AOU qualifications

["averyt" <averyt at stu dot beloit dot edu>]

The A.O.U. Check-list of North American Birds is the
official source on the taxonomy of birds found in North and
Middle America, including adjacent islands. The volume is
hardbound and includes the list of species posted here plus
the 829-page check-list proper.

The geographic area covered includes North and Central
America from the North Pole to the boundary of Panama and
Colombia, including the adjacent islands under the
jurisdiction of the included nations; the Hawaiian Islands;
Clipperton Island; Bermuda; The West Indies, including the
Bahama Islands, the Greater Antilles, Leeward and Windward
Islands in the Lesser Antilles (ending with Grenada); and
Swan, Providencia, and San Andrés Islands in the Gulf of
Mexico. Greenland is not included in the coverage of the
Seventh Edition of the Check-list, although it was included
in earlier editions and will be in the next edition.

Other than that there isn't much info on the AOU site.  I
believe for a bird to be accepted by records commitees there
has to be unreasonable doubt that it is a wild bird and
arrived on it's own without the help of humans.  As for time
after 15 years if a bird is surviving, reproducing and
substaining it is considered a wild introduced species.  If
there is an individual bird liake Pink Floyd it will likely
never be added to any list because of teh circumstances of
which it came to be.

As we all know there are many species that were introdced
and remain in the wild today after many years, and in most
cases have had huge population explosions, starling, house
sparoow, house finch, rock dove, and several otehr dove
species.

To each his own, what someone counts on their list is their
choice, but as for the question of wild species,
http://www.aou.org/aou/birdlist.html , has the entire list.

Good Birding.

Tim Avery
Salt Lake City, UT or Beloit, WI
http://www.timaverybirding.com
Ain't Birding Great!


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