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But one of the most important aspects of these advances in new-age birding is the fact that they have grown hand-in-hand with the almost exponential growth in citizen science. Citizen science is a term used for the systematic collection and analysis of data and the dissemination of such data by researchers on a primarily voluntary basis.
The more data about bird migration we gather from professional and citizen science efforts, the more each one of us can learn about the comings and goings of our favorite species. Another migration tracker that seems to hold great potential for those able to master it is the Find The Data NorthAmerica Bird Migration page.
I want to alert you to a recent study (from April) that looks at the plight of bird populations under conditions of climate change in Europe and NorthAmerica. Data were collected from the North American Breeding Bird Survey and the Pan-European Common Birds Monitoring Scheme. Why are Europe and NorthAmerica different?
The Fall 2024 AVMA Animal Welfare Assessment Contest, also known as AWJAC, recently brought together hundreds of competitors from across NorthAmerica and Europe to apply science-based methods and ethical standards to assess the welfare of animals in a variety of settings.
Here are some things I’ve learned from the Peterson Reference Guide to Owls of NorthAmerica and the Caribbean by Scott Weidensaul: The Burrowing Owl is the only North American owl species where the male is larger than the female, albeit, only slightly larger. And the term is ‘non-reversed size dimorphism.’).
To be fair, he was slightly better positioned to do so, being a professor of biological sciences with the University of Nebraska. As the subtitle implies, this appreciation drives the bulk of A Chorus of Cranes: The Cranes of NorthAmerica and the World. A Chorus of Cranes: The Cranes of NorthAmerica and the World by Paul A.
Fortunately for you, though, when I got home I found a review copy of National Geographic Backyard Guide to the Birds of NorthAmerica by Jonathan Alderfer and Paul Hess ready and waiting to be dissected for your delectation. The target audience of this book is not the jet-setting hardcore birder, or even the dedicated local lister.
The Terra Project is an exciting collaboration between bird guide author Scott Whittle , wildlife tracker manufacturer CTT , and non-profit Conservation Science Global. Terra sounds like that dream device. ” Wow, right? But also, what’s that about a Kickstarter?
By Susan Wroble Susan Wroble is a Denver-based children’s author with a focus on science-based stories. The book’s structure is brilliant—Kroodsma divides the book into two sections: a dawn walk in Eastern NorthAmerica, and a second walk in Western NorthAmerica.
Bluebird Man is about Alfred Larson, but you can be one of the film’s heroes by contributing to its production… There is something special about bluebirds, and it isn’t just because the world’s three species are only found in NorthAmerica. There is something more.
Why, I asked myself, did the loons come to be called loons in the English-speaking regions of NorthAmerica when they were already known by the much more practical term divers back in the colonists’ mother country? Long ago, before I became the bird-name rancoteur I am today, I had an idle question.
Everybody knows sparrows, except for the fact that most people don’t know anything about sparrows.Kim Todd sets out to rectify this in a small, elegant book that covers both House Sparrows , the Passer tribe, and the other birds colloquially called sparrows throughout the world (albeit she concentrates most on NorthAmerica and Britain.)
The report itself is a few dozen pages long, and describes how “NorthAmerica’s birds may respond to future climate change” using citizen science data. Audubon’s Conservation Science team has generated three data products. Audubon’s Conservation Science team has generated three data products.
Guiding aside, Howell is a research associate at the California Academy of Sciences and the author of many books, including Petrels, Albatrosses, and Storm-Petrels of NorthAmerica (Princeton). Howell and Fabrice Schmitt: both of them are international bird tour leaders with WINGS.
Scientists all over the world are sounding the alarm about ecological disruptions already in motion, and birders in NorthAmerica are already seeing changes in the distribution of species, from the 61 percent of bird species wintering farther north to expanding ranges of birds like Mississippi Kite and Great-tailed Grackle. .
” And then I found out that bird song doesn’t just belong to the males, that there are female birds who sing too, only not so much in NorthAmerica, and my mind was blown.**. Bird communication is a complex and evolving science. I do wish there was more about research on female bird song. And, that’s it.
But getting a grip on gulls can be rewarding, and even within a large group of seemingly drab-colored, dump-loving trash eaters, there are spectacular species, like the dramatic Sabine’s Gull, the nearly mythical Ivory Gull, and easily one of the most sought-after species in NorthAmerica, the mysterious Ross’s gull. (p.
The task of wrestling this topic down into something that the human mind can manage, without losing sight of the big picture because it’s snowing in Buffalo, is likely to be the task of a lifetime for many science communicators.
And no playback is required, as it readily investigates my whistled version of its call: I whistle short, flat bursts while mouthing “tyoo, tyoo, tyoo, tyoo…” (About the question of calling in territorial birds, I know this is considered a very bad habit in heavily birded areas of NorthAmerica.
However, at least one source reported that way back in 2002, there were approximately 700,000 copies in print of the Sibley Guide to Birds and 250,000 of Kenn Kaufman’s Field Guide to Birds of NorthAmerica. million copies in print of all seven editions of the National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of NorthAmerica.
The diverse range of vagrancy factors dips into related sciences–earth science and magnetic fields, geography and climate, dispersion and evolution–that may not be familiar to readers with little science background. It reminds me a lot of Rare Birds of NorthAmerica , the 2014 book by Steve N.
So there I was with one of NorthAmerica’s most famous birders, safely out of the rain, with a cold beer, my binoculars, and my camera. on Apple Snails , for which they have a nicely-hooked, long beak that is just right for digging succulent snails out of the safety of their shells.
