Best journal ID papers? (1 Viewer)

[Mike Johnston]

A lot of really useful in-depth ID papers are scattered throughout the various birding journals (British Birds, Birding World, Dutch Birding, Alula) over the years. Occasionally these get gathered together in book form (e.g. Frontiers in Bird Identification) but often they lie unknown to many birders. What papers have BF members found particularly useful and/or would recommend to others, or which merit gathering into book form?

 

[Binocularface]

A lot of really useful in-depth ID papers are scattered throughout the various birding journals (British Birds, Birding World, Dutch Birding, Alula) over the years. Occasionally these get gathered together in book form (e.g. Frontiers in Bird Identification) but often they lie unknown to many birders. What papers have BF members found particularly useful and/or would recommend to others, or which merit gathering into book form?

Hi Mike,

Nice idea this thread. Perhaps BF could set up a database for this - could be a useful resource?

So for starters here are a few papers I have found useful:

Identification, taxonomy and distribution of Greater and Lesser Sand Plovers, E Hirschfeld, C S (Kees) Roselaar & H Shirihai, British Birds (Vol 93, No 4 pp162 - 189)

Field identification of female and juvenile Montagu's and Pallid Harriers, D Forsman, Dutch Birding (Vol 17, No 2, pp41 - 54)

Identification of Greenland and Iceland Redpolls, J M Reid & R Riddington, Dutch Birding (Vol 20, No 6, pp 261 - 271)

Identification of Western Palearctic Swifts, P Chantler, Dutch Birding (Vol 15, No 3, pp 97 - 135)

Hippolais update: Identification of Booted Warbler and Sykes's Warbler, L Svensson, Birding World (Vol 16 No 11, pp 470 - 474)

Subalpine Warbler: Identification, ageing and Sexing, H Shirihai, G Gargallo, A Helbig, A Harris & D Cottridge, Birding World (Vol 13 No 6, pp 234 - 250)


Regards
Tristan

 

[mountain man]

Martin Garner & David Quinn, Identification of Yellow-legged Gulls in Britain, British Birds 1997. Part 1 in 90: 25-62 & part 2 in 90: 369-383.

Read it all through again last week and it's knock out.

No other bit of birdy writing has been responsible for such advances in the number of crap videograbs showing blurred grainy pin-p.rick images of a white headed gull in a midnight roost filmed by candlelight with what seems to be tracing paper over the lens, just for added grainyness. Or how about zoomed pixelated images of the underside of what very well might be a P10, or very well might not.

The Surfbirds Scarce British Bird Gallery wouldn't exist had it not been for that paper!