Hi hi -
I'll chime in on this one :
The WBRC follows the ABA in its determination of 'countable' birds -; So, yes, by ABA rules, 'ship assisted' alone doesn't make a bird uncountable.
Here's the section from the ABA listing rules [http://listing.aba.org/aba-recording-rules/ <http://listing.aba.org/aba-recording-rules/> ]

Rule 3 part a:
(i) An otherwise wild bird that voluntarily uses or is attracted to a feeder, nest box, audio playback, ship at sea, or other nonnatural device, without being captured, is still considered wild. Physical contact between an observer and a bird does not automatically preclude a bird from being counted, as there are situations where wild birds have learned to eat from outstretched hands or have used people as temporary perches.

However, the question is whether it is more likely that a bird alighted on a ship and stayed there unassisted for a journey -; for example, the Brown Booby that rode into Edmonds on a sailboat was free to go at any time, so it was countable.But when a House Swift was found dead in BC in 2017, it was ultimately judged more likely that it had been trapped in a container for the cross-Pacific journey than that it had freely crossed on its own.

With Eurasian Tree Sparrow, I imagine it will be worth a discussion of whether a bird like that [a] is more likely to have wandered west from its core range in MO or [b] if it came from Asia if it was more likely to have freely sat on a ship for the journey or perhaps been stuck inside a container, like House Sparrows in a big WalMart.

It will be worth a discussion, for sure!

Matt Bartels
Secretary, WBRC
Seattle, WA



> Begin forwarded message:

>

> From: John Puschock <g_g_allin at hotmail.com>

> Subject: Re: [Tweeters] Eurasian Tree Sparrow Origin

> Date: October 28, 2019 at 8:47:25 PM PDT

> To: Tweeters Tweeters <tweeters at u.washington.edu>

>

> Does the WBRC have an explicit "no ship-assistance" rule or policy? By ABA listing standards, ship-assisted birds are countable (or at least the last time I checked that was true).

>

> John Puschock

> Seattle

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