History Of Ornithology Research Articles

200 Years of Caprimulgid Records in Southern Brazil: A Comparison between the Literature and Citizen Science Data

Although the ornithological history of southern Brazil has been amassed over the last 200 years, few attempts have been made to describe how species have accumulated. Furthermore, the collaboration of citizen scientists has considerably changed the way researchers analyze empirical data. Caprimulgidae (Nightjars and Nighthawks) species were used to illustrate how species have been recorded since the 1800s in Paraná State by comparing traditional and citizen science data. In addition, reports from both researchers and citizen scientists on the breeding biology of these caprimulgids have been verified. A literature review was conducted searching for the Caprimulgid species within the territory of Paraná. Regarding citizen science, records were obtained from four ornithological platforms. Overall, 14 species were detected within the state, 13 of which have been described in the literature, including 1 endemic to the Atlantic Forest and 3 threatened species. Citizen scientists detected all 13 taxa, in addition to one undocumented species that has never been recorded by researchers. There were 12 times more records on ornithological platforms in half of the sampling effort accumulated in studies, but most of them date from the last five years. Citizen scientists also visited 4.5 times more locations than researchers. Citizen scientists accumulated more records around September and November, and most (59%) records were from 2020–2022. Researchers mentioned species as early as 1820, while continuous studies only began during the 1980s; they concentrated their fieldwork mostly in September. Only one (2%) study sought to describe the breeding biology of a caprimulgid species, but there were 84 observations on ornithological platforms between 2004–2022 on their reproduction. Because of the evident mismatch between traditional and citizen science data due to a lack of congruence between their actions, it is suggested that ornithology in Paraná, as well as other Brazilian regions, would benefit the most if traditional and citizen scientists improved their networking communication to focus on common purposes instead of acting independently.

An Arkansas Parable for the Anthropocene

The claimed rediscovery of North America’s rarest bird, the ivory-billed woodpecker, in the early 2000s, was one of the most high-profile events in global ornithological history. The reappearance of the bird in a remote locality in eastern Arkansas seemed to vindicate belief in the innate resilience and adaptability of nature, yet within a few months the claims became shrouded in doubt and uncertainty. This article argues that the reasons for the bird’s likely extinction in the early 1940s go beyond the usual parameters of conservation biology to include the violent impetus toward nature unleashed by settler colonialism and the plantation system. The changing ecologies of the Delta are explored through a dialogue between critical landscape studies and emerging perspectives on race, masculinity, and violence that have been extensively occluded under the burgeoning interdisciplinary fascination with the Anthropocene. I conclude that the story of the ivory-billed woodpecker gives credence to a modified reading of the Plantationocene as an alternative conceptual framing for global environmental change.

Biography of Dr Penelope (Penny) Diane Olsen AM; renowned ornithologist and author of books on Australian ornithological art and ornithological history

Penelope (Penny) Olsen is among the first small, but significant tranche of women field biologists. Penny is a world-renowned ornithologist and author who has spent her entire working career passionately pursuing conservation of Australian wildlife. Her award-wining books make science decipherable to ordinary readers. This paper is a brief biography of Penny, as one of the more successful of those pioneer women conservation biologists to work in the Pacific region. It tracks her early life, her influences and career path, and her struggles to balance work and family while working largely as a self-funded biologist and writer.

Development of Ornithology and Ornithological Journals—A New Opening by the MDPI with the Birds Journal

Before I started to produce this Editorial article for the new ornithological open access journal, Birds, of the MDPI (Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute), I read a fascinating book about the history of ornithology by Michael Walters [...]

History of ornithology in Malta

<p>History of ornithology in Malta <br />Joe Sultana, John J. Borg</p><p><br />BirdLife, Malta, 2015 <br />392 pages <br />ISBN 978-99957-818-6-6 <br />€ 49,99</p>

Historical changes in number of Endemic birds in Sri Lanka from 1852 to 2006

Number of endemic bird species, which is special interest among the wildlife enthusiasts for all thetime, continuously fluctuated in the ornithological history of Sri Lanka,To clarify the number of endemic species present in Sri Lanka all 1to study the change of this numberin the history of Ornithology in Sri Lanka, systematic literature survey was done. Twenty majorpublications including field guides and checklists that are published from 1854 to 2006 were considered.The number of endemics has changed from a maximum of 4 7 to a minimum of20 from 1854 to 2006.Sixty two of the present species were endemic at least once in the history although there are only 26species are to be considered as definite endemics at present.Many of the species considered as endemic to the island were discovered before these publications.On Iy nine species were discovered in or after 1852 but before 1872. And one species was describedvery recently in 2004. However, only 11 species excluding newly discovered Serendib scops owl,have appeared in all these publications as endemics. Four species were discovered in 1870 and 1972and those were in all the publications as endemics after the discovery. Although discovered in 1850,White-faced Starling was added to the list in 1872 and remained continuously. Hence, these 16 speciescan be accepted as endemics without any argument.Main reasons for changes in numbers are upgrades of existing subspecies and downgrade to subspecieslevel. Six of the present endemic species fluctuated in species and subspecies levels in the history.Another 30 species including 7 proposed endemic species neeJ taxonomic studies since those werechanged between species and subspecies levels.Sri Lanka Red faced Malkoha was removed twice and Yellow-cared bulbul was also removed oncefrom the endemic list due to unconfirmed sight records from South India. Sri Lanka Wood pigeon wasremoved from the list by Murray (1890) due to misidentification as Nilgiri Wood Pigeon.Representation of present endemic species in each of the publ ication ranges from 61.54% in Blyth(1852) to 100% in Rasmussen and Anderton (2005). However. second highest percentage (92.31 %)was represented in Legge (1880) and Murray (1890), more than a century ago.

