China 2010 (2 Viewers)

Sphenocichla roberti

Shi Jin said:

Which brings me on to the subject of the bird I saw a few yard’s from the Walden’s Barwing: I had never seen one before, although I had seen reports of several being seen in the area over the years. As soon as I put my binoculars on it, I had one of those moments that makes birding so sweet – seeing something incredible, not just incredible in the sense that you have not seen something before, but in the sense that you have never seen anything like it before. I am referring to the binocular-filling view of Hume’s Wren Babbler (Sphenocichla humei). In this part of the world, the sub-species is roberti which is, I understand, even more impressive than the nominate humei which occurs from Sikkim to northern Assam (north of the Brahmaputra, according to Clements).

So, it’s not hard to work out what I would call it the event of a split. Anyhow, after so many boring brown jobs named after him (not forgetting that Mrs Hume got an amazing pheasant), Mr Hume deserves something a bit special. And Hume’s Wren Babbler is that and a lot more. So special, in fact, I actually forgot to put my binoculars down and pick up my camera!

Click to expand...

Great stuff, Shi Jin.

But Sphenocichla roberti has been split:

• IOC, Rasmussen & Anderton 2005 and TIF use the name 'Cachar Wedge-billed Babbler'
• BLI and Collar & Robson 2007 (HBW12) use 'Chevron-breasted Babbler'
• China OS uses 'Eastern Wedge-billed Wren Babbler'

No doubt Cornell/Clements will eventually follow (if they ever show some interest in Asian species)... :smoke:

Surely your suggested name 'Hume's Wren Babbler' would be more appropriate for S. humei (sensu stricto)?

Richard

Hi Richard

Clearly I'm spending far too much time in the field and should be reading more ;-)

Seriously, though, many thanks.

I had heard of people referring to it as Cachar Wedge-billed Babbler and even Cachar Wedge-billed Wren Babbler, but stupidly I hadn't worked out that only roberti was so named.

It looks like the name I had in mind (just in case) will be used sooner rather than later (much sooner - I've already changed the name in the list above).

So, Mr Hume gets the northern one while the main prize (can any babbler look better than this?!) goes to Mr Roberts or is that Mr Robert, or Robert someone...

Trouble is, I'm having trouble Googling him (her?).

I guess it's "Robert's", but if anyone can help with this, I'd be grateful.

But my 15 minutes search-time wasn't entirely wasted. I did manage to find an excellent article on the pioneers of Indian ornithology - Mr Hume being one of the stars (link below).

Not surprisingly, many of these explorers/adventurers/ornithologists have also made their mark on the names of birds here in China.

http://www.kolkatabirds.com/birdmenpioneers.htm

BTW if you have ever lost a birding notebook you'll know how Mr Hume felt when he found out that his servant had sold his entire life's work of papers to the bin man.

Shi Jin said:

Clearly I'm spending far too much time in the field and should be reading more ;-)

...I guess it's "Robert's", but if anyone can help with this, I'd be grateful...

Click to expand...

Well Shi Jin, it's me that should be spending more time in the field and reading less - as far as I can see you've definitely got the priorities right.

The citation for roberti is Godwin-Austen & Walden 1875 (Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Haversham Godwin-Austen, and Arthur Hay, Viscount Walden, later ninth Marquis of Tweeddale! - ref. Beolens & Schott 2003 Whose Bird?). But I don't know who they were honouring with roberti - probably not Alphonse Robert, a French collector in Latin America!

Looking forward to your continuing exploits...

Richard

Thanks Richard

Interesting to read that Viscount Walden became the ninth Marquis of Tweeddale.

Somehow, the Ninth Marquis of Tweeddale's Barwing doesn't quite roll off the tongue. Although I do quite like the sound of Viscount Walden's Barwing (although anything has to be better than Streak-throated).

Anyhow, I'm in Guangzhou at the moment and, as you might have guessed, the weather is crap (btw has anyone ever seen the sun in Guangzhou??).

What's that? ... Is that a Mrs Gould's Smogbird flying past ? Hard to tell ;-)

Cheers

15th February

Gaoligongshan, Yunnan

What's the best present you could possibly give your wife or girlfriend? If you think that an LV bag, a bottle of Chanel, or maybe even a diamond ring are impressive, then think again...

