|
Club Trips - 13
Egrets flying above the
mangroves in Freedom Island in the Coastal
Lagoon of Paranaque |
Within Metro Manila, club members visited
Ninoy Aquino Park, Ateneo de Manila University campus, the
University of the Philippines campus, La Vista Subdivision,
La Mesa Dam, the American C emetery & Libingan ng mga Bayani,
Nayong Pilipino, the reclamation area and the Coastal Road
lagoon.
Birdwatching sites visited in the nearby
provinces were Mt. Makiling (Laguna), Mt. Palay-Palay (Cavite)
and the Candaba Marsh (Pampanga). |
ANNUAL
SUMMARY REPORT FOR 2003
The
Records Committee was established under the Executive Committee
of WBCP in May 2003 and headed by Chairperson Mike Lu who
oversaw all coordination and follow-up work. Among the main
activities conducted to ensure establishment and development
of the Committee and the continued reporting on birds was
•
Encoding of field observations;
• Verification and review of incoming data of unusual
reports and rare birds;
• Networking and correspondence with other birdwatchers
and ornithologists in the Philippines and abroad,
• Drafting of rules and terms of references for the
Committee
• Drafting of a preliminary updated Philippine List
of Birds
• Drafting of a new bird reporting format
OBSERVATIONS
Observations were received from the very active club members
and supporters in the Clubs email group, but many more wished
to contribute including Haribon Foundation's scientists and
field researchers, and local and foreign bird watchers and
ornithologist including Tim Fisher, Andy Mears and Todd Pepper.
The
many thousands of observations came from no less than 125
sites representing many parts of the country (40 sites within
Metro Manila and 85 sites outside of the Manila area) and
included observations of a stunning 358 species (OBS XXX This
is excluding observations by Haribon Visayas and Lala Espanola,
Sulu SeaXXX) out of which 10 species surprisingly were only
recorded from the Metro Manila area.
RECORDS
DATABASE
The establishment of an open and updated database on records
of Philippine wild birds occurrence and distribution is the
first ever in the Philippines and the interest and support
for it has been overwhelmingly positive. Not only among the
club members, but the many who visit the Records file on the
Club's website or are in contact with the Club otherwise.
The database and the reporting system is under redesign to
make it easier to maintain and use.
RARITIES
With a fast growing number of species being reported, it was
decided to establish a long needed system of verification
of records of very rare birds and birds reported outside of
their normal ranges - many of which can easily be misidentified
due to their resemblance with similar looking common species
or subspecies. This system of assessment and verification
is only to ensure enough documentation for publication in
the Club’s website and reports and is by no means to
decide what an observer may have seen. The system will be
launched in the beginning of 2004.
UPDATED
CHECKLIST
The knowledge about Philippine birds is rapidly expanding
as more and more research work and data are being published.
In 2003 alone the three leading bird checklists of the world
(Sibley and Monroe, Clements and Howard and Moore) were updated
and contributed to revisions in names, taxonomy, distribution
and occurrence of Philippine birds. Also The Asia Red Data
Book on threatened birds launched by BirdLife International
contributed new data and knowledge on 130 of the Philippine
birds.
Many
of these information cannot be found in the field guide of
Robert Kennedy et al from 2000 and because of this and the
positive development described above, it was decided to update
the Philippine Checklist of Birds with a preliminary list.
It is not likely that the current checklist by Dickinson et
al from 1990 or the Kennedy field guide will be updated for
many years.
The
intent is to have a Philippine list more closely in accord
with what accepted and used by the rest of the world. This
preliminary list will provide the update of species accepted
by the majority of ornithological academe, and the majority
of the world's birding societies and clubs. Hopefully, it
will also lead to Philippine ornithologists and birders, and
also foreign visitors, starting to report their records in
accordance with the latest taxonomic treatments and making
them more familiar with the names used globally and their
synonyms used in the Philippines.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The following members and supporters of the Club made invaluable
contributions to the Committee's work:
Desmond
Allan (input to verification of rare or unusual records),
Nilo Arribas Jr (computer design of report format), Pia Belardo
(encoding of checklist files), Arne Jensen (drafting of a
preliminary checklist for Philippine birds, rules for Records
and Rarity Committees, evaluation of rare observations, back-stopping
of data-encoding), Mike Lu (coordination, follow-up, foreign
correspondence and encoding of data), Ned Liuag (encoding
of observations), James McCarthy (design of reporting formats)
and Steve Pryor (co-drafting of the preliminary checklist
for the birds of the Philippines)
The
Records Committee are very grateful to all of those who have
contributed invaluable information and observations and to
those who with patience and perseverance - sometimes sacrificing
family life - made it possible for the Committee to get operational
and serve club members and sympathizers.
--Arne Jensen |
