Just returned from eight days of birding (and mammaling?) in the Pantanal and Chapada regions of Mato Grosso, both adjacent to the city of Cuiabá. This is very close to the geometric center of the South American continent. Apparently there are some markers or monuments that capture this fact, but, as is often the case,… Continue reading Mato Grosso, Brazil, October 2019
Bird Names, Part 3
Good bird names are descriptive. Yellow-bellied Flycatcher is a wonderful name; it describes a feature and a behavior. It includes a color, and that is even better; an image comes to mind, it seems, much more readily when one can picture the coloration. A very rough estimate suggests that at least 3,000 or so birds… Continue reading Bird Names, Part 3
Bird Names, Part 2
We continue looking at the 10,721 species names from the updated Clements taxonomy. Well, not all of them at once, but various interesting subsets. Previously we looked at the number of words in bird names, comparing their structure with human names and “surnames.” A natural step from here is to look at an even more… Continue reading Bird Names, Part 2
Bird Names, Part 1
We form most bird names in the same way we name people. A first name, a last name. Something specific, to differentiate from the more general. Burrowing Owl. Yellow Warbler. Mountain Chickadee. It’s always appreciated when the name tells you something about the bird, be it behavior, appearance, or habitat. Sometimes you get multiple clues:… Continue reading Bird Names, Part 1
Unreported Species in eBird
The Clements taxonomy, after the latest August 2019 update, includes 10,721 species. As of September 2019, 10,507 of these have at least one eBird record. So there are 214 species which have no records in eBird. What are they? (It should be noted that while there are currently 140 “sensitive” species which do not have… Continue reading Unreported Species in eBird
Cumulative eBird Species Over Time
If you look at the bottom of the main eBird page, you’ll see that the total number of species reported world-wide, for all time, is 10,420. If you click on that number, you’ll get a list, just as you would if you were looking at the list of recently seen birds in your county or… Continue reading Cumulative eBird Species Over Time
Brazil, April 2019
Just completed a week-long trip to Brazil, focusing on the Atlantic Forest area as well as the central Cerrado region. We spent most of our time (six days/nights) at REGUA (Reserva Ecológica de Guapiaçu) and did quite well there. All together we recorded 253 species and 134 lifers in about eight days of birding. REGUA is a… Continue reading Brazil, April 2019
