The benefit auction concluded in Feb 2011 (more information in a post here) is all about protecting salt pans in Thailand that are critical wintering habitat for many species of shorebirds including Spoon-billed Sandpiper. Protecting wintering habitat is particularly important for shorebirds, because many of them spend eight or nine months of each year there. […]
Salt pans and sandpipers Read More »
This post accompanies: Is the Brown Creeper more than one species? The songs of Brown Creepers do vary regionally, but the variation is subtle and complex and not very obvious (at least to our ears). Regional differences in song may offer the strongest support for splitting Brown Creeper into multiple species, but remain virtually unstudied.
Variation in Brown Creeper songs Read More »
Brown Creeper is such a familiar and easily-identified bird that few birders really study it closely. Slight regional differences in plumage and song have long been known, but recent DNA research (Manthey et al., 2010) has shown that these subtle outward differences go much deeper. (David Callahan summarizes the research at Birdwatch). There is a
Is the Brown Creeper more than one species? Read More »
Possibly… Like most herons, the calls of Great Egret are always hoarse, unmusical croaks and groans. There are slight variations, however, and listening to the selection of recordings available at Xeno-canto suggests that there may be consistent differences between the American and Eurasian Great Egrets.
Can Old World and New World Great Egrets be distinguished by call? Read More »
The painting shown here is currently available at auction (see box at right, revised on 24 Jan) with 100% of the proceeds going to support the efforts of the Bird Conservation Society of Thailand. Or you can make a donation through Audubon (see below). Funds will go to an information center at Pak Thale, Thailand,
Donate to help Spoon-billed Sandpiper Read More »
Update, 26 Jan 2011: We have now filled the beta-tester slots. Thanks for the great response! The Sibley eGuide to Birds (for Blackberry) is ready for testing. We just need a few people to run it through the paces on some different Blackberry devices and tell us what works and what, if anything, doesn’t. All
Beta testers needed for Blackberry app Read More »
In December 2010 I had the privilege of birding in Kenya with the incomparable Brian Finch, and on 14 December we stumbled upon an interesting small sandpiper at Lake Nakuru. We had talked about the possibility of Dunlin (only a few Kenya records) and were looking through the many Ruffs, Curlew Sandpipers, and Little Stints
Possible hybrid sandpiper in Kenya Read More »
A shrike present on Long Island NY October-November 2010 was originally (and understandably) identified as a Northern. it received wider attention after Shai Mitra questioned the ID in late November, and for several days generated quite a bit of debate over its identification. Most concurred that it was a Loggerhead, but the reasons were mostly subjective
A perplexing shrike Read More »
Posters Several new posters have been released by Scott & Nix, including Backyard Birds of the West, Waterfowl, Hummingbirds, Owls, and Raptors of North America. Notecards Notecards will be available soon from Scott & Nix. T-shirts Liberty Graphics has produced three new t-shirt designs featuring art from the Sibley Guides, and more are on the
There are five subspecies of White-crowned Sparrow, and in most parts of North America it is possible to see more than one subspecies during part of the year. Identification of subspecies is covered in the Sibley Guide to Birds and in Dunn et al. 1995. Maps of band recoveries (from the Canadian Atlas of Bird
White-crowned Sparrow subspecies – Where? Read More »