Volume 90 Issue 8 | British Birds

From the Rarities Committee's Files: 'The Chalice petrel'

01 August 1997 Comments Main paper Every year, thousands of birds must be seen, but not identified, by good birdwatchers. Few get so far as to be photographed and to have pictures and descriptions circulated around the BBRC and its Seabirds Advisory Panel, yet still remain unresolved ye...

Identification of North American Herring Gull

01 August 1997 Comments Main paper The North American subspecies of the Herring Gull Larus argentatus smithsonianus has been recorded in Europe on a number of occasions in recent years. Immatures are distinguishable from those of European races (nominate argentatus and argenteus), in pa...

Announcements

01 August 1997 Comments Editorials The Carl Zeiss Award. Thanks to Carl Zeiss Ltd, the winner of the Carl Zeiss Award will be able to ehoose as his or her prize a pair of traditional Zeiss 10 X 40 binoculars or 7 X 42 binoculars, or the newer 'Night Owl' 7 X 42 binoculars. The presentat...

Letters

01 August 1997 Comments Letters Steven Gregory (Brit. Birds 90: 150-151) has made three interesting points about hybridisation between Ruddy Ducks Oxyura jamaicensis and White-headed Ducks O. leucocephala. First, such hybridisation need not be a disaster, but could increase the adapt...

The Chalice Petrel' Revisited

01 August 1997 Comments Main paper In light of the captures of Swinhoe's Storm-petrel Oceanodroma monorhis in the Western Palearctic (Bretagnolle et al. 1991; Cubitt et al. 1992; King & Minguez 1994), it was thought unlikely that there could be more than one dark-rumped Oceanodroma ...

Mystery Photographs

01 August 1997 Comments Main paper Within the Western Palearctic, European Bee-eater Merops apiaster breeds widely over a significant part of northwest Africa, across much of southern Europe from Portugal to Turkey and throughout a vast area in the east of the region, while Blue-cheeked...

Comments on 'The Chalice Petrel'

01 August 1997 Comments Main paper These comments are supported by personal at-sea experience with all species under consideration, albeit some more familiar to me than others (e.g. thousands of Black and Markham's Storm-petrels, as against only one Tristram's and about 20-30 Matsudaira...

Announcements

01 August 1997 Comments Editorials We are delighted to include with this issue a free pull-out checklist compiled in co-operation with Oxford University Press and the editors of Birds of the Western Palearctic. Anyone wishing to have this checklist included within the issue in their bou...

Conservation Research News

01 August 1997 Comments News and comment Conservation is increasingly concerned with common declining species as well as rare ones. This poses different challenges for biologists wishing to identify the problems faced by the species. Whereas the ecology of the whole population of a very rare ...

Looking Back

01 August 1997 Comments Other One hundred years ago: 'Apparent Summer Appearance of the Shore Lark in Devonshire.--On the 14th inst. [August 1897], at about 4 p.m., I saw near Paignton, Devon, a bird which I think could be no other than Otocoris alpestris, the Shore Lark, an adult ...

Monthly Marathon

01 August 1997 Comments Other The swimming gull Larus (plate 49) was named by competitors as Audouin's L. audouinii (33%), Herring L. argentatus (30%), Lesser Black-backed L. fuscus (25%), Yellow-legged L. cachinnans (6%), Common L. canus (4%) and Great Black-backed L. marinus (2%)...

Recent reports

01 August 1997 Comments News and comment Compiled by Barry Nightingale and Anthony McGeehan This summary covers the period from 16th June to 13th July 1997. These are unchecked reports, not authenticated records. Madeira / Soft-plumaged / Cape Verde fuscicollis Cley (Norfolk), 9th-13th July; ...

Recent BBRC Decisions

01 August 1997 Comments Editorials This monthly listing of the most-recent decisions by the British Birds Rarities Committee is not intended to be comprehensive or in any way to replace the annual 'Report on rare birds in Great Britain'. The records listed are mostly those of the rarest...

News and Comment

01 August 1997 Comments News and comment ...

Reviews

01 August 1997 Comments Reviews ...

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