Guinea fowl, Lake Ellesmere

General birdwatching discussion, help with bird identification, and all other things relating to wild birds and birding in NZ that don't fit in one of the other forums.
gmckinlay
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Guinea fowl, Lake Ellesmere

Postby gmckinlay » Fri Jan 11, 2019 5:24 pm

I encountered two of these crossing Timberyard road, just past the paddock where the cattle egret were recently reported.
Does anybody know if these are feral, or free range domestics?
And should they be put into ebird?
Guineafowl_timberyardRoad_20190112.JPG
Guineafowl_timberyardRoad_20190112.JPG (719.48 KiB) Viewed 3594 times
gmckinlay
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Re: Guinea fowl, Lake Ellesmere

Postby gmckinlay » Fri Jan 11, 2019 5:27 pm

Also, there were two turkeys with 4 chicks on the same road further down the lake. These allowed me to approach very closely, so I am thinking they were domestic. But...?
andrewcrossland
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Re: Guinea fowl, Lake Ellesmere

Postby andrewcrossland » Sat Jan 12, 2019 1:20 pm

I think those ones are just farmyard ones that have walked through the hedge, but more than happy to hear they're wild?!

The only wild ones I know of (but unfortunately not sighted for several years are 1) a group of maybe 10 that range over a wide area of farmland near Taitapu, and a group of maybe 15 that live on the road between Waikari and S H/W 1 in North Canterbury. Maps below. Would be great to hear if anyone on the Canty big year finds them??

Guineafowl 1.JPG
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Guineafowl 2.JPG
Guineafowl 2.JPG (142.19 KiB) Viewed 3513 times


Below is a 2005 pic of some of the Taitapu birds:

Guineafowl 3.JPG
Guineafowl 3.JPG (82.57 KiB) Viewed 3513 times
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Adam C
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Re: Guinea fowl, Lake Ellesmere

Postby Adam C » Sat Jan 12, 2019 4:58 pm

Ive seen them off Powers Road which leads off Lake Sumner Road just before it goes into the hills and turns into a gravel road. I have always wondered if these ones were wild so I guess they arr part of that waikari population. Good to know!
“Nobody grows old merely by living a number of years. We grow old by deserting our ideals. Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul.”

Samuel Ullman
andrewcrossland
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Re: Guinea fowl, Lake Ellesmere

Postby andrewcrossland » Sat Jan 12, 2019 11:39 pm

Hi Adam, do you reckon you could post a google map image of the location for those Lake Sumner ones? One of the objectives of this Canterbury BIG YEAR is to encourage birders to go check up on populations of various birds (be it Lake Sumner Guinea Fowl, or Harper's Pass weka, or Levels shingle pits Australian Little Grebe) and give an update as to how these pops are doing?
thanks
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Adam C
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Re: Guinea fowl, Lake Ellesmere

Postby Adam C » Sun Jan 13, 2019 2:09 pm

Hi Andrew.

It was probably 3 years ago so not sure how relevant the sighting will be now but to the best of my memory it was the location on these maps. I think there were 3 of them.
Guinea Fowl Map 1.jpg
Guinea Fowl Map 1.jpg (444.91 KiB) Viewed 3429 times
Guinea Fowl Map 2.jpg
Guinea Fowl Map 2.jpg (547.3 KiB) Viewed 3429 times
“Nobody grows old merely by living a number of years. We grow old by deserting our ideals. Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul.”

Samuel Ullman
rowey
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Re: Guinea fowl, Lake Ellesmere

Postby rowey » Sun Jan 13, 2019 8:03 pm

Hi Andrew.

There were 5 birds at Timberyard Point Road last week. I came across a flock of around 15 birds heading down Days Road about 2 months ago. Just walking along the road. Have also observed a large group of Turkeys out the back of Leeston near Harts Creek. I assume they are also wild??

I wonder if for the "Big Year," you just count birds that you come across. I was looking for the Cattle Egrets and came across the Guinea Fowl, so counted them. That way there is little debate about the authenticity of sightings of truly wild birds or possible domesticated birds, basically giving everybody the same chances for compiling their list. Perhaps maybe not chickens?? Or does that misconstrue data for bird sightings and distribution? I mean what about the domestic population of Cape Barren Geese down Styx Road. Count or don't count? Would counting these misconstrue real useful data, which is obviously one of the major benefits of Ebird, or are these sightings actually quite inconsequential in the scheme of things?
Davidthomas
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Re: Guinea fowl, Lake Ellesmere

Postby Davidthomas » Sun Jan 13, 2019 8:46 pm

I’m easy either way. Just as you say Keiran would be good to all be on the same page as it wouldn’t be great to skew the eBird data.
andrewcrossland
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Re: Guinea fowl, Lake Ellesmere

Postby andrewcrossland » Sun Jan 13, 2019 10:15 pm

I think the birds have to be at least running wild (ie; not in a farmyard or hobby farm paddocks - those Cape Barren Geese down Lower Styx Road are very much in their owner's paddock.

But if those Guinea Fowl or Turkeys are "running wild", then yeah, ok, I don't have a problem with counting them for the purposes of this BIG YEAR, although it would be preferable if they are likely to breed on a site - ie; I think its ok to count Mute Swan on that pond by that Irish pub at Kaikoura where they breed, or flocks of Feral Geese at Rennies Bay on Lake Ellesmere where they breed, but not just birds bought from a store and plonked down on an ornamental pond or lifestyle block paddock.

There are only a limited number of feral bird species right - so lets just collectively post sightings and locations and have constructive debate over which ones we all feel are countable for this BIG YEAR? Populations that have been known for 10 or 20+ years are the best ones right? like St Annes Lagoon Cape Barren Geese, Ruru Road feral chicken flock, but if those Guinea Fowl or Turkeys, or my late Dec Golden Pheasant are apparently living wild in the landscape then lets count them - after all, from a ecological and an avifauna point of view, they are interacting with the eco-system right?
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Adam C
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Re: Guinea fowl, Lake Ellesmere

Postby Adam C » Mon Jan 14, 2019 7:06 am

Speaking of mute swan does the mob at Hearts creek count as wild? Havent been down there for a while and their is an adult pair with at least 6 immatures floating around. The adults are on the creek itself but the immatures are around the mouth or in the lagoon.
“Nobody grows old merely by living a number of years. We grow old by deserting our ideals. Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul.”

Samuel Ullman

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