Teesmouth Bird Club

Is there an accepted protocol for deciding the nature of a bird rather than individual interpretation. I'm thinking about Forum and what to post where.

I am sorry Renton, I do not understand your question.
Ali McLee

Members post photographs of birds that they think other people would like to see and as a record of sighting. You may wish to post them under Rare Birds or Common Birds, how do you choose which, it seems what is rare for some individuals is common for others. Does the club have some direction for how to categorise the bird as Rare or Common?

Take the Merlin for example. There was a conversation in The Phil Stead hide last week amongst observers and the question was asked "How many sightings of Merlin have you had over the years?". The majority of observers who were all well established bird watchers could count their sightings on one hand during numbers of years birdwatching. So, the bird was a rare sighting for me until this week when I've now seen the bird numerous times, other people might say they are always around but sometimes difficult to find. So, where do I post my Merlin pics, in the gallery under Rare or Common!!

Found this on "Birdweb - Abundance Codes" -

COMMON (C)
Found in moderate to large numbers, and easily found in appropriate habitat at the right time of year.
FAIRLY COMMON (FC)
Found in small to moderate numbers, and usually easy to find in appropriate habitat at the right time of year.
UNCOMMON (U)
Found in small numbers, and usually—but not always—found with some effort in appropriate habitat at the right time of year.
RARE (R)
Occurs annually in very small numbers. Not to be expected on any given day, but may be found with extended effort over the course of the appropriate season(s).
IRREGULAR (I)
Represents an irruptive species whose numbers are highly variable from year to year. There may be small to even large numbers present in one year, while in another year it may be absent altogether.

Seems reasonable to use the Rare and Common definitions here to help people.

Generally it's taken as whether a bird is nationally rare or common rather than locally.

I'm not sure Merlin is the best example as we get them locally every year. I can't recall ever not seeing at least one of two each winter just on Seaton Common and Seaton Snook. The last few years they have regularly been at RSPB Saltholme as well. I'd agree that they're not seen that often previous years from Phil Stead Hide. Saltholme hide and Paddy's Pool are much more regular.

I've always regarded them as common rather than rare.

An easy way to decide is to enter the bird name into the search box and you'll see which forum other people have submitted photos.

Thanks for your reply, Ian. Still a bit subjective I think.