Attached below are two photos of a Kingfisher species, the Micronesian Kingfisher Todiramphus cinnamominus. The photos are of a caged bird in the San Diego Zoo, California, USA.
The Micronesian Kingfisher has three subspecies:
Guam Kingfisher T.c. cinnamominus (the one on the photos)
Caroline Islands Kingfisher T.c. reichenbachii
T.c. pelewensis
Reichenbachii and Pelewensis are still occurring in the wild, but Cinnamominus is not. Due to the introduction of Brown Tree-Snakes on Guam, Cinnamominus was fast going to extinction. Just before that happened, 29 birds were captured and used in a (succesful) captive breeding programme for a future reintroduction when the circumstances on Guam improve.
Now my question: imagine that the Guam Kingfisher was a full species instead of a subspecies, and that improving the circumstances on Guam was not to be expected for at least the next 50 years. So the Guam Kingfisher could not, in your birding life, be seen in the wild but only in zoos. Would you tick it on your Life List?
Peter
Nope.
Ditto.