As it was only just over an hour away I popped off to see the Boat-tailed Grackle at Calshot Spit in Hampshire. Background to this bird on Birdguides HERE and background to Grackles in the WP HERE. Interestingly there was a Great-tailed Grackle on the Azores this year too with a great pic and some notes on that from Vincent HERE.
In short, all these records of Grackles in the WP (apart from a single Common Grackle record) are considered to be either escapes or entirely ship assisted and Great-tailed and Boat-tailed are non-migratory or only short-distance migrants so not considered to be natural vagrancy candidates so are not considered Category A birds in the WP.
Not sure what the ticking ethics are on ticking a Cat A (wild and native) bird on my World List as it's from the US and is still a Cat A individual there but it's a Cat E now it's in the UK and the WP. Granted I can't tick it for the UK and the WP but can't see why I can't have it as a World tick. Not much difference in me taking a boat to Florida and seeing one there or one taking a boat from Florida to Southhampton to come and see me? So without giving it too much thought it's now my 3355th species for the World.
Birding society rules and regs aside, this is the best bird I've seen this autumn- absolutely mind blowing and what a journey to get here even it did stowaway on a cruise ship all the way across the Atlantic, the first one to ever reach the UK by hook or crook- it's a wild bird nonetheless.
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