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.
