Friday 21 March 2008

Birdwatch - issue 189 (March 2008): table of contents



















Features
  • Malpass, M and J. An appetite and a half [Extraordinary photo essay featuring a Goosander battling to eat a Pike]
  • Harbard, C. Beck from the dead. [The definitive rediscovery of Beck’s Petrel Pseudobulweria becki]
  • Grantham, M. Regular returns [Everything you wanted to know about spring migration - part one]
  • Vinicombe, K E. Purple Heron [How to ensure you recognise one when you see it]
  • Mitchell, D. Protecting the Priolo [A look at the plight of the Azores Bullfinch Pyrrhula murina and how you can help to save it]
  • Howlett, D. A volunteer abroad [How one man worked as a field volunteer on the Azores Bullfinch project]
  • Marven, N. On location: watching wood owls [A tale of South African owls and other birds]
  • Young, S. East is best, not west [How much better England’s east coast is than its west in winter]

  • Birdwatch Big Day 2008 – how to take part
  • Reader holiday – Azores 7-14 October 2008


Better Birding

  • Find your own ... White Wagtail
  • On the move – raptors return
  • Past rarities – remember these?
  • Tip from the top – Bill Thompson III
  • Must see – Pied Flycatcher
  • BTO/CJ Garden Birdwatch – How to sex a Dunnock
  • What's on - April events
  • Optical events - April guide
  • Birding courses and workshops
  • April high-tide tables for Britain and Ireland

Where to watch birds

  • Taylor, D. Christchurch Harbour, Dorset
  • Archer, P. Waterford, Ireland
  • Dee Estuary, Cheshire and Flintshire

News and related items

News digest – nine species added to the new British list; Corn Buntings recover; road threat to Socotran wildlife.

Fraser, M. ListCheck - updating the world view of birds. [Relationships: Widowbirds and bishops Euplectes spp. National lists: Senegal, Congo-Brazzaville and São Tomé and Principe; Subspecific status: Dunlin Calidris alpina]

Tools of the trade

Product review: Viewranger mapping tool for smartphones.

Internet: top of the blogs; what’s new on the net; good migrations.

Book and DVD reviews and previews: Birds of Wiltshire by James Ferguson-Lees et al (Wiltshire Ornithological Society); Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds Volume 7, edited by P J Higgins, J M Peter and S J Cowling (Oxford University Press); Birdwatching in England (DVD) by Paul Doherty (Bird Images); A Life in Detail by Terance James Bond (Langford Press); Images from Birding by Michael Warren (Langford Press); and Book shelf – Sue Monahan’s look at the latest releases.

Accounts of recent rarities in Britain and Ireland

Bastin, N. King Eider is Devon’s first [King Eider Somateria spectabilis Appledore, Devon, from 19 February 2008]
Harbard, C. Winter warblers: a new trend? [Rare Phylloscopus warblers: February 2008]


Monthly highlights summary: February 2008

Recent reports

Monthly round-ups from eight regions in Britain, and from Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, January 2008, including photos of Franklin’s and Mediterranean Gulls Larus pipixcan and L melanocephalus, Bitterns Botaurus stellaris, Firecrests Regulus ignicapillus, dark-breasted Barn Owl Tyto alba guttata, Glossy Ibis Plegadis falcinellus, Black-bellied Dipper Cinclus cinclus cinclus, Ross’s Goose Anser rossii, Ring-billed and American Herring Gulls Larus delawarensis and smithsonianus, Spotted Sandpiper Actitis macularius, Black Brant Branta (bernicla) nigricans.

Highlights summary for the Western Palearctic in January 2008, including photos of Tricolored Heron Egretta tricolor in the Canary Islands, Blue-winged Teal Anas discors and Least Sandpiper Calidris minutilla in the Azores, Hume’s Warbler Phylloscopus humei in Italy, and Pygmy Owl Glaucidium passerinum in The Netherlands.

Free checklist

Birds of Britain: the Complete Checklist by Dominic Mitchell and Keith Vinicombe. Second edition, fully up to date to March 2008, with nine new species added (all with detailed supporting evidence), plus a further 23 updated accounts for species at variance with the BOU list, and an 18-page tick list (with 12 columns per species). SRP: £3 when sold separately.

We have moved back to www.birdwatch.co.uk

Stories from the Birdwatch Newsdesk are now being posted direct to www.birdwatch.co.uk, the relaunched website of the magazine - please bookmark it in your browser and be sure to visit it regularly for news and reviews, features and much, much more. This blog will remain online for the time being as an archive of news stories published since June 2007.

