Locally common

Locally common is probably the least obvious of a bunch of qualitative terms used to describe abundance. We sometimes say a species is “very common” in an area to mean there are lots and lots of birds of that species there; they are plentiful and it is hard to miss them. Then there is a decreasing scale of abundance which uses terms such as “common”, “fairly common”, “uncommon”, “rare” and “very rare” (and variations of these terms). They are all totally subjective, but at least they are understandable!

The most obvious group of species which are “locally common” are the waterbirds. When you find a wetland, the waterbirds, or at least some waterbird species, are common. That gives a clue to understanding the concept of locally common. Locally common species need a particular habitat, or a particular combination of habitat features. Sometimes these features are obvious. White-necked Ravens are locally common where there are rocky outcrops. Sometimes they are subtle. One can travel through apparently identical habitat and see no Capped Wheatears. Then for a few kilometres there are lots of them. So we could say that Capped Wheatears are locally common.