All populations mentioned above for both species have occurred in NorthAmerica, and larophiles already attempt to separate out these forms when possible. ” So if any of you birders have a science background and are looking for something to do, please move to eastern California and sort this out for us.
What are the best field guides for birds in NorthAmerica? Birding can be enjoyed at various levels of intensity, from casual birdwatching in one’s backyard to more dedicated pursuits that involve keeping birding lists, participating in birding competitions, or contributing to citizen science projects.
I would never have believed it, but if the science says so who am I to argue otherwise? Larger species like the Western and Clark’s Grebe of western NorthAmerica, the wide-ranging Great Crested Grebe of Eurasia and the beautiful Giant Grebe of South America, are strong flyers and e xcellent dispersers.
However, articulated in a short introductory chapter, they shortchange the ornithological community and science in general. Species are useful handles (p. ” Furthermore, the American Ornithological Society is defined as “a club of ornithologists, and like many clubs it has various committees (p.16, 16, below).”
The Kittlitz’s Murrelet at least is named after an actual naturalist, Heinrich von Kittlitz, who bummed around the Pacific on behalf of the Imperial Academy of Sciences at Saint Petersburg. Likewise the Xantus’s Murrelet , named for John Xantus de Vesey, a Hungarian exile who discovered a number of birds in western NorthAmerica.
The Lab operates All About Birds , which has free and authoritative information on identification and bird biology, as well as Birds of NorthAmerica. My impression is that most young birders are eBirders, a trend that will surely continue due to its convenience, accessibility, and contribution to science.
I don’t get a lot of life birds in NorthAmerica any more, but this confiding little gent offered himself up to the list: a Florida Scrub-Jay. Gaily color-banded, I’ve no doubt each individual is well-known to science. They’re easy to see at the entrance to the Cape Canaveral Seashore.
For example, I was going to add “no tail” to the list of features above, what all frogs share, when I remembered that there are indeed a small family of Tailed frogs, four species in New Zealand and two in NorthAmerica (though, the tails are quite tiny). If you don’t live near a science museum, then read this chapter.
But I found myself wondering things like: If Common Ringed Plovers migrate from here through Europe, and Semipalmated through NorthAmerica, what happens to the different type of offspring from a single mixed brood? Do the Common Ringed type migrate through Europe and the Semipalmated head south?
Birkhead, the experienced storyteller who is also Emeritus Professor at the School of Biosciences, The University of Sheffield, author of multiple scientific articles as well as books of popular science, knows how to make it readable and fun. Colonialism and appropriation of knowledge is discussed in Chapter 6, The New World of Science.
Written in a friendly, inclusive style quietly grounded in science, How to Know the Birds is an excellent addition to the growing list of birding essay books by talented birder/writers like Pete Dunne and Kenn Kaufman. He received a B.A. in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology from Princeton University and a Ph.D.
The first shows three subspecies of Whimbrel that have occurred in NorthAmerica–“Hudsonian,” “Eurasian,” and “Siberian.” Brian Sullivan is currently eBird program co-director and photographic editor for Birds of NorthAmerica Online at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
However, at least one source reported that in 2002, there were approximately 700,000 copies in print of the Sibley Guide to Birds and 250,000 of Kenn Kaufman’s Field Guide to Birds of NorthAmerica. Of course, there are a number of other field guides , but these are two large players.
So, along with Lee, we created a test scenario and recruited 500 people across NorthAmerica and Europe to imagine themselves in a service failure situation. In other words, there’s no proven way to say “I’m sorry” in order to evoke the Service Recovery Paradox.
This is more than eBird reports–a checklist generated from the citizen science database lists only 1,413 species. The guide covers 1,433 species, the number of birds documented at the end of 2014, the cutoff point for the book. Clearly, this is an under-birded country. . Should you purchase this field guide?
” Long before the science and physiology of taste were formally understood, brewers knew to avoid jarring combinations of sour and bitter flavors that signal poisons to our brains. Taken individually, sourness and bitterness can be essential flavor components in beer, but throughout history, they’ve wisely kept apart.
My feelings about shorebirds came back to me a few days later, as I observed a mixed group of peeps and Dowitchers at Mecox Inlet, eastern Long Island, not far from where Peter Matthiessen once observed the shorebirds of Sagaponack, the stars of the first pages of his classic The Shorebirds of NorthAmerica (1967).
And now we have the third iteration in Audubon’s guide book history: National Audubon Society Birds of NorthAmerica. The National Audubon Society Birds of NorthAmerica covers all species seen in mainland United States, Canada and Baja California. I didn’t.). This is a fairly large book: 907 pages; 7.38
Where did the Coney Island Gray-hooded Gull come from, Africa or South America? I kept wishing I had Rare Birds of NorthAmerica , by Steve N. I had just started reading it, but I knew that this was the book my birding friends, in fact all North American birders who are fascinated by vagrants, have been waiting for.
But, before Jerry Liguori’s wonderful photographic guides of Hawks at a Distance (2011) and Hawks from Every Angle (2005) and before Clark and Wheeler’s classic Field Guide to Hawks of NorthAmerica (2nd ed., The original Hawks in Flight treated 23 raptors, the major hawks that migrate through NorthAmerica.
Flight Paths traces the history of migratory research in nine chapters, starting with the earliest attempts to track birds, bird banding/ringing (which she traces back to Audubon), and ending with ‘community science’ projects such as Breeding Bird Surveys and eBird. THIS IMAGE NOT IN THE BOOK. Schulman, 2023.
A General Identification section gives a thumbnail description of the species, including when it resides in NorthAmerica, general geographic area, habitats, significant behaviors, a description of its physical appearance (which may be quite detailed), and information on subspecies in NorthAmerica.
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