In 1881, Allan Octavion Hume presented his wife, Mary Ann Grindall, with... a pheasant. The circumstances have not been recorded, but it's unlikely it was wrapped and he almost certainly didn't say,"Cook this f'me dinner luv".

This particular pheasant would last a bit longer than that.

As well as having a wonderful name, Mrs Hume's Pheasant is one of China's most impressive birds. I was lucky enough to find a male three years ago in the Gaoligongshan, but failed to get any kind of photograph of it.

So, with that in mind, I was a bit tense to say the least when, this morning, I heard a rustle of dead leaves only 20 yards or so from me at exactly the point I had seen Mrs Hume's in 2007. Glimses of its white tail did nothing to relax me.

The good news was that the bird was on a very steep slope and I gauged that it couldn't go up or across without me getting a full view of it. Of its options, the easiest would have been to come down the slope and on to the path in front of me. I pre-set the focus on the point where I thought it might emerge, and waited.

The rustling stopped.

The silence was deafening until, that is, the bird burst from the undergrowth with an almighty explosion. It flew over my head, somehow managing to find a gap in the trees, and flew down the slope faster than a downhill skier.

Well, I did get a great view at least - after all the bird was only 15 yards away at its nearest point to me. But, I was far too stunned to even think about picking up my camera (not that I would have had any chance of getting a shot had I have done so).


8 species photographed today, all new for 2010.

Photos at www.ChineseCurrents.com/2010birds16.html

Crimson-breasted Woodpecker (ssp tenebrosus), 1
Red-tailed laughingthrush (ssp sharpei), few
Black Eagle (nom. ssp malayensis), 1
Yellow-throated Fulvetta (monotypic), sev
Plain-backed Thrush (nom ssp mollissima), 1
Fire-tailed Sunbird (nom ssp ignicauda), 2
Scaly-breasted Wren Babbler (nom. ssp albiventor), 1
Brown-breasted Bulbul (nom. ssp xanthorrhous), sev

Other birds seen:

Mrs Hume's Pheasant, 1 male
Silver Pheasant, female
Swallow, few
Kestrel, 1
Long-tailed Shrike, 1
Grey-chinned Minivet, 2
Ashy Drongo, 2
White-throated Fantail, 1
Long-tailed Thrush, 3
Large Niltava, 1 male
Himalayan Bluetail, 1
Naga Nuthatch
"Great" Tit, few
Grey Bushchat, few
Black-throated Tit, c20
Yellow-cheeked Tit, sev
Black Bulbul, c100
Mountain Bulbul, few
Buff-barred Warbler, few
Ashy-throated Warbler, few
Greater-necklaced Laughingthrush, sev
Chestnut-crowned Laughingthrush, sev
Scaly Laughingthrush, 1
Streak-breasted Scimitar Babbler, 1
Rusty-fronted Barwing, sev
Grey-cheeked Fulvetta, c40
Beautiful Sibia, c20
White-bellied Yuhina, sev
Rufous-vented Yuhina, c40
Grey-headed Parrotbill, c60
Mrs Gould's Sunbird, few
Tibetan Siskin, c30

2010 = 120 species photographed

Wonderful vignette!
Hate to admit it, but I was cheering for the bird. How much fun would it be if they could not constantly surprise and outwit us?

Thanks Etudiant.

In the Gaoligongshan, the birds win a bit too often for my liking, but I know what you mean.

And that Mrs Hume... what a tease ;-)

16th February

Gaoligongshan to the border with Burma

The plan for today was to hike over the Gaoligongshan range to Tengchong. The 10 to 12 hour hard slog, which follows the mountain trail known as the Southern Silk Road, goes from 1500 metres above sea level to 3,600 and down again to 1,800.

Unfortunately, the weather yesterday up top was poor. Looking up from about 2,400 metres I had seen that thick cloud was enveloping the mountain tops and fresh snow had fallen. Not ideal conditions to look for one of the gems of this area, Sclater’s Monal, to put it mildly.

And so, at the last minute, I changed the plan and hastily arranged for a truck to take me to Tengchong. We left at 5am for the four hour drive, which meant that we would travel in darkness