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  1. Richard Klim

    Guadalcanal Moustached Kingfisher

    Niels, your point is of course valid. If the Guadalcanal team's assessment of the kingfisher's abundance was wrong to the extent that collection of even a single specimen would threaten the viability of the population, then there's indeed a case to answer. But many of those who've expressed...
  2. Richard Klim

    Guadalcanal Moustached Kingfisher

    OK, at least one specific comment. :t:
  3. Richard Klim

    Guadalcanal Moustached Kingfisher

    Still not sure why Chris Filardi has been singled out for worldwide vilification for collecting one specimen of a poorly-known but apparently locally-common taxon, whilst larger-scale scientific collecting (of less charismatic taxa?) continues without attracting specific comment. eg, Galen et al...
  4. Richard Klim

    Guadalcanal Moustached Kingfisher

    10,000 Birds Duncan Wright, 10,000 Birds, 14 Oct 2015: Some thoughts on scientific collecting.
  5. Richard Klim

    Guadalcanal Moustached Kingfisher

    Perhaps my statement was poorly worded, and you've misunderstood my intention. I was simply noting that most birders seem to believe that the killing of a bird for scientific collecting is unnecessary/wrong, whether or not it has an adverse impact on the preservation of the species concerned...
  6. Richard Klim

    Guadalcanal Moustached Kingfisher

    But most birders who condemn the scientific collecting of birds do indeed seem to be primarily concerned with the issue of killing per se, and not the preservation of the natural world and biodiversity. And earlier I deliberately also included the example of marine fish - natural/wild...
  7. Richard Klim

    Guadalcanal Moustached Kingfisher

    OK, but for the sake of completeness, we should know where killing for the pleasure of eating fits in wrt the three examples on your spectrum. Do you consider it to be more, less or equally defensible compared with each of your three examples?
  8. Richard Klim

    Guadalcanal Moustached Kingfisher

    Indeed. It's a spectrum going from compellingly defensible (eg, eradication of an alien species to protect threatened native species), through arguably defensible (eg, scientific collecting of a species), to very dubiously defensible (eg, because a species tastes good). You choose your own...
  9. Richard Klim

    Guadalcanal Moustached Kingfisher

    Alan, I don't understand the point you're making. Hopefuly most ethically-minded people (including vegetarians) accept that we have a responsibility to eradicate human-introduced alien species to save otherwise threatened native species (wherever realistically practicable), and is a more...
  10. Richard Klim

    Guadalcanal Moustached Kingfisher

    Paul, It isn't necessarily relevant to the examination of the collection of this individual, in respect of whether this instance could have materially impacted the Guadalcanal population (and a case has been made that this is a poorly-known but locally-common taxon whose habitat is endangered)...
  11. Richard Klim

    Guadalcanal Moustached Kingfisher

    Thomas's posts have been particularly thought-provoking, and there seems to be a real case for the establishment of a protocol that would ensure that collecting is always undertaken responsibly (taking into account potential impact on local population, number of existing specimens, etc). But...
  12. Richard Klim

    Guadalcanal Moustached Kingfisher

    HBW Alive Chris Sharpe, HBW Alive, 5 Oct 2015: First photographs and sound recordings of Guadalcanal Moustached Kingfisher.
  13. Richard Klim

    Guadalcanal Moustached Kingfisher

    Did Morgan suggest that emotions were a negative trait? He just acknowledged the reality that emotions often play a major role in forming individual opinions.
  14. Richard Klim

    Guadalcanal Moustached Kingfisher

    The problem with such discussions is that the legitimacy of collecting in general is so often conflated with the merits (or otherwise) of a particular instance. It's clear that many birders consider any collecting to be unnecessary and undesirable – and I suspect that many of the same people...
  15. Richard Klim

    Guadalcanal Moustached Kingfisher

    Birdwatch I note that the news item has since been re-posted with a deliberately inflammatory headline... Birdwatch, "28 Sep 2015"(?): 'Ghost' kingfisher rediscovered on south-west Pacific island - then killed as specimen.
  16. Richard Klim

    Guadalcanal Moustached Kingfisher

    When I started posting to this forum several years ago, I had a (naïve) vision that it could develop into a useful (albeit poorly structured) searchable resource for sharing news of developments in avian evolution, systematics, taxonomy and distribution. It’s always disappointing when...
  17. Richard Klim

    Guadalcanal Moustached Kingfisher

    Perhaps another relevant factor in the case of US vs UK attitudes is that academic research into avian systematics and taxonomy – often collection-based – is thriving in the Americas (and also in Scandinavia and elsewhere in continental Europe...) whilst almost non-existent in Britain today...
  18. Richard Klim

    Guadalcanal Moustached Kingfisher

    The topic of collecting has been discussed numerous times on BirdForum. Although I haven’t actually checked previous threads, my impression is that that those who’ve argued for or against collecting have tended to be from America and Europe respectively (myself excluded!), perhaps indicative of...
  19. Richard Klim

    Guadalcanal Moustached Kingfisher

    Birdwatch Birdwatch, 28 Sep 2015: 'Ghost' kingfisher rediscovered on south-west Pacific island.
  20. Richard Klim

    Guadalcanal Moustached Kingfisher

    In a world that accepts the routine slaughter of millions of industrially-reared/processed birds every day, I really can't see any moral problem with low-volume scientific collecting - EXCEPT where it could significantly impact the viabilty of a population.
  21. Richard Klim

    Guadalcanal Moustached Kingfisher

    del Hoyo et al 2015 (HBW Alive). BirdLife (Species factsheet). Chris Filardi, AMNH, 23 Sep 2015: Field Journal: Finding Ghosts. [With thanks to Grahame Walbridge for reporting on Surfbirds.]
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