More Africa Lists

I've been to S. Tomé Island in February 2005 and saw a Black tern (Chlidonias niger) feeding along the shore in the vicinity of S. Tomé city. The bird was seen upclose and I had no doubts about the ID (it's a regular species in my own country). It should be added to the countrie's list. No pictures available unfortunatelly.

Best wishes,

Carlos Pacheco

Great, Black Tern now added.

Hi Mike
Just been updating my Africa list, and realised that the Azores were countable as Africa. Which means all the American passerines from there need adding to the list.

Also, Louisiana Waterthrush now found not proven from the Canary Islands, so can be deleted from Africa list.

Thanks,

Paul

Hi Paul,

On what basis do you consider the Azores part of Africa? Geologically, the central and eastern islands are part of the Eurasian Plate, while the outher islands of Flores and Corvo are part of the North American plate. As far as I can find, the boundary of the African plate runs just south of the island group.

Hi Stephen.

I don't, but what i think is not important. African Bird Club consider them part of Africa, as detailed on their website at www.africanbirdclub.org/countries/Azores/introduction and summarised below:

"Lying some 1,500 km west of both Europe and Africa, one might ask why the African Bird Club considers the Azores as part of its territory. The simple answer and the only one which I can find so far is that ABC decided at its inception to follow the geographic area of the African bird red data book region which includes the Azores."

As for using tectonic plates, probably best not to go there, as i think Sicily and the Aegean are also on the African plate...

Hi Paul,

Thank you for the link to the ABC page. I find it strange that they include the Azores as the islands were covered by the BirdLife Europe Atlas, as well as being covered by SPEA (Portuguese BirdLife partner), but that is their choice I guess.

You are right re the plate boundaries, and the arbatrariness of some boundaries can make listing comparisons a little frustrating at times (see the European list with listers including records from the Canaries and the Azores).

Paul French wrote: Which means all the American passerines from there need adding to the list.

Hi Paul

Which species in particular are missing? Our ABC Africa list has all the species from our ABC Azores, but additions from the last few years are probably missing from both.

Hi Mike

I'm using the IOC Africa list, and trying a few random species like Cliff Swallow, Black-and-White Warbler, Philadelphia Vireo etc returned no options to list them. Red-eyed Vireo was there, so presume there is a record from Madeira or the mainland.

Thanks,

Paul

So it probably depends on the definition of Africa! Of course IOC when applied to a region is arbitrary, and I think (can't remember!) that we took a more accepted view that the Azores is not part of Europe when we set it up. Just because ABC include it doesn't mean we should include it on other authorities.

I don't have a strong opinion either way. Although would prefer that if anyone does think it should be different to how we have it now, then they would also be happy to be a checklist editor for it!

I'm also more of the opinion that it should not be included. I think ABC made a mistake in including them tbh, but that's their decision. Anyway, let's leave Azores out of the IOC Africa list, sounds fair. I think i ticked Azores Bullfinch though, so that would need deleting from the options.

Thanks Mike

Sounds the right approach to me. I've added a note on our IOC Africa list, and you (and two others) have had Azores Bullfinch deleted!