birding-aus
I doesn't surprise me that in a place like Guadalcanal there may be mystery
birds still to be identified (they could, of course, be not new species but
hitherto undetected representatives of spp known from elsewhere).
Field guides can be a problem actually, because ideally we should be taking
notice of what we see, but usually we are trying to assign what we see to
something in a field guide (especially in areas we are not very familair
with). If a field guide to, say, the Solomons was published and missed one
or two birds, I'd reckon that that would probably effectively mean that
those birds would never be identified, unless a very eminent birdo was
there, had good views, and got photos (you know what bird-watching in tall
forest is like!) Becuase not only would the absence of these spp in the book
lead people to think that they were mistaken in what they saw, it would also
lead people not to expect to see that bird, through not having it on their
'hit-lists' and so forth.
Australia is better known than some of these places, but I'd very much like
to hear that someone had a photo or a specimen of Lloyd Nielsen's Red-tailed
Quail (Coturnix nielsoni).
John Leonard
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
John Leonard (Dr),
PO Box 243,
Woden, ACT 2606,
Australia
"If they could tell you in advance exactly how much
shit you're going to have to take it wouldn't be so bad;
then you'd be prepared." Ralph Bridges
http://www.spirit.net.au/~jleonard
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
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