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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 194 (August 2008): table of contents

Features

• Bowman, N. Stranger danger [Photo feature of hunting Spotted Hyena in a flamingo flock] Vinicombe, K. Lesser and Greater Yellowlegs [How to distinguish between these two similar waders]
• Baxter, P. Fair trade [The excitements of three years living on Fair Isle]
• Callaghan, D. The stone runner [The private life of the Dotterel revealed]
• Marven, N. On location – Kentucky in Texas [Searching for American warblers at High Island]
• Young, S. Parkland paparazzi [Maximising photographic opportunities in your local park]
  

Competition
Win a £1,300 holiday for two to The Faroe Islands

Better Birding

• Find your own ... Melodious Warbler
• All the fun of the Birdfair
• Tip from the top – Tony Pym
• Must see – Wood Sandpiper
• First records – August archive
• How to ... identify immature passerines
• What's on - August events
• Optical events - August guide
• Birding courses and workshops
• August high-tide tables for Britain and Ireland

Where to watch birds

• Ahmad, M. North Penwith, Cornwall
• Robson, N. Blue House Farm, Essex
• Croft, K. Anglesey
• Andrews, I. Lothian

News and related items
News digest – penguin populations take a dive; bringing wetlands back to Britain; genetic study shakes evolutionary tree; effects of US border wall on habitats and wildlife
Fraser, M. ListCheck – updating the world view of birds. [Splits: White-eyed Foliage-gleaner Automolus leucophthalmus; Winter Wren Troglodytes troglodytes. Relationships: Hawk-eagles Spizaetus spp; National lists: Mexico, Uruguay, Oman and United Arab Emirates]


Tools of the trade
Product previews and reviews: all-new Swarovski EL binoculars preview; Opticron Aurora BGA 8x42 review
Internet: Searching matters; best of the blogs; ringing in colour; website of the month
Book and reviews: Where to Watch Birds in Wales by David Saunders and Jon Green (Christopher Helm); European Bird Guide by Peter H Barthel and Paschalis Dougalis (New Holland Books); A Sussex Guide: Sussex Wildlife by David Mortimer (Snake River Press); Book shelf – Sue Monahan’s look at the latest releases.


Accounts of recent rarities in Britain and Ireland
Turton, M. Pacific time on the east coast [Pacific Swift Apus pacificus, Beacon Ponds, East Yorkshire, 22 June 2008]
McEvoy, T. Make mine a double [Pacific A pacificus and Little A affinis Swifts, Spurn East Yorkshire, 26 June 2008]
Rawson, S. Bunting decorates Yorkshire garden [Black-headed Bunting Emberiza melanocephala, Whitby, North Yorkshire, 28 May 2008]
Davis, A, and Vinicombe, K. Why Chew’s gull is a Yank [American Herring Gull Larus smithsonianus, Chew Valley Lake, Somerset, from 8 May 2008]

Monthly highlights summary: June 2008


Recent reports
Monthly round-ups from eight regions in Britain, and from Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, June 2008, including photos of Eastern Subalpine Warbler Sylvia cantillans albistriata, Balearic Woodchat Shrike Lanius senator badius, Red-footed Falcons Falco vespertinus, Whiskered Tern Chlidonias hybrida, Spoonbills Platalea leucorodia, Rose-coloured Starlings Sturnus rosea, Thrush Nightingale Luscinia luscinia, European Bee-eater Merops apiaster, Icterine Warblers Hippolais icterina, Lesser Grey Shrike Lanius minor, Wilson’s Phalarope Phalaropus tricolor, Black Stork Ciconia nigra, River Warbler Locustella fluviatilis, Citrine Wagtails Motacilla citreola and Cory’s Shearwater Calonectris diomedea.

Highlights summary for the Western Palearctic in June 2008, including photos of Swinhoe’s Snipe Gallinago megala in Finland, Pacific Golden Plover Pluvialis fulva and House Crow Corvus splendens in The Netherlands, Mongolian Finch Rhodopechys mongolicus in Turkey and Namaqua Dove Oena capensis in Greece.


Free 60-page supplement: the Official Programme for Birdfair 2008, distributed exclusively by Birdwatch