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Racing to Save 2 Samoan Endemics

10,000 Birds

It’s always tragic when a species goes extinct. But that tragedy is compounded when the species at risk is a country’s national bird. Sadly, that is indeed the situation in Samoa, where the Manumea , or Tooth-billed Pigeon , numbers fewer than 200 individuals.

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Armchair Splits in the Pacific

10,000 Birds

Of course, I have seen many more birds than this, but between having terrible notes, really awful notes, or entirely lost notes, eBird doesn’t represent my total life list at all. It comes down to the other reason why eBird doesn’t have all the birds I’ve seen. It was a split. An armchair split, no less.

Tonga 175
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Purple Swamphen: Supertramp or superspecies?

10,000 Birds

It varies in appearance across its enormous range, and a new genetic study — Dispersal and speciation in purple swamphens (Rallidae: Porphyrio) — bolsters the case that this “supertramp” is actually a superspecies that could be split into six different species. Above: Swamphen in Australia by James Niland).

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History repeating itself

10,000 Birds

How many species there were is probably lost to history, but there were certainly many hundreds. Sadly, as I’ve explained before , most of these species became extinct as humans arrived on the islands, and with it one of the most astonishing radiations of birds imaginable. But here’s the thing.

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The Case for Adding the U.S. Territories in the Caribbean to the ABA Area

10,000 Birds

I recently asked whether Puerto Rico should be part of the American Birding Association’s ABA Area. Both Puerto Rico and the USVI have active birding communities that are currently excluded from full membership in the ABA family. Although different territories, they are nearby and share many of the same birds.

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Restless New Zealand Fantails

10,000 Birds

In his comment in last week’s post on the Marlborough Sounds , Beat writer Jochen described the New Zealand Fantail as one of the best birds in the world. wakawaka, the New Zealand Fantail is a delightful inhabitant of New Zealand, and one of my favourite local birds. Birds New Zealand endemic New Zealand endemics'

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The complete guide to Dodo relatives, living and dead

10,000 Birds

One of these clades holds a diversity of Old World species in several distinct groups, including an Australasian clade, the green-pigeons, the emerald- and wood-doves, the imperial-pigeons and fruit-doves (favorites of mine), and the subjects of our investigation today, the 15 known members of the Raphini. ” Beehler et al.’s