Domestic waterfowl currently make up a significant portion of this project's observations. Feral domestic waterfowl are a severely understudied group across the world, due to the fact that while they are frequently encountered by observers, most birders ignore them due to questionable countability.

Domestic waterfowl are a different category in comparison to most other escapees, however. They have established populations in many areas, which of course would exclude them in eligibility for this project in those areas. For reasons mentioned in the paragraph above, we don't have very good data for where they are or are not established. Also, domestic waterfowl are in the relatively unique position of feral individuals and free-roaming captive individuals both being common, frequently encountered, and difficult to differentiate. Therefore, I do not feel this project is a good way to keep track of released individuals of domestic waterfowl. As such, from this moment on, the following taxa are excluded from eligibility for this project:

-Anas platyrhynchos domesticus
-Cairina moschata domestica
-Anser anser domesticus
-Anser cygnoides domesticus
-Anser anser domesticus × cygnoides domesticus
-Anas platyrhynchos × Cairina moschata domestica

Wild-type individuals of all of these species are still included, if there is reasonable evidence that they are escapees. Other domestic waterfowl not listed above, such as captive color morphs of Mandarin Duck, are still eligible for this project.

Feel free to ask any questions you have in the comments below.

All the best,
raymie
Escapees From Captivity admin