Obviously incorrect reports on eBird

[Oscar Thomas]

Claimed sighting of a Yellowhead in Northland - 'anonymous birder' clearly doesn't realise that the Yellowhead is endemic to the South Island: https://ebird.org/checklist/S162122621

I have followed up with the observer.

[Jake]

I keep looking at the reports of Australian Shelducks around Marlborough and can't take them particularly seriously, except for the ones from the 80's. Virtually all the reports are from internationals, who probably aren't aware of the similarities with immature Paradise Shelducks. Most reports have a no-count and zero notes: one has the note of "heard" but no count. I've said it before; it's a heavily birded area - particularly L. Elterwater - by very skilled local birders. I don't want to gatekeep, but I don't think those ticks are legit, otherwise we'd have locals seeing them and getting photographs

Here's an example from Havelock (South): https://ebird.org/checklist/S144552301
I feel it's more reasonable that the Oystercatchers *aren't* Australian Pied Oystercatcher and the Shelduck species was confused too... again, looking at all the Marlborough records of Australian Shelducks, most have red flags

[phil hammond]

I see someone has listed Gulf Harbour marina as a Hotspot for Little Shearwater, and claims to have seen 10 there!

[Jake]

Someone is probably on this: apparently Tomtits are famously not in Zealandia
There's just a bunch of ebird reports from there. Supposedly anything within the last 15 years is a mistaken ID

[simon.fordham]

I would not rule out the possibility of credible tomtit sightings at Zealandia. Even though the translocation may have failed to establish a breeding population, tomtits can be highly mobile, so 'visitors' are not beyond the realms of possibility.

On Tiritiri Matangi Island, we translocated 32 birds in 2004. Again, this translocation did not succeed. Within weeks, all birds disappeared, with one individual being resighted at the source site in the Hunua Ranges, 53 km away. However, prior to 2004, and on many occasions since, there have been periodic sightings of individuals, usually males. Some have been known to hang around for a few weeks. Although we get one or two tomtits most years, there has been no evidence of breeding on the Island.

[Davidthomas]

One of those records a guy Stephen Menzies is a bird guide for WINGs and while it was his first visit to NZ him and Gavin Beiber are both good birders and have seen both robins and tomtits in the South Island so should be well aware of the differences between the two.

Will ask Nikki McArthur about tomtit records as he’s been doing a bunch of bird counts around Wellington in recent years and will likely know the lay the land also.

David

[Byrd]

Someone is probably on this: apparently Tomtits are famously not in Zealandia
There's just a bunch of ebird reports from there. Supposedly anything within the last 15 years is a mistaken ID

I said a similar thing on another thread a little while back, and it turns out that Tomtits do turn up at Zealandia sometimes.

Oscar Thomas linked to this eBird record with photo from 2019: https://ebird.org/checklist/S77210048

[Oscar Thomas]

Tomtits are not resident at Zealandia but they do disperse widely, and a few records are probably true. Donavin is a reliable observer and has the photo to support it, but some other reports could be robins.

[Jake]

I did see the ebird picture, but I know I've been back to submit media, and added to the wrong checklist. This topic arose on the NZ Birders FB page (01/03/24?) with someone asking for an ID; the picture was of something that was reportedly tiny, but had the same proportions for a female NI Robin/ Tomtit. There were a couple of regular Zealandia birders who pretty much poopooed the idea of Tomtits. I hear Tomtits like 20:1 on how many times I see them, so one would expect notes in the checklists about "heard not seen"; IDK, maybe that's just me. Excellent feedback in any case: really appreciate reading your discussion

[AngryBird45]

CRAZY!!!!! https://ebird.org/australia/checklist/S163400164