Tuesday 4 March 2008

We have moved back to www.birdwatch.co.uk


Stories from the Birdwatch Newsdesk are now being posted direct to www.birdwatch.co.uk, the relaunched website of the magazine - please bookmark it in your browser and be sure to visit it regularly for news and reviews, features and much, much more. This blog will remain online for the time being as an archive of news stories published since June 2007.

Birdwatch - issue 189 (March 2008): table of contents


















Features

  • Vinicombe, K E. Cirl Bunting [How to distinguish this scarce British breeder from Yellowhammer Emberiza citrinella]
  • Vinicombe, K E. Redhead [A close look at the identification pitfalls of this vagrant Aythya duck]
  • Alibone, M. The third way [Winter in Israel can be every bit as exciting as in spring or autumn]
  • Marven, N. On location: Ticking tapaculos [One man’s quest to track down this Neotropical family]
  • Young, S. Teasing out a Goldfinch [A perfect technique for getting this finch to pose for your camera]

Better Birding

  • Find your own ... Goshawk
  • How to ... Pish and squeak
  • On the move – Blasts from the past
  • Building skills – Shape up your flocks
  • Tip from the top – Paul French
  • Must see – Cetti’s Warbler
  • BTO/CJ Garden Birdwatch – Take two thrushes
  • Equipment – Getting it in the neck
  • What's on - March events
  • Optical events - March guide
  • Birding courses and workshops
  • March high-tide tables for Britain and Ireland

Where to watch birds

  • Charles, D. Killibegs, Co Donegal
  • Glenn, N. Trent Valley, Nottinghamshire
  • Taylor, M. Rye Harbour, East Sussex
  • Winter, S. Bedfordshire

News and related items

News digest – Farmland birds threatened; Malta taken to court; breeding helped by feeding; more Black Grouse in Scotland.

Fraser, M. ListCheck - updating the world view of birds. [Split: Forest Buzzard Buteo trizonatus. Regional and national lists: North America, Bolivia and Uganda]

Tools of the trade

  • Product review: Leica Ultravid 8x32 HD binocular.
  • Brochure watch: Sunbird 2008
  • Birdwatch reader holiday report: Autumn bonanza [Sweden in September 2007 at Oland and Falsterbo with thousands of migrants]
  • An audience with Andy Rouse at the NEC Birmingham in March

    Internet: Are you a ‘badger’?; ‘Book’ keeping; Know where you’re going
  • Book reviews and previews: Handbook of the Birds of the World, Volume 12, edited by Josep del Hoyo, Andrew Elliott and David Christie (Lynx Edicions); Antarctica: Exploring a Fragile Eden by Jonathan and Angela Scott (Collins); A Complete Guide to Antarctic Wildlife by Hadoram Shirihai (A&C Black); Where to Watch Mammals in Britain and Ireland by Richard Moores (Christopher Helm); The Garden Bird Year by Roy Beddard (New Holland); and Book shelf – a brief look at some latest releases.

Accounts of recent rarities in Britain and Ireland

Harbard, C. Pembrokeshire’s Pacific returns [Pacific Diver Gavia pacifica, Llys-y-fran Reservoir, Pembrokeshire, from 16 January 2008]

Harbard, C. To tick a tichodrome [Wallcreeper Tichodroma muraria, Boulogne, France, from 20 January 2008]

Harbard, C. Sparrow’s golden egg for Cley [White-crowned Sparrow Zonotrichia leucophrys, Cley, Norfolk from 3 January 2008]

Monthly highlights summary: January 2008

Recent reports

Monthly round-ups from eight regions in Britain, and from Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, January 2008, including photos of Iceland Gulls Larus glaucoides, Hume’s Warblers Phylloscopus humei, Lapland Bunting Calcarius lapponicus, Grey Phalarope Phalaropus fulicarius, Ross’s Goose Anser rossii, Black Brant Branta (bernicla) nigricans, Common Crane Grus grus, Lesser Yellowlegs Tringa flavipes, Smew Mergellus albellus, Glaucous Gulls Larus hyperboreus, Slavonian and Black-necked Grebes Podiceps auritus and P nigricollis, Pacific Diver Gavia pacifica and American Herring Gull Larus smithsonianus.

Highlights summary for the Western Palearctic in January 2008, including photos of Isabelline Shrike Lanius isabellinus in Spain, Pine and Rustic Buntings Emberiza leucocephalos and E rustica in Turkey, Least Bittern Ixobrychus exilis and Wilson’s Snipe Gallinago delicata in the Azores, and Brown Booby Sula leucogaster and Sooty and White-eyed Gulls Larus hemprichii and L leucophthalmus in Egypt.

Exclusive reader offer

Petrels Night & Day: A Sound Approach Guide by Magnus Robb, Killian Mullarney & The Sound Approach. Order a copy at the special price of £27.95 by the end of this month