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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 193 (July 2008): table of contents

Features

• Howell, P. Buzzard births [A close-up look at the hatching and development of Common Buzzard chicks]
• Thomas, M. Black magic Monty’s [A rare British appearance of a dark-morph Montagu’s Harrier, in Bedfordshire]
• Stoddart, A. Redshank and Spotted Redshank [How to separate these two similar Tringa waders]
• Vinicombe, K. Great and Cory’s Shearwaters [How to distinguish between these two large shearwaters, including Mediterranean and Cape Verde forms of Cory’s]
• Mitchell, D. Atlantic High [A look at the Azores in winter]
• Thomas, M, Knott, J, and Clare, J. Catching the killers [How bird of prey persecution in the uplands is being tackled] Marven, N. On location – The tallest of the tall [Whooping Cranes in Texas]
• Young, S. Adapting to digiscoping [Digiscoping with an SLR camera] Reader holiday – Azores, 7-14 October 2008

Better Birding

• Find your own ... Balearic Shearwater
• First records – July crackers
• Tip from the top – Mark Brazil
• Must see – Dipper
• BTO/CJ Garden BirdWatch – The young ones
• Feathers - Perfect plumage
• What's on - July events
• Optical events - July guide
• Birding courses and workshops
• July high-tide tables for Britain and Ireland

Where to watch birds

• Hopper, N. Poole Harbour, Dorset
• French, P. The Wash, Lincolnshire
• Stowe, T. Newport Wetlands, Gwent
• Jones, G. Bassenthwaite and St Bees Head, Cumbria

News and related items
News digest – ‘Hoodies’ admitted to list at last [Hooded Merganser accepted by BOURC]; New revision of IUCN Red List; North-south divide between British breeding species; Saving birds

Fraser, M. ListCheck – updating the world view of birds. [New species: Togian White-eye Zosterops somadikartai. Species confirmation: Zino’s and Fea’s Petrel Pterodroma madeira and P feae; Australian Painted Snipe Rostratula australis]

Tools of the trade
Internet: an eye for the ladies; best of los blogs; new on the net.
Book and reviews: The Birds of Essex by Simon Wood (Christopher Helm); Kingfisher’s Fire: a Story of Hope for God’s Earth by Peter Harris (Monarch Books)

Accounts of recent rarities in Britain and Ireland
Hyndman, T H, and Gee, M. Back on the list! [Citril Finch Serinus citrinella, Fair Isle, Scotland, 6-11 June 2008]
Mayson, S. Warbler confusion [Spectacled Warbler Sylvia conspicillata, Westleton Heath, Suffolk, 10 May 2008]
Laurie P. Eagle spotted over Norfolk [Lesser Spotted Eagle Aquila pomarina, Holt, Norfolk, 9 May 2008]
Parnaby, D. The Whimbrel that wasn’t [Upland Sandpiper, Bartamia longicauda, Loch of Strathbeg RSPB, 6 May 2008]
Draper, A. Lancashire nets a county first [White-throated Sparrow Zonotrichia albicollis, Heysham NR, Lancashire, 6 May 2008]

Monthly highlights summary: May 2008

Recent reports
Monthly round-ups from eight regions in Britain, and from Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, May 2008, including photos of Whiskered Terns Chlidonias hybrida, Eastern Olivaceous Warbler Hippolais pallida, Short-toed Larks Calandrella bracydactyla, Red-footed Falcon Falco vespertinus, Trumpeter Finch Bucanetes githagineus, Grey-headed Wagtail Motacilla flava thunbergi, Lesser Grey Shrike Lanius minor, Red-rumped Swallow Cecropis daurica, Thrush Nightingale Luscinia luscinia, Bluethroat Luscinia svecica, Black-browed Albatross Thalassarche melanophris and Forster’s Tern Sterna forsteri.

Highlights summary for the Western Palearctic in May 2008, including photos of Red-footed Falcons Falco vespertinus in The Netherlands, Pine Bunting Emberiza leucocephalos in Guernsey, American Mourning Dove Zenaida macroura in Denmark and a hybrid Pied x Collared Flycatcher in Malta.