I have a really ridiculous question: if we go to a wildlife preserve (or some other game park) can it be assumed we
don't count those birds? The reason I ask is that there's a farm / preserve near me that has emus. I don't personally think it's "sporting" to count them, but I've never actively done birdwatching for tally purposes before, and I don't know all the rules
No, these shouldn't be counted. There is a five-level scale of "spontaneity" for birds:
A - Spontaneously occurring birds in an area since 1950.
B - Spontaneously occurring birds in an area only observed before 1950 (this distinction is mainly a statistical one)
C - Birds introduced by man into an area, or spontaneously occurring birds likely to originate from such a population
D - Possibly spontaneously occurring birds, but ones which cannot definitely be said not to be escapees from parks, farms or similar.
E - Birds which are definitely escapees (ostriches in North America, falcons with falconing gear still attached)
Tame birds and captive birds all fall into category E, which can also be interpreted as birds which are "definitely not spontaneous". There are borderline cases, though, such as birds caught while ringing (or banding). The bird is not spontaneously hanging in mid-air, waiting for your to come and get it, and it certainly doesn't spontaneously sit in your hand for a while. Nevertheless, these should count, I think, because they are spontaneously in the area.
Ideally, anyone who sees a duck in a place where there's even the slightest risk of them not being wild ducks should check if they've had their wings cut. However, this is generally not done unless you are in a park, or the bird is one which is not naturally occurring in the area. No one checks all Mallards in Europe, for instance, but it might be interesting to see if a Wood duck outside a park in Sweden shows signs of being an escapee. It can't be assumed, however. Sweden has two valid findings of American Black Duck, for instance, and recently, Denmark got a Baikal Teal approved after isotope measurements in its feathers, which indicated that it actually came from the Baikal Sea (I don't know how this works, though...)
