP

1440
Caught in the Act – Legal regulation of non-native species in England
Charles Wilson & Matt Heydon / Natural England

1455
Policy on non-natives species: an RSPB view
Paul Walton / RSPB

1510
Policy on non-natives species: a Government view
Huw Thomas / Defra

1525 - Open discussion

1600 - TEA & DEPARTURE


All photos © S.P Dudley/BOU

Introduction / Booking form - online / Booking form - PDF download / Venue

All BOU meetings

BOU ornithological grants - 2008 awards

Each year the BOU awards grants to ornithological projects around the world. The projects vary widely from the purely scientific to conservation science projects.

The BOU is please to announce that this year it is supporting the following projects:

Radio-tracking research to aid conservation of the Critically Endangered Djibouti Francolin
Clive Bealey (UK), £1000.

Evaluating the impact of land-use on resident and migratory raptors in West African savannas
Ralph Buij (Cameroon), £1000.

Galliformes monitoring and conservation project in Pakistan’s Palas valley with special focus on Western Tragopan
Francis Buner (UK), £1000.

Does Bean Goose have a distinct strategy for autumn versus spring migration in northeastern Ukraine?
Mikhail Banik (Ukraine), £600.

A comparison of the breeding ecology of East African and north temperate tit species (Paridae)
Phil Shaw (UK), £795.

The impact of predation on populations and individuals of wintering waders
Piet van den Hout (The Netherlands), £600.


For details of previous years’ awards please see the BOU website grants page.

Applications for 2009 close on 31 December 2008 (for awards made in April/May 2009). For further details contact the BOU at grants@bou.org.uk.

BRITISH ORNITHOLOGISTS' UNION
1858 ~ 150 years supporting ornithology ~ 2008


See http://www.bou.org.uk/ for forthcoming BOU conferences and meetings


PO Box 417, Peterborough, PE7 3FX
Tel & Fax +44 (0) 1 733 844 820
Email bou.admin@bou.org.uk
Web http://www.bou.org.uk/ / http://www.ibis.ac.uk/