'Die Tierszenen beleuchten die Menschenszenen und die Menschenszenen die Tierszenen': Marcel Beyer's Novel Kaltenburg and Recent German History

Marcel Beyer's novel Kaltenburg (2008) recalls the life of the zoologist Konrad Lorenz, though Beyer experimentally and ahistorically locates his enigmatic Lorenz figure, Ludwig Kaltenburg, in post-war Dresden. Some fifty years of pre- and post-war German history are spanned by the reminiscences of the ornithologist narrator, Kaltenburg's protégé Hermann Funk, orphaned by the Dresden fire-bombing. The article shows how German history is approached from unexpected angles, many of them to do with bird life and the history of ornithology, a kind of benign but shrewd alternative to mainstream narratives about the recent German past.

Low genetic diversity and small population size of Takahe Porphyrio hochstetteri on European arrival in New Zealand

The rediscovery of the Takahe Porphyrio hochstetteri in 1948 in the remote mountains of Fiordland, New Zealand, has been described as one of the greatest moments in ornithological history. The subsequent management of the population has become a model for avian recovery programmes, yet questions still remain regarding the population size at the time of, and prior to, its rediscovery. We used 20 microsatellite markers to genotype samples of the three surviving museum specimens (1849–1898) collected prior to the initial declaration of extinction to estimate levels of genetic diversity and effective population size. These estimates were compared with equivalent estimates from DNA samples of three specimens preserved at the time of rediscovery (1949) and with 20 contemporary samples. Using rarefaction simulations to account for the limited sample sizes, the results suggest that only slightly more genetic diversity (allelic diversity and numbers of polymorphic loci) existed in the earliest Takahe sampled and that levels of genetic diversity at the time of rediscovery were very similar to those today. Effective population size estimates showed a similar pattern. Contemporary samples from a widespread congener to Takahe, the Pukeko Porphyrio porphyrio, showed consistently higher levels of genetic diversity and greater effective population size, even after equivalent rarefaction to the same small sample sizes available for Takahe. It is likely that the population size of Takahe in Fiordland at the time of European arrivals in the 1800s was similar to its current size. These results provide molecular support for the hypothesis that Takahe were common throughout most coastal and eastern parts of the South Island of New Zealand before being hunted to extinction in these regions by early Maori, and persisted as a relatively small and isolated population in Fiordland where they may never have been very common. This is in marked contrast to other New Zealand endemic birds found in Fiordland, such as the Kakapo Strigops habroptilus and several forest passerines, which remained relatively numerous until the time of European arrival before undergoing rapid declines thereafter.

The other half of avian evolution: Cyril Walker's contribution

Enantiornithine birds represent a basal dichotomy in avian evolution. During the Cretaceous, they were the dominant birds in terrestrial habitats and were nearly as diverse in this habitat as were the Cenozoic modern birds before the development of their most diverse group, the Passeriformes. They achieved this in part through the evolution of a flight mechanism that duplicated the backstroke evolved by ornithurines, but with many different solutions including those in the shoulder girdle emphasized by Walker. Among these inventions is a unique caudal structure analogous to the ornithurine pygostyle that supported their characteristic elongated tail feathers, and a furcular keel that resembles that of hoatzins, but is differently organized from the hypocleidium of ornithurine birds. They share with Archaeopteryx similarities in the formation of the quadratojugal, a unique process on the ischium and the detailed formation of the ankle joint. The Early Cretaceous record of China shows that ornithurine birds had already perfected a modern flight stroke at a time when enantiornithine birds were still making that transition. This vast radiation of Mesozoic enantiornithine birds was unknown until discovered by Cyril Walker, an event that must rank as one of the turning points in ornithological history.

Ornithology of Northern Myanmar

—Myanmar is a large, biodiverse country located between India and China in the west and east, and south of Tibet. Kachin State, situated in far northern Myanmar, is expected to be especially biodiverse because of its habitat and climatic diversity, ranging from lowland riparian areas to the high-elevation Himalayan Mountains. These areas of northern Myanmar are especially poorly known biologically, largely because of their difficult terrain, rugged mountains, and enormous rivers. We summarize the ornithological history of northern Myanmar and document the names, dates, and geographic areas (along with a bilingual gazetteer of names) of major ornithological expeditions. Because foreign naturalists made most of the bird collections, the resulting material is scattered around the world. We have compiled and organized information about past research and collections, and we suggest areas for future research investment. To date, few local areas within northern Myanmar have been surveyed, including the far north...

