Obviously incorrect reports on eBird

[SomesBirder]

This report of birds seen on Kapiti Island includes an Indian Peafowl, and eight Australian Magpies being reported from there might also be suspicious. The Black-fronted Dotterel is the only bird that is specified as not having been seen on the island itself.
https://ebird.org/checklist/S62813657

Here's another dubious report from Kapiti Island; this time for including ten Australian Magpies. On the same day, two other people reported seeing just two of them.
https://ebird.org/checklist/S68984541

[SomesBirder]

There was one report of "X" Australian Shelducks at Lake Elterwater in November last year.
https://ebird.org/checklist/S76377666

[AngryBird45]

A fantail misidentification.

https://ebird.org/checklist/S78830869

[Jan]

Black fantail is just a colour phase of south Island fantail, there is no separate species called that, but it's probably ok to put it in the comments section. On the other hand someone has reported 50 Black-tailed Godwits at the Avon estuary. That would be a wonderful record indeed.

[AngryBird45]

Yes there is.

[Jake]

Sorry, for being off-topic here

Black fantail is just a colour phase of south Island fantail, there is no separate species called that, but it's probably ok to put it in the comments section. On the other hand someone has reported 50 Black-tailed Godwits at the Avon estuary. That would be a wonderful record indeed.

I started recording black-backed magpies in Hawkes Bay, by doing a species search, and shortly after they were added to the ebird list for the area. I have often thought that it the black morph South Island fantail might be a good one to track on ebird, if it was an option. There were times when black morphs used to make up about half the fantails around Blenheim and it's curious that that is not the case now: They seem much less common. As the climate and landscape changes, plumage changes and there could be benefit, one way or the other, in the colour phases, for individual survival. I suspect that black morphs will continue to become rarer: data by way of ebird would be helpful to show a trend - my observations have no supporting data and are only as good as anecdote

[AngryBird45]

It’s probably better to make a seperate subspecies for the dark morph.

[Jan]

That's very interesting to hear/see. it might be a result of warmer temps over the last 50 or so years, meaning that the sooty phase isn't as necessary to keep warm in the winter, [if that was even why it formed in the first place]. It is NOT a separate species and eBird can't allow that, but it could be helpful to have it as a separate tick, maybe?

[Jan]

The Black Fantail is a New Guinea fantail. On eBird it wont be alerted as a NZ species, so that should not be a problem

[AngryBird45]

https://ebird.org/atlasnz/checklist/S78621999

hhhhhhhhhhmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm