Book review: two new guides to the birds of Colombia

Field Guide to the Birds of Colombia
Miles McMullan
Rey Naranjo (Bogotá) | 2018
432 pp. | >5,000 colour figures, maps.
Softback | £49.99 / $65 / $115,000 COP | ISBN 978-9588969626

Guía ilustrada de la avifauna colombiana
Fernando Ayerbe Quiñones
Wildlife Conservation Society (Bogotá) | 2018
410 pp. | 212 colour plates, 1,932 maps.
Softback | $120,000 COP (apparently unavailable outside Colombia) | ISBN 978-9585461031




Just finished my review of two exciting new guides to the birds of Colombia, to be published in Neotropical Birding 26...

TEXT TO FOLLOW ONE YEAR AFTER PUBLICATION.

Book review: Birds of Central America: a field guide

Birds of Central America: Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama

Andrew C. Vallely & Dale Dyer
Princeton University Press | 2018
584 pp. | 16 x 23.5 cm | 260 colour plates, 1261 maps
Softback | £40 / $49.50 | ISBN: 9780691138022

Just finished my review of the superb new guide to the birds of Central America, to be published in Neotropical Birding 25...

Thanks to Princeton University Press for providing a review copy.

Published review below, PDF here.

Until recently, field guides for Central America were getting rather long in the tooth, although such masterworks as Howell & Webb (1995), Stiles & Skutch (1989), and Ridgely & Gwynne (1989) never become obsolete. The situation was remedied by the first field guides to Belize (Jones 2003) and Honduras (Gallardo 2014), followed by pocket guides to Costa Rica (Garrigues & Dean 2007), Panama (Angehr & Dean 2010) and Nicaragua (Chavarría-Duriaux et al. 2018; see review, page 88) published by Zona Tropical/ Comstock Publishing Associates (latterly imprints of Cornell University Press), and by the Peterson guide to Northern Central America (Fagan & Komar 2016). The present volume, as the first field guide to the entire Central American avifauna, fills the gaps left by El Salvador and Guatemala and brings the identification literature for the remaining countries up to date.
     A decade in production, the book covers the 1,261 bird species that had been documented in the political region of Central America as of August 2017, an avifauna comparable in size with that of a typical South American country – quite a daunting undertaking. Each of the 1,194 bird species of what the authors define as the ‘core avifauna’ is accorded a main species account, while a further 67 ‘marginal, dubious and hypothetical species’ are relegated to an annotated appendix.
     The region is delimited politically rather than biogeographically, so Vitelline Warbler Setophaga vitellina, a West Indian species found only on the Swan Islands and (extralimitally) on the Cayman Islands, is included. Taxonomy and order broadly follow American Ornithological Society (AOS). There are some logical departures, such as treating Audubon’s Setophaga auduboni and Goldman’s Warblers S. goldmani as separate from Yellow-rumped Warbler S. coronata, or recognising Azuero Parakeet Pyrrhura eisenmanni as distinct from South American Painted Parakeet P. picta.
     The main accounts comprise carefully distilled, concise identification texts and good-sized distribution maps (29 x 36 mm) on the left, with plates on facing spreads. Layout is intuitive, facilitating cross-referencing to the facing page. For species that exhibit geographic variation northern/western subspecies appear on the left-hand side of the plate and eastern/southern subspecies on the right. Plates are the most realistic of any guide to this region, accurately capturing the jizz and plumage of all groups. Birds are usually shown in profile to facilitate comparison, but the illustrations have a pleasing three-dimensional quality and the plates themselves are works of art. The antbirds and furnariids are spectacular. The figures are large and fill each plate, leaving minimal blank plate.
     Critical groups such as shorebirds, tyrant flycatchers and warblers are very nicely illustrated, the latter with both breeding and non-breeding plumages. There should be no need to carry an additional guide to the birds of North America. It is no surprise to learn that both artist and author spent a great deal of time in museum collections, especially the American Museum of Natural History, checking and comparing specimens. The depth of their research is apparent in the quality of the entire book. It may take a while for the eye to adapt to the lack of colour saturation of the plates, particularly for some groups like vireos and thrushes. However, I find the artwork very pleasing.
     In the introduction, the authors set out their reasons for not labelling figures with subspecies names; having examined the full range of geographic variation they felt that a more general description of geographic variation was more appropriate. Given the diligence with which the authors examined museum specimens, I would have liked to have seen scientific names of subspecies specified, which I think would have added clarity to accounts of, for example, Willet Tringa semipalmata, Short-billed Dowitcher Limnodromus griseus, Osprey Pandion haliaetus, Dusky-capped Flycatcher Myiarchus tuberculifer and Northern Rough-winged Swallow Stelgidopteryx serripiennis.
     Text focuses squarely on the task of identification. In the interest of brevity, it omits information on aspects of life history except where they aid identification. An introductory line on regional and global status precedes the main identification text, which is followed by a short section covering geographic variation where appropriate. Notes on habits indicate habitat preference, the favoured habitat stratum (canopy vs understorey, etc.), and distinctive features of behaviour. The final section describes vocalisations. The compilation of accurate distribution maps across seven nations must have consumed an inordinate amount of time. I could find no obvious oversights, although unfortunately Turquoise-browed Eumomota superciliosa and Blue-throated Motmot Aspatha gularis maps have been transposed during layout. The authors have wisely treated records on popular online platforms with caution, which will ensure that the distributional data provides a solid baseline for future work.
     Compressing practical information on the identification of 1,200 species into one volume demands a good-sized book. This one is about the size of old guides such as Stiles & Skutch or Ridgely & Gwynne, and weighs 1.3 kg. Yes, for those who want to carry a pocket guide, it is bulky, and also heavy. And it is likely that many visitors will be inclined to pass it over in favour of a lighter guide. In my opinion that would be a mistake. I much prefer to carry a dependable, authoritative reference and will gladly have this in a backpack in preference to a smaller guide. At the very least, for those who will not be taking it in the field, it should be an essential reference for consultation back at camp or at the hotel.
     So, an excellent addition to the literature on the birds of Central America with strong text and plates. This new guide becomes the benchmark for the region and acts as a worthy geographical complement to Howell & Webb (1995), with a slight geographic overlap. The authors deserve the highest praise for a magnificent achievement.

Christopher J. Sharpe 

REFERENCES
Angehr, G. R. & Dean, R. (2010) The birds of Panama. Ithaca, NY: Comstock Publishing Associates.
Chavarría-Duriaux, L., Hille, D. C. & Dean, R. (2018) The birds of Nicaragua: a field guide. Ithaca, NY: Comstock Publishing Associates.
Fagan, J. & Komar, O. (2016) Peterson field guide to birds of northern Central America. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Gallardo, R. J. (2014) Guide to the birds of Honduras. Honduras: Mountain Gem Tours.
Garrigues, R. & Dean, R. (2007) The birds of Costa Rica: a field guide. Miami, FL: Zona Tropical.
Howell, S. N. G. & Webb, S. (1995) A guide to the birds of Mexico and northern Central America. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Jones, H. L. (2003) Birds of Belize. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.
Ridgely, R. S. R. & Gwynne, J. A. (1989) A guide to the birds of Panama, with Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Honduras. 2nd edition. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Stiles, F. G. & Skutch, A. F. (1989) A guide to the birds of Costa Rica. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.

Book review: Antpittas and Gnateaters

Antpittas and Gnateaters

Harold F. Greeney
Helm (Bloomsbury) | 2018
496 pp. | 18 x 24.7 cm | 24 colour plates, 250 colour photographs
Hardback | £50 / $65 | ISBN: 9781472919649

Just finished my review of Harold Greeney's magnum opus, to be published in Neotropical Birding 24...

Thanks to Bloomsbury Publishing for providing a review copy.

Published review below, PDF here.

This book is quite obviously a labour of love and, for anyone familiar with the author’s huge body of published work, it could never be anything but thorough. Harold Greeney is unashamedly a natural historian, a term that has regrettably become unfashionable in our modern world. This book does indeed read in places like a work of the Victorian era, with all the positive connotations that this implies, and venerable 19th and early 20th century names like Sclater, Godman, Salvin, Hartert and Hellmayr crop up repeatedly. The feel is maintained by the extensive excerpts from original descriptions that preface some of the species accounts, setting a tone of wonder and discovery that befits a group about which so much remains to be unearthed.
     Distributional information forms a major part of this work. Maps are a model of clarity, with base cartography showing national borders and major rivers upon which known ranges are carefully mapped. A very useful innovation is the inclusion of marked type localities. As Greeney is at pains to point out in the introduction, researching distribution “was one of the most time-consuming aspects of this work”. The maps are based on a vast compilation of records, comprising specimen data, publications, and voucher records held at archives such as xeno-canto (https://www.xeno-canto.org/) and the Internet Bird Collection (https://www.hbw.com/ibc). The half-a-billion records in the increasingly popular (and powerful) eBird system (https://ebird.org) have also been evaluated, with sight records employed cautiously, emphasising to eBird users the utility of supporting unusual records with voucher audio or visual material. In painstaking detail, sight records have routinely been verified by correspondence with the observers. The source of all records is provided; as the author admits, he did not want to condemn future revisers to repeat the process by obscuring the primary data beneath interpretative accounts. These data will be passed over by many readers, but for perhaps as many others they will be a gold mine to be exploited again and again. They are the sort of feature that sets this monograph apart from so many other similar titles covering other bird families, and their inclusion can only be applauded.
     We have established that the library and museum research has been extraordinarily thorough. But Greeney’s credentials as a field ornithologist are second to none. Texts are thoroughly underpinned by hard scientific data, but Greeney contributes much original observation of his own. For example, referring to Plain-backed Antpitta Grallaria haplonota, he relates “A pair that I observed in the foothills of Ecuador (chaplinae) appeared to increase song rates in response to darkening skies...”, a trait that will be familiar to anyone who has spent time with the species, for example, in Rancho Grande Biological Station, Venezuela, where its haunting song is a feature of the soundscape during misty hours. Indeed, much life-history information, such as nesting data, seasonality, plumage and moult, is here published for the first time. Some of this is recounted in a way that captures the naturalist’s joy at observing the events, such as Greeney’s personal account of a Tawny Antpitta Grallaria quitensis adult relieving its incubating mate on a snow-bound nest.
     Taxonomy follows the American Ornithological Society, with one minor departure in the recognition of Grallaria fenwickorum rather than G. urraoensis for Urrao Antpitta, in adherence to International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature regulations. The author recognises that some of the ‘species’ treated are therefore obvious species complexes, the component subspecies of which will in all likelihood, once the evidence is formally marshalled, be elevated to species level. Obvious examples are the Rufous Grallaria rufula and Tawny Antpitta G. quitensis complexes, which potentially comprise seven and three species respectively; the Sierra de Perijá taxon saltuensis of northeast Colombia and northwest Venezuela is perhaps the clearest case in point, originally assigned to G. rufula when described more than 70 years ago, with the remark that it “it seems possible that it may be a distinct species”. All seven current subspecies of Rufous Antpitta are illustrated and, since all 156 taxa recognised in the book are treated separately and in detail, disentangling the taxa in future will not prove too much of a challenge.
     With the sheer volume of information included here, it is no surprise that the odd minor error has crept in. The text states (p. 436) that the range of Slate-crowned Grallaricula nana “does overlap with Sucre Antipitta [G. cumanensis] in the east [of Venezuela]”, from which the crucial word “not” is missing. More seriously, subspecies labels have been incorrectly placed on the map for Plain-backed Antpitta Grallaria haplonota, surely a slip-up at the layout stage. But such things should not trouble us.
     Plates are of the high quality we have come to expect from David Beadle, and are a pleasure to peruse. In this case one definitely can judge the book by its (stunning Crescent-faced Antpitta Grallaricula lineifrons) cover. Photographs of live birds are provided for all currently recognised species, except for Elusive Grallaria eludens and Grey-naped Antpittas G. griseonucha, where specimens are substituted. Not surprisingly, given the author’s track record of publishing nest descriptions, many of the photos are of nests, nestlings or fledglings – all of which will be excitingly unfamiliar to many readers.
     This is one of the best-researched avian monographs ever published, and leaves little to desire in the coverage of its subject. In fact, it would scarcely be an exaggeration to say that everything we currently know about this group is contained within this book, so the only factor in deciding whether or not to acquire it is whether antpittas and gnateaters are of interest to the potential purchaser. Given the almost cult interest in these enigmatic cryptic birds, which to judge by the growing number of feeding stations is on the increase, I am confident that the book will sell itself.

Christopher J. Sharpe

Book review: Birds of Nicaragua: a field guide

Birds of Nicaragua: a field guide

Liliana Chavarría-Duriaux, David C. Hille & Robert Dean
Comstock (A Zona Tropical Publication) | 2018
480 pp. | 14 x 21.7 cm | 1332 colour illustrations, 9 colour photographs, 810 maps
Softback | £32 / $39.95 | ISBN: 9781501701580

Just finished my review of the handy new guide to the birds of Nicaragua, to be published in Neotropical Birding 24...

Thanks to Cornell University Press for providing a review copy.

Published review below, PDF here.

Nicaragua has long been in the shadow of its neighbour, Costa Rica, partly due to decades of political instability fuelled by proxy war. During the last century, grouped with El Salvador and Honduras, it was often overlooked by travellers and birders, or given a wide berth. It still slips under the world-listers’ radar simply because it has no endemic species. This is a terrible shame since the country has so much to offer, arguably more than any other in the region. It holds the largest continuous block of tropical forest north of Amazonia, habitats that are better preserved than those in neighbouring countries, a respectable 750+ species of bird (vs 925 for Costa Rica) and is the Central American country where exciting new discoveries can most realistically be expected. Without a doubt, the lack of a modern field guide has not helped the country promote its avian riches. Now that has been remedied, first by a pioneering 2014 bilingual guide (Martínez-Sánchez et al. 2014; on which Liliana Chavarría-Duriaux was a co-author), and now by this Zona Tropical offering.
     The guide covers 763 species, with full accounts accorded to every species that is known to have occurred, including vagrants such as Pacific Golden Plover Pluvialis fulva, Black-capped Petrel Pterodroma hasitata and Tawny-collared Nightjar Antrostomus salvini. An appendix provides shorter text and thumbnail illustrations of 43 species that are likely to be found in future, or whose claim to form part of the avifauna rests on a single sight record, thus helping future-proof the book to some extent. Some sight records have apparently been rejected on available evidence, as with a March 2014 sight record of Sinaloa Martin Progne sinaloae, although for this species whose winter range is unknown (quite possibly Amazonia), it would seem at least plausible that it might migrate through Nicaragua. Taxonomy follows the American Ornithological Society; differences with the increasingly popular Clements and International Ornithological Congress lists – much favoured by eBirders and world-listers respectively – are not mentioned, but neither are they difficult to determine.
     All information pertinent to a species is provided on a single page spread, making the guide quick to use in the field. The book itself is slightly larger (about 2 cm taller) than Zona Tropical’s popular Costa Rica predecessor (Garrigues & Dean 2007), which puts it on the borderline of what might be called a ‘pocket guide’, but it is otherwise fairly similar in style and layout, all wrapped in the identical type of standard soft cover.
     Text is concise, albeit a little longer than that of its Costa Rican counterpart, and clearly emphasises characters for field identification. Care has been taken to describe distribution, status and seasonality in sufficient detail for critical use. Descriptions of voice are always idiosyncratic, and in some cases I am not sure my ears are quite attuned to those of the authors. For example, I have trouble matching the description of a “rhythmic 4-phrase song” for Pale-vented Pigeon Patagioenas cayennensis with the classic ‘Santa Cruz’ mnemonic that my brain ascribes.
     The 2014 Nicaragua guide lacked maps, relying instead on range descriptions. This Zona Tropical guide breaks new ground, with large, colour-coded maps that permit the instant narrowing-down of possibilities. Despite their size, the maps are rather broad-brush, doubtless reflecting the resolution of the information the authors had at their disposal, especially the paucity of museum collections made in Nicaragua; their source is not specified beyond “years of field research”.
     Robert Dean’s plates originally appeared in Garrigues and Dean (2007), but there are many new illustrations depicting females, birds in flight, tail patterns and so on. All boreal migrants are illustrated, cutting down on the need to carry a North America field guide. As users of previous guides featuring Dean’s work will know, the paintings are well-suited to the purpose of practical identification, showing diagnostic field marks.
     Zona Tropical publications have made a niche for themselves with a series of well-produced field guides to Central American biota, and this latest addition will occupy a prominent place in their portfolio. I very much hope that birders will be persuaded to visit Nicaragua, and tour companies will eventually welcome it into the suite of orthodox tour destinations. With the appearance of this handy guide, crafted with love as well as expertise, there should be no excuse.

Christopher J. Sharpe 

REFERENCES
Garrigues, R. & Dean, R. (2007) The birds of Costa Rica: a field guide. Miami FL, USA: Zona Tropical.
Martínez-Sánchez, J., Chavarría-Duriaux, L. & Muñoz, F. J. (2014) A guide to the birds of Nicaragua/Nicaragua – una guía de aves. Magdeburg, Germany: Verlags KG Wolf.

Neotropical Birding 17 is out!

Neotropical Birding 17 is printed and has been available at the UK Birdfair since Friday. I was there today and enjoyed seeing the Neotropical Bird Club stand. This issue has been assembled in record time – six weeks – but is nevertheless one of the most satisfying numbers I have put together. Photos of what will now be recognised as a "new" species of owl for North America (Strix sartorii), the article on Sierra de Perijá and the nice image of Pterodroma–Stercorarius interspecific social dominance mimicry (ISDM) are my highlights. I had some really nice unsolicited comments from people at the Birdfair - thank you all! 

Welcome to issue 17 of Neotropical Birding! 

You've heard of Africa's Big Five and Big Seven, but the average birder prefers the Big Six. Where in the world? Of course, it's the Paraguayan Chaco. Our veteran ornithologists Paul Smith and Rob Clay take us on a tour that targets the Chaco Big Six – figuratively, although they will literally be taking a group there on one of our regular NBC Fundraising tours later this year. They might even throw in a couple of extras that could one day make a Paraguayan Big Eight!

For a break from the heat, try some Andean birding in the isolated mountain range of Perijá on the Colombia-Venezuela border. This little-visited and relatively neglected range has been explored with some difficulty from the Venezuelan side, resulting in some remarkable discoveries in recent years. Travelling to the Colombian side, Trevor Ellery takes us to ProAves' newly-established Chamicero del Perijá (Perija Thistletail) Reserve. The lodge gives access to birds that were the stuff of dreams about only three or four years ago, including what will almost certainly be recognised as an endemic “Rufous” Antpitta, Grallaria (rufula) saltuensis, as well as the eponymous thistletail.

The second of our Birding Sites is the Río Bigal Biological Reserve in eastern Ecuador, a favourite of Juan Freile, Vincent Mouret and Mathieu Siol. Nestled in the Andean foothills, the reserve enjoys the best of both worlds, with a heady avifaunal mix of Amazonian and Andean species – and some really special birds characteristic of these elevations like the poorly-known, but stunning Pink-throated Brilliant Heliodoxa gularis.

In our last issue, Steve Howell examined Markham's Storm Petrel identification at sea. This time Fabrice Schmitt dispenses with the dramamine and takes us to recently-discovered Markham's Storm Petrel breeding colonies in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile. The nest sites of Ringed Storm Petrel remain a mystery – but for how long?

Sticking with seabirds, Alex Lees, Fabio Olmos and Alberto Campos go pelagic birding off the coast of NE Brazil. Their targets? Trindade Petrel Pterodroma arminjoniana tops a list that could include just about anything. Their article includes quite a few species for which there are only a handful of Brazilian records.

But if a handful of records is not exclusive enough, and you have a penchant for those really elusive birds, then they do not come much more enigmatic than Mexico's mystery Cinereous Owl Strix (“varia”) sartorii. Birding at the Cutting Edge, Nathan Pieplow and Andrew Spencer present the first photographs and sonograms, and tell us all about one of the most exciting encounters in North American birding for some time.

Our Globally Threatened Bird, the Colombian endemic Chestnut-capped Piha Lipaugus weberi, was only discovered in 1999 and is already Endangered – perhaps even Critically Endangered. This reinforces an idea that crops up with alarming regularity in Neotropical Birding: species becoming extinct even before we know them.

Alex Lees' invites you to “Get your lists out!” one last time for his final thoughts on Splits, lumps and shuffles. This is the column that turns everyone into an armchair taxonomist, providing fuel for arguments over the sanity of the AOU or IOC, Clements or HBW / BirdLife. Birdwise, it's the usual suspects once again: Pyrrhura parakeets, woodcreepers and Splitalopus. But should you have been paying more attention to those Grey-necked Wood Rails and Red-crowned Ant Tanagers – a probable future armchair tick or two for anyone who has been to both Central and South America?

As ever, Jez Bird brings us his regular NBC Conservation Awards Update. NBC continues to finance vital projects to conserve Neotropical Birds. Please join the Club if you would like to support our valuable work.

And finally, I would like to thank all our contributors, many of whom supplied unique material to meet a very tight schedule, writing articles, answering requests and sending photographs directly from the field. Thank you for sparing the time to make NB17 possible. I owe a special debt of gratitude to those who provide first class text and images for every issue, helping us unconditionally – you know who you are, and our readers do too!

Happy Neotropical birding!

Christopher J. Sharpe, Senior Editor

Neotropical Birding 17: contents

Sharpe, C. J. (2015) Welcome to issue 17 of Neotropical Birding. Neotrop. Birding 17: 2–3.

Schmitt, F., Barros, R. & Norambuena, H. (2015) Markham’s Storm Petrel breeding colonies discovered in Chile. Neotrop. Birding 17: 5–10. [Oceanodroma markhami, Oceanodroma hornbyi, Oceanites gracilis] E-mail: fabrschmitt at yahoo dot com

Lees, A. C., Olmos, F. & Campos, A. (2015) Here be gadflies: pelagic birding off north-east Brazil. Neotrop. Birding 17: 11–18. [Pterodroma arminjoniana, Calonectris
borealis, Oceanodroma leucorhoa, Stercorarius pomarinus; nice image of Pterodroma–Stercorarius interspecific social dominance mimicry (ISDM)] E-mail: alexanderlees at btopenworld dot com

Lees, A. C. (2015) Splits, lumps and shuffles. Neotrop. Birding 17: 19–27. [resume of recent publications on taxonomy and systematics concerning multiple taxa] E-mail: alexanderlees at btopenworld dot com

Sharpe, C. J. (2015) Chestnut-capped Piha Lipaugus weberi. Neotrop. Birding 17: 28–31. E-mail: sharpebirder at gmail dot com

Pieplow, N. & Spencer, A. (2015) Finding Mexico’s mystery owl—Cinereous Owl Strix (varia?) sartorii. Neotrop. Birding 17: 34–39. [Strix sartorii, Strix varia, Strix fulvescens] E-mail: npieplow at gmail dot com

Smith, P. & Clay, R. P. (2015) Birding the Paraguayan Dry Chaco—The Big Six. Neotrop. Birding 17: 40–46. [Eudromia formosa, Chunga burmeisteri, Dryocopus schulzi, Strix chacoensis, Spiziapteryx circumcincta, Rhinocrypta lanceolata] E-mail: faunaparaguay at gmail dot com

Freile, J.F., Mouret, V. & Siol, M. (2015) Amidst a crowd of birds: Birding Río Bigal, Ecuador. Neotrop. Birding 17: 47–55. [E Andean Ecuadorian foothill specialities, e.g. Heliodoxa gularis] E-mail: jfreileo at yahoo dot com

Ellery, T. (2015) The Serranía del Perijá—an exciting new destination in Colombia. Neotrop. Birding 17: 58–67. [Perijá endemic taxa, e.g. Metallura iracunda, Metallura tyrianthina districta, Coeligena (bonapartei) consita, Grallaria ("rufula") saltuensis, Scytalopus perijanus, Asthenes gularis, Synallaxis unirufa munoztebari, Anisognathus lacrymosus pallididorsalis, Arremon perijanus, Atlapetes (latinuchus) nigrifrons] E-mail: trevor_lotan at hotmail dot com

Jeffers, R. (2015) Club news. Forthcoming NBC fundraising tours. Neotrop. Birding 17: 70. 

Bird, J. (2015) NBC Conservation Awards update. Neotrop. Birding 17: 71–74. [Vultur gryphus, Pyrrhura griseipectus] E-mail: jezbird at gmail dot com

Neotropical Birding 16 is being distrbuted

Our Spring issue is a little tardy this year to match the lateness of the season...

Welcome to issue 16 of Neotropical Birding! 

We're straight into the thick of it in this issue with Alex Lees' regular Splits, lumps and shuffles column, which once again trawls the murky depths of Neotropical systematics and taxonomy. This issue includes a sobering image of two recently-described and likely extinct Brazilian furnariids. How many taxa are we losing before we have time to catalogue them?

Fortunately, our Globally Threatened Bird, the Endangered Speckle-chested Piculet Picumnus steindachneri looks set to escape their fate and may turn out to be more widespread than previously suspected. Woodpecker nut Gerard Gorman has photographs.

Our first Identification Workshop focusses on at-sea Identification of Black and Markham’s Storm Petrels. The latter is a Data Deficient species, the conservation status of which is confounded by identification challenges. Its true status is only just becoming clear and happily it may turn out to be of minor conservation concern. Steve Howell is our guide, and provides our cover photo of the coveted Markham’s Storm Petrel. A very different identification pitfall is the result of pollen staining, as illustrated by mysterious Euphonias in French Guiana.

The LSU team that achieved last year's Peru Big Day record provide a blow-by-blow account of what it is like to be Birding at the Cutting Edge.

Our compilation of recent published and unpublished records, Neotropical Notebook, is collated for the last time by Guy Kirwan. His team of collaborators are Dušan Brinkhuizen, Diego Calderón, Bradley Davis and Jeremy Minns.

NBC continues to raise money to finance projects that conserve Neotropical Birds. Jez Bird tells us about this year's award winners and the continuing benefits of projects financed in the past in NBC Conservation Awards Update. Your contribution to NBC helps Award recipients give something back to the Neotropical birds we all enjoy.

We round off the issue with a Book Review of one of the most exciting bird books of the past year: the first volume of the HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World.


Happy Neotropical birding!

Christopher J. Sharpe, Senior Editor

Neotropical Birding 16: contents

Sharpe, C. J. (2015) Welcome to issue 16 of Neotropical Birding. Neotrop. Birding 16: 2.

Lees, A. C. (2015) Splits, lumps and shuffles. Neotrop. Birding 16: 4–15. [resume of recent publications on taxonomy and systematics concerning multiple taxa] E-mail: alexanderlees at btopenworld dot com

Gorman, G. & Sharpe, C. J. (2015) Speckle-chested Piculet Picumnus steindachneri. Neotrop. Birding 16: 18–21. E-mail: gerard at probirder dot com

Howell, S. N. G. (2015) Identification of Black and Markham’s Storm Petrels off Peru. Neotrop. Birding 16: 22–26. [Halocyptena (= Oceanodroma) melania, Oceanodroma markhami].

Deville, T., Pelletier, V., Claessens, O. & Ingels, J. (2015) Euphonias using pollen make-up: an identification pitfall. Neotrop. Birding 16: 27–31. [Euphonia minuta, Leiothlypis peregrina] E-mail: tanguy.deville at gmail dot com

Seeholzer, G., Harvey, M., Lane, D. & Angulo, F. (2015) LSU Peru Big Day 2014. Neotrop. Birding 16: 33–42. [specialities of Alto Mayo region, NE Peru] E-mail: seeholzer.glenn at gmail dot com

Kirwan, G. M., Brinkhuizen, D., Calderón, D., Davis, B. & Minns, J. (2015) Neotropical Notebook: published and unpublished records. Neotrop. Birding 16: 43–62. [resume of recent records concerning multiple taxa] E-mail: gmkirwan at aol dot com

Bird, J. (2015) NBC Conservation Awards update. Neotrop. Birding 16: 63–67. [Amazona
vinacea, A. oratrix] E-mail: jezbird at gmail dot com

Sharpe, C. J. (2015) Book review: HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated
Checklist of the Birds of the World. Volume 1. Neotrop. Birding 16: 68–69. E-mail: neotropical.birding at neotropicalbirdclub dot org html PDF

 

 

Neotropical Birding 15 is out!

Back from a few days' camping in the Yorkshire Dales to find copies of Neotropical Birding 15 on my doormat, fresh from the printers...

Welcome to issue 15 of Neotropical Birding!

The Autumn 2014 issue of Neotropical Birding, NB15, has just been published. This issue commemorates the life of Alexandre Renaudier, the young French ornithologist who died prematurely last year. Alex was a very keen birder, who spent most of his time in the field and made some extraordinary ornithological discoveries. He had a sensitive ear, testimony to which is the wonderful collection of recordings he co-authored: Bird Voices from French Guiana. He had a close relationship with NBC, acting as Country Representative for France and French Guiana between 2006 and 2013.

Appropriately, our cover story presents the first photographs of the enigmatic Rusty Tinamou Crypturellus brevirostris from Alex's adopted home, French Guiana – truly Birding at the cutting edge.

Our first Photospot provides further ground-breaking images from the same country, this time of nesting Black-bellied Cuckoo Piaya melanogaster, while the second piece is dedicated to another mysterious species, Giant Snipe Gallinago undulata.

Alex rarely found the desk-time necessary to publish his findings, but in our Identification Workshop, he and his friend Olivier Claessens reprise Field identification of Least and Yellow-billed Terns, a subject explored by Floyd Hayes in Cotinga in 2001. Further advances have made this challenge a lot easier and should result in better reporting in the future.

Switching environments somewhat, the American Bird Conservancy's Dan Lebbin takes us back to northern Peru, in a sequel to his Nightbirds article published in NB11. Dan returns in the daytime, with some suggestions for tracking down 50 species of hummingbird. A Hummingbird Paradise, perhaps?

No issue of Neotropical Birding is complete without an invitation from Alex Lees to “get your lists out” for another roller-coaster ride through the world of avian taxonomy and systematics in Splits, lumps and shuffles (one of Alex Renaudier's favourite columns).

Our compilation of recent published and unpublished records, Neotropical Notebook, is compiled by Guy Kirwan and his team of collaborators: Dušan Brinkhuizen, Diego Calderón, Bradley Davis, Jeremy Minns and Kini Roesler.

NBC has always played a role in conserving Neotropical Birds. Jez Bird tells us about this year's award winners and the continuing benefits of projects financed in the past in NBC Conservation Awards Update. Your contribution to NBC helps Award recipients give something back to the Neotropical birds we all enjoy.

We round off the issue with Book reviews of two of last year's most exciting publications: Birdwatching in Colombia and Birds and People.


Happy Neotropical birding!

Christopher J. Sharpe, Senior Editor

Neotropical Birding 15: contents

Sharpe, C. J. (2014) Welcome to issue 14 of Neotropical Birding. Neotrop. Birding 15: 2.

Ingels, J., Claessens, O. & de Pracontal, N. (2014) Neotropical Birding 15: a tribute to Alexandre Renaudier. Neotrop. Birding 15: 3. E-mail: johan.ingels@skynet.be

Lees, A. C. (2014) Splits, lumps and shuffles. Neotrop. Birding 15: 4–14. [resume of recent publications on taxonomy and systematics concerning multiple taxa] E-mail: alexanderlees@btopenworld.com

Rufray, V., Pelletier, V. & Ingels, J. (2014) First photographs and new records of the Rusty Tinamou Crypturellus brevirostris from French Guiana. Neotrop. Birding 15: 15–19. [Crypturellus brevirostris] E-mail: vrufray@biotope.fr / johan.ingels@skynet.be

Claessens, O. &  Renaudier, A. (2014) Field identification of Least and Yellow-billed Terns: experience from French Guiana. Neotrop. Birding 15: 22–31. [Sternula superciliaris, Sternula antillarum] E-mail: olivier.claessens@gepog.org

Lebbin, D., Aucca Chutas, C., Olmos, F. & Spencer, A. (2014) Hummingbird paradise: northern Peru. Neotrop. Birding 15: 33–41. [multiple Trochilidae spp. of N Perú] E-mail: dlebbin@abcbirds.org

Kirwan, G. M., Brinkhuizen, D., Calderón, D., Davis, B., Minns, J. & Roesler, I. (2014) Neotropical Notebook: published and unpublished records. Neotrop. Birding 15: 46–62. [resume of recent records concerning multiple taxa] E-mail: gmkirwan@aol.com

Ingels, J. & Fernandez, M. (2014) Photospot: A nest of Black-bellied Cuckoo Piaya melanogaster in French Guiana. Neotrop. Birding 15: 63–65. [Piaya melanogaster] E-mail: johan.ingels@skynet.be

Smith, P., Bland, D. & Clay, R. (2014) Photospot: Waka Waka: The Giant Snipe Gallinago undulata in Paraguay. Neotrop. Birding 15: 66–69. [Gallinago undulata] E-mail: faunaparaguay@gmail.com

Bird, J. (2014) NBC Conservation Awards update. Neotrop. Birding 15: 71–75. [Glaucidium nubicola, Megascops colombianus, Coeligena orina, Henicorhina negreti, Dacnis hartlaubi, Compsospiza garleppi] E-mail: jezbird@gmail.com

Morris, P. (2014) Book review: Birdwatching in Colombia. Neotrop. Birding 15: 78–79. E-mail: pete.morris@virgin.net

Sharpe, C. J. (2014) Book review: Birds and people. Neotrop. Birding 15: 79–80. E-mail: neotropical.birding@neotropicalbirdclub.org

Neotropical Birding 14: contents

Neotropical Birding 14: contents

Lowen, J.C. & G.M. Kirwan (2014) Guest editorial. Neotropical Birding 14: a tribute to Juan Mazar Barnett. Neotrop. Birding 14: 3-4.

Lees, A.C. (2014) Splits, lumps and shuffles. Neotrop. Birding 14: 4-18. [amongst other things, includes a summary of those Amazonian species described in the HBW Special Volume]

Lees, A.C., C. Albano, G.M. Kirwan, J.F. Pacheco & A. Whittaker (2014) The end of hope for Alagoas Foliage-gleaner Philydor novaesi? Neotrop. Birding 14: 20-28.

Pugnali, G. & D. Alarcón Arias (2014) Capital birding: La Paz. Neotrop. Birding 14: 29-36. Available (soon!) as a sample article at: http://www.neotropicalbirdclub.org/pages/neobirding.asp

Laranjeiras, T.O. & L.N. Naka (2014) Birding sites: The state of Roraima, Brazil. Neotrop. Birding 14: 40-53.

Kirwan, G.M. (2014) Photospot: The blue treasure at the end of the world: Lear’s Macaw in the backlands of Bahia. Neotrop. Birding 14: 54-57. [Anodorhynchus leari]

Kirwan, G.M., D. Brinkhuizen, D. Calderón, B. Davis, J. Minns & I. Roesler (2014) Neotropical Notebook: published and unpublished records. Neotrop. Birding 14: 58-72.

Available (soon!) as a sample article at: http://www.neotropicalbirdclub.org/pages/neobirding.asp

Bird, J. (2014) NBC Conservation Awards update. Neotrop. Birding 14: 76-77. [Tachycineta euchrysea]

Sharpe, C.J. (2014) Book review: A Guide to the Birds of Trinidad and Tobago (3^rd edition). Neotrop. Birding 14: 78-79

Sharpe, C.J. (2014) Book review: Handbook of the Birds of the World, Special Volume: New Species and Global Index. Neotrop. Birding 14: 79-80

Neotropical Birding 14 is here!

Neotropical Birding 14 has just flopped through my letterbox, so...

Welcome to issue 14 of Neotropical Birding!

This issue is dedicated to one of the Neotropical Bird Club's closest and most-valued collaborators, Juan Mazar Barnett who died in November 2012. The idea for a memorial issue was suggested by James Lowen a day or two after we heard that Juan had passed away; Guy Kirwan was already thinking along the same lines. They knew Juan well enough to coordinate the issue. I had only met him once or twice, when we happened to coincide during our annual August pilgrimages to the UK to attend the Birdfair, but I was still shocked by the news – Juan seemed such a vital figure with a vast amount still to contribute. Together with Germán Pugnali, my Guest Editors contacted some of those who knew Juan with an invitation to submit articles, and also penned their own. We quickly received too much material for NB14 and, no doubt, could have comfortably filled two issues on the same theme. Seventeen months after we began, this Juan Mazar Barnett memorial issue goes to press. But we have certainly not seen the last of the tributes to one of the region's most gifted and well-loved ornithologists.
We launch straight into the thick of Neotropical systematics and taxonomy with a monster edition of our regular Splits, lumps and shuffles column, which includes a summary of those Amazonian species described in the HBW Special Volume – and for a fraction of the cost and shelf space. Alex Lees ably guides us through the terrors of suboscine splits, as he probes scythebill systematics and reshuffles his manakins. Epinecrophylla ailments and Myrmeciza moans end here. Don't be frightened: do what the man says and just “get your lists out!”

Alagoas Foliage-gleaner Philydor novaesi at RPPN Frei Caneca, Serra do Urubu, PE, 13 Nov 2010 - one of the last images of the species (Ciro Albano)

Even more terrifying than taxonomy is news of the probable extinction of Alagoas Foliage-gleaner Philydor novaesi, a species discovered just 35 years ago, currently considered Critically Endangered and the subject of our Globally threatened bird column. Alex Lees and his co-authors assess the chances that this and other avian endemics of the Pernambuco Centre continue to survive. Ciro Albano provides the photographs.

The world's highest capital city, La Paz, is the subject of this issue's Capital birding,as guide Germán Pugnali tells us how to beat the soroche with some high altitude birding.

Brazil's state of Roraima is our Birding sites destination, with Luciano Naka (who already wrote a JMB memorial for El Hornero) and Thiago Laranjeiras. Many of the specialities of the previously inaccessible white-sand forests can be found here along with Guiana Shield forest and savanna species that have been traditionally sought in southern Venezuela and Guyana. 
 

Lear's Macaw Anodorhynchus leari by Edward Lear, publ. 1832

Guy Kirwan muses on the Endangered Lear’s Macaw, named after bird artist – and sometime nonsense-poet – Edward Lear. This Photospot features more of Ciro Albano's beautiful images, one of which graces our cover.

After 20 years at Cotinga, the regular Neotropical Notebook column has migrated over to Neotropical Birding. Guy Kirwan continues to coordinate the collection of published and unpublished records, helped by a team of national compilers and benefiting from NEOORN's wonderful NeoLit service. If anyone thinks they fill Guy's shoes, please let me know – I am looking for someone to take on the job when he retires from duty in 2015.

Jez Bird tells members how our conservation funds have been used to the benefit of the Neotropical birds we all enjoy in the NBC Conservation Awards Update.

And we end with my own Book reviews of the new edition of ffrench's Birds of Trinidad & Tobago and – an ornithological tour-de-force – the impressive coda to the 16 volume Handbook of the Birds of the World: never has an index been such an exciting read!

More on Juan Mazar Barnett and the birds that inspired him in this special issue of Neotropical Birding. My special thanks to Germán Pugnali, Guy Kirwan, James Lowen and to all our writers and photographers for working to make this a fitting tribute to Juan. 

I know Juan would have wanted us to wish you happy Neotropical birding!

Christopher J. Sharpe, Senior Editor

Neotropical Birding

 

Neotropical Birding 13 goes to press

Neotropical Birding 13 has just been sent to our printers, in good time for distribution at this year's Birdfair. Please visit the Neotropical Bird Club stand.

Welcome to issue 13 of Neotropical Birding!

We begin in Central America, where our cover story is an Identification workshop on the vocalisations of Unspotted Saw-whet Owl executed by regular contributor Knut Eisermann.

Steve Howell has contributed many scholarly articles to the Club’s journals, fruit of his unrivalled field experience. This time he argues persuasively for the recognition of Mexican Hermit Phaeothornis mexicanus, originally described by Hartert in 1897, now usually lumped with P. longirostris.

Taxonomic decisions have implications for conservation. BirdLife International’s Joe Taylor explains why Yellow-naped Parrot Amazona auropalliata is a Globally threatened bird.

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Once again, our twin Photospots are dedicated to cryptic species - but these subjects are anything but dull. The two Eleothreptus nightjars, White-winged and Sickle-winged, are superbly captured by Paul Smith. The truly bizarre plumage of juvenile Cinereous Mourners has only just been documented (last year) on the basis of museum specimens, and our authors, Johan Ingels and Mathieu Entraygues, provide the first photographs from the field. Even more fascinating is the video clip that emerged after our article was submitted.

Capital birding focuses for the first time on a sub-national territory as Alex Lees invites us to take a closer look at his adopted city of Belém, capital of Brazil’s Pará state, home to the Goeldi Museum and gateway to some mouth-watering Amazonian birding.

Our regular Splits, lumps and shuffles column shows no sign of shrinking. As ever, we are in the capable hands of Alex Lees, the garimpeiro of Neotropical ornithological literature.

And we continue with Book reviews of the exciting new Fieldbook of the Birds of Ecuador, including the Galápagos Islands, and the superb compendium Neotropical Birds of Prey.  

Happy Neotropical birding!

Christopher J. Sharpe, Senior Editor

Neotropical Birding

Neotropical Birding 12 goes to press

After a couple of teething problems, Neotropical Birding 12 should be going to print now.

Welcome to issue 12 of Neotropical Birding!

I am honoured to be taking up the job of editing Neotropical Bird Club’s magazine for birders. Previous editors James Lowen, Nacho Areta and Guy Kirwan have worked with our contributors to create an extremely high quality publication that has earned its niche on the birder’s bookshelves. I can only hope that future issues will continue to thrill and inspire our readers to enjoy, study and conserve the rich bird life of the Neotropics.

In recent years there have been several important efforts to reassess the conservation status of the region’s bird species including a re-evaluation of the outlook for Amazonian species in the light of projected infrastructure, the production of several national Red Data Books and the publication of the 2012 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. It is therefore a good time for Andy Swash and Andy Symes to turn the spotlight on South America’s most endangered species in our main feature.

One of the objectives of our Club is to contribute to the conservation of the region’s birds, and our Conservation Awards Programme is the most obvious way that we achieve that. Over the past decade, tens of thousands of dollars have quietly helped local researchers carry out dozens of vital conservation projects. The funding for these important actions comes from NBC membership, as well as donations from companies and individuals. Council Members tell us how the Programme has helped us do our bit for the birds we enjoy.

We are grateful again to Alex Lees, who helps us keep our lists straight in our regular Splits, lumps and shuffles column.

Our Discoveries series continues, with Andrew Whittaker’s adrenaline-fuelled description of his discovery of the Cryptic Forest Falcon, which he teased out from the more widespread congeneric Lined Forest Falcon.

Dušan Brinkhuizen goes Birding at the cutting edge, training his optics on the elusive Rufous-crowned Antpitta in Ecuador.

Our two Photospots focus on cryptic rather than colourful species with camera-trap images of the rarely-seen Red billed Ground Cuckoo and studies of canopy roosting Lurocalis nighthawks.

We finish this issue with an inaugural set of Book reviews.

Future issues will continue to provide the range and quality of articles NBC members have become accustomed to expect. In addition, I hope that we can increase the number of articles we publish on bird identification and birding techniques in our Identification workshop and Better Neotropical birding columns respectively.

We are always looking for material for future issues, particularly on these topics.

Happy Neotropical birding!

Christopher J. Sharpe, Senior Editor

Neotropical Birding