BI RD I N G TO GETH ER
J e f f re y A . G o rd o n • Pre s i d e n t , A m e r i c a n B i rd i n g A s s o c i a t i o n
It’s Time: I Urge You to Vote “Yes”
to Include Hawaii in the ABA Area
V
ery soon—in the first half of September 2016—all active
ABA members will receive a proxy ballot in the mail†. Your
ballot includes a number of Board of Directors candidates
whom I hope you will approve. It also includes a proposal to
amend the ABA bylaws to include the Hawaiian Islands in the
ABA Area. I urge you to vote “yes” for this change.
The arguments, both pro and con, are mostly familiar at this
point. I highly recommend that you read “The Case for Hawaii’s
Birds,” by Cameron L. Rutt, John C. Mittermeier, and Alex X.
Wang, beginning on p. 32 of this issue; it gives an excellent summary and overview. I won’t rehash those arguments here, but I
would add a few points of explanation and context that you may
find helpful as you consider your vote.
3 • Adding Hawaii does not obliterate the past five decades of
ABA listing. Although the ABA Checklist and the ABA List Area
would expand to include Hawaii, the ABA would still recognize
and publish “classic” ABA Area lists in a newly created “ABA–
Continental” listing area. Nothing would go away. If you want
only to track ABA–Continental birds, you will be able to do so,
just as many birders do not count “heard only” birds or choose to
focus their listing efforts on a specific state or province.
1 • Adding Hawaii does not mean that Puerto Rico automatically
would be added to the ABA Area, should it become a U.S. state.
Neither would Texas or Québec be removed automatically, should
they ever vote to secede. We leave those decisions to the ABA community of the future, trusting members to respond appropriately.
5 • Life lists could, at your discretion, include past trips to Hawaii. If you visited Hawaii in, say, 2010, you could add to your
ABA Area life list the eligible birds you found while in Hawaii.
Or not. Your choice. Remember, if you want to keep track of the
good ol’ ABA–Continental list, that will still be possible.
2 • Adding Hawaii does not mean that various U.S. territories
and protectorates would be added automatically. For example,
Guam or American Samoa would not be added.
6 • In discussions with various members of the ABA Checklist
Committee and the ABA Recording Standards and Ethics Committee, it appears that integrating the birds of Hawaii into the
ABA Checklist would be relatively easy to do.
The native birds and most of the vagrants
would be straightforward. The established
Left to right: Hawaii birders Lance
Tanino, Perry Barker, Afsheen Siddiqi,
and Nick Hajdukovich pause while
doing a Christmas Bird Count, the
most cherished of all traditions in
the long annals of American birding.
Photo courtesy of Lance Tanino.
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4 • Past Big Years wouldn’t be affected. Even if somebody had
gone to Hawaii during a previous ABA Big Year, the rules in effect
during that year would still apply. Hawaii wouldn’t be counted in
any ABA Area Big Year prior to 2017.
O‘ahu ‘Elepaio. Photo by
© Eric VanderWerf.
BIRDING • AUGUST 2016
exotics would be a bit trickier, as might
one or two of the vagrants. This is to be
expected, as the ABA Checklist does not
agree 100% with state and provincial
checklists and vice versa.
7 • ABA Checklist Committee member Peter Pyle, one of the most widely respected
authorities on the birds of Hawaii, notes
that including Hawaii in the ABA Area
would add roughly 114 additional species
(30 extinct) not on the ABA Checklist but
accepted on the official Hawaii list. Sixty-eight of those are native species, only
five of which are not endemic to Hawaii.
Another 13 species are migrants or wild
vagrants. Approximately 33 exotics meet
the criteria for establishment recognized
by the ABA Checklist Committee.
These numbers are not exact, but they
are close, and are meant to give an idea of
the scope of what we’re talking about: a
significant but not overwhelming change.
For a bit of perspective, the official ABA
Area list sat at 906 in 1998; because of
splits and vagrants, it’s now at 993, an
increase of 87 species in under two decades. The inclusion of Hawaii would add
a comparable 84 species (114 total minus
30 extinct) that could be found and listed
by today’s birders.
I
believe that adding Hawaii to the ABA
Area will be a net positive, given the potentially substantial impact on the conservation of Hawaii’s birds. I also believe that
it will bring an unjustly excluded community of birders into full membership in the
ABA family.
I recognize that change can be emotional
and at times difficult. But in my view this is
a change worth making, with benefits that
will far outweigh any temporary inconvenience. Please take a few minutes to register your vote. Thank you for your support
of the ABA and its mission to inspire all
people to enjoy and protect wild birds.
Good birding,
Jeffrey A. Gordon, President
†
If you haven’t received your ballot, if it was damaged, or if you prefer to download a copy, go online
(aba.org/proxy), where you’ll find a downloadable
ballot plus additional information, including any
last-minute news and updates.
We Did It! Thank You!
To everyone who contributed to the ABA’s 2016 ABA Nesting Season Appeal: Hearty and Heartfelt
Thanks! We did it! Indeed we exceeded our fundraising goal of $25,000; a $2,500 matching grant
from Wild Birds Unlimited–Hockessin, Delaware, helped put us over the top.
ABA members’ generous donations to the 2016 Appeal have gone directly to our burgeoning
programs for young birders. We just completed our most ambitious schedule ever of summer birding
camps, and the 2016 ABA Young Birder of the Year contest is getting underway right now. Thanks to
your generosity, future prospects for these and other youth programs are stronger than ever.
To learn more about how you can support our young birder programs, please go online
(aba.org, then click on Young Birders) or give our office a call
(800-850-2473) and ask to speak directly with me. Again, thank
you for generous support of our successful Nesting Season Appeal.
P U B L I C AT I O N S.A B A.O R G
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