All about birds: a short illustrated history of ornithology

All about birds: a short illustrated history of ornithology

Boracéia Biological Station: an ornithological review

Boracéia Biological Station, near the city of Salesópolis, SP, is located in one of the most well-defined centers of endemism in eastern Brazil - the Serra do Mar Center. While the station was established only in 1954 under the auspices of the Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de São Paulo, the avifauna of this locality had already attracted the attention of ornithologists by the 1940s, when the first specimens were collected. Here we describe the ornithological history of the Boracéia Biological Station with a review of all the bird species recorded during more than 68 years, including recent transect and mist-netting records. Boracéia's records were found in museums, literature and unpublished reports that totaled 323 bird species when recent data is also considered. Of these, 117 are endemic to the Atlantic forest and 28 are threatened in the state. Although there are a few doubtful records that need to be checked, some species are the only sightings in the state. Boracéia includes a recently discovered species near the station site and is extremely important for the conservation of Atlantic forest birds.

"The Wisdom of Birds: An Illustrated History of Ornithology" by Tim Birkhead. 2008. [book review

"The Wisdom of Birds: An Illustrated History of Ornithology" by Tim Birkhead. 2008. [book review

The Ornithology of the Real Expedición Botánica a Nueva España (1787–1803): An Analysis of the Manuscripts of José Mariano Mociño

AbstractUntil recently, a major gap has existed in our knowledge regarding Mexican bird information from the Real Expedición Botánica a Nueva España in the late 1700s. This expedition (1787–1803) was commanded by Martín de Sessé; the Mexican scientist José Mariano Mociño joined the group in 1790, but his ornithological findings were never published and have long been considered lost. However, study of the Sessé-Mociño ornithological results began in 1979 with the appearance of a small collection of original paintings, apparently from the expedition. Later, in 1997, unpublished manuscripts were discovered in the library of the Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, Madrid that included descriptions of many bird species, again apparently Sessé-Mociño material. These discoveries, covering an important portion of the overall ornithological results of the expedition, make possible a broader study of the Sessé-Mociño ornithology: a taxonomic list using modern nomenclature, an analysis of the correspondence between the paintings and the manuscripts, and conclusions regarding the provenance of those materials. Of a total of 83 paintings available, we were able to identify 78 to species, and 5 only to family. In the manuscripts, 290 species were treated, but for 27, the descriptions were fragmentary and insufficient for identification; of the remaining 263 species, we arrived at a species-level identification for 242, and identified the remainder to genus (19) or family (2). The recent discovery of these ornithological texts and paintings offers a unique view of the history of ornithology as well as of the environmental history of Mexico.

THE ORNITHOLOGY OF THE REAL EXPEDICIÓN BOTÁNICA A NUEVA ESPAÑA (1787–1803): AN ANALYSIS OF THE MANUSCRIPTS OF JOSÉ MARIANO MOCIÑO

Until recently, a major gap has existed in our knowledge regarding Mexican bird information from the Real Expedición Botánica a Nueva España in the late 1700s. This expedition (1787–1803) was commanded by Martín de Sessé; the Mexican scientist José Mariano Mociño joined the group in 1790, but his ornithological findings were never published and have long been considered lost. However, study of the Sessé-Mociño ornithological results began in 1979 with the appearance of a small collection of original paintings, apparently from the expedition. Later, in 1997, unpublished manuscripts were discovered in the library of the Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, Madrid that included descriptions of many bird species, again apparently Sessé-Mociño material. These discoveries, covering an important portion of the overall ornithological results of the expedition, make possible a broader study of the Sessé-Mociño ornithology: a taxonomic list using modern nomenclature, an analysis of the correspondence between the paintings and the manuscripts, and conclusions regarding the provenance of those materials. Of a total of 83 paintings available, we were able to identify 78 to species, and 5 only to family. In the manuscripts, 290 species were treated, but for 27, the descriptions were fragmentary and insufficient for identification; of the remaining 263 species, we arrived at a species-level identification for 242, and identified the remainder to genus (19) or family (2). The recent discovery of these ornithological texts and paintings offers a unique view of the history of ornithology as well as of the environmental history of Mexico.

A recently discovered seventeenth century French encyclopaedia of ornithology

We describe the contents of an unpublished seventeenth century French encyclopaedia of ornithology by Jean-Baptiste Faultrier dated 1660, located in the library of The Earl of Derby at Knowsley Hall, England. The manuscript appears to have escaped the attention of ornithologists and historians and as a result has not previously been evaluated in terms of its contribution to the history of ornithology. The manuscript is based closely on Belon's (1555) encyclopaedia but contains descriptions of many more species or forms. A full evaluation of the ornithological significance of Faultrier's manuscript is needed.

Type-specimens of birds as sources for the history of ornithology

Type-specimens of birds as sources for the history of ornithology

The History of Ornithology in Virginia

The History of Ornithology in Virginia

The History of Ornithology in Virginia

The History of Ornithology in Virginia

Owl Update

Owl Update