Urban Parrots Not Included

As I reviewed it over at the Birdchaser blog, The Stokes Field Guide to the Birds of North America is the newest and biggest guide to birds, but one place that it isn’t that useful is with exotic birds in the urban jungle. I’m not sure why, but the Stokeses limited their book to birds accepted as established by the American Birding Association. That means that dozens of species of birds commonly seen in urban areas–especially in California, Texas, and Florida are not included.

Peach-faced Lovebirds are common in the Phoenix area, and will probably be accepted as established by the ABA soon. Ditto for Black-hooded Parrots in south Florida. But they aren’t included here, along with 20 other exotic parrots illustrated in the Big Sibley guide. Five parrot species are included (Monk Parakeet, Budgerigar, Green Parakeet, White-winged Parakeet, and Red-crowned Parrot. But there are dozens of other species in the urban parrot flocks are among the most conspicuous wildlife spectacles in many cities and neighborhoods, so this is an unfortunate bias against exotics here.

Same thing for exotic waterfowl. While Sibley illustrates eight exotic species and four domestic waterfowl breeds commonly found in urban parks, the Stokes guide only includes feral Mallards and Muscovies–as well as White-cheeked Pintail which is occasionally seen as an exotic, and sometimes as a presumed natural vagrant. No sign of the myriad domestic geese and other waterfowl that grace parks and ponds across the country

No big deal, right? Except these are some of the most commonly seen birds in American cities, and Stokes leaves people unable to identify them. As surveys show, more people travel a mile or more to view waterfowl than any other birds. And I’d venture to guess that many of those ducks and geese aren’t in the Stokes guide. Just this week I had a student report a Ross’s Goose to me in New Jersey. Turns out to be a common domestic goose–it just wasn’t illustrated in his bird guide so he went with the closest thing he could find illustrated.

I’m a fan of the new Stokes guide in many ways, but seriously wish they had included the exotic birds that are among the most likely birds that many people are going to be see in parks and other environs in American cities.

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4 Responses to Urban Parrots Not Included

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  2. Don Stokes says:

    We thought we would clarify for your readers that The Stokes Field Guide to the Birds of North America does include common urban parrots. We include Monk Parakeet, Red-crowned Parrot, Green Parakeet, Budgerigar and White-winged Parakeet. Based on last years 2009-10 National Audubon Society Christmas Bird Count data, three of the most common parrots seen were Monk Parakeet (2,301 seen), Red-crowned Parrot (2,300 seen) and Green Parakeet (516 seen). These accounted for over 50% of all individual parrots seen in North America and they are included in the Stokes guide. Of the 28 parrot species included in the Sibley Guide, 11 species had zero birds seen in the last Audubon Christmas Bird Count; another 5 species had an average of 12 birds seen in all of North America. This is not very many total birds and hardly the most conspicuous wildlife spectacle in many cities as the reviewer states.

    Regarding the exotic waterfowl. The reviewer has said that the Sibley guide contains 4 domestic waterfowl and 8 exotic species and says that they are not included in The Stokes Guide to the Birds of North America. This is not true. We include the Domestic Mallard, Domestic Muscovy and the White-cheeked Pintail (both floating and in flight, Sibley shows it only floating). The reviewer states that these species are some of the most common found in urban parks and many are not in the Stokes Guide. In last year’s National Audubon Christmas Bird Count 4 of the 12 species he calls among the most common had zero birds seen. One species had 2 birds seen, and the remainder had 121 birds total for all of North America. By choosing to include only birds from the ABA checklist we have not included 4 species that are simply not seen.

    In choosing the birds for our guide, we decided to follow the American Birding Association checklist which only includes species with self-sustaining populations. Exotic species, not on the list are not believed to have self-sustaining populations. We had no bias in choosing against urban birds for our guide, we simply covered as many birds on the ABA checklist as we could.

    We also want to say that although the reviewer uses the Sibley Guide for his own purposes here, our statements about what the guide includes are in no way a criticism of David’s superb work.

  3. Rob says:

    Thanks for the clarification, and I’ve modified the original post to be more accurate. But I still think it unfortunate that these birds are not included.

    Christmas Bird Counts are not the best source of data on exotic birds in American cities. The Great Backyard Bird Count also collects some info on these birds, but there aren’t good surveys for many species.

    For Parrots, the California Parrot Project (http://www.californiaparrotproject.org/) lists 13 parrot species with “established naturalized populations in California”. Of these the Stokes guide only treats two–Red-crowned Parrot and White-winged Parakeet. These are birds that many birders will travel to see in order to list them on their ABA lists, but when they find the birds, they will not be prepared to separate them from the similar species that they may see in the same flocks and areas.

    As for waterfowl, the Christmas Bird Count doesn’t include counts of feral waterfowl–so CBC counts of exotic species are not really relevant here. Almost every urban park in America has scores of feral geese as well as unusual domestic Mallards that the public and beginning birders have no idea are not “wild ducks”. Any time we have a chance to educate the public about these birds that they are saving their old bread for is an opportunity we should seek as a bridge to environmental understanding as well as an appreciation for truly wild birds.

    I think I understand the reasons for not including them. I just disagree with those reasons, and would urge future field guide authors to include the unofficial urban bird species in their treatment of North American birds.

  4. Kudos to Don & Lilian Stokes for their openness in addressing concerns related to thier new field guide. I failed to notice missing common exotics during my review of their wonderful guide. Every field guide will have its strengths and weaknesses. Stokes’ strengths still far outweigh any weaknesses. I now carry Sibley and Stokes with me in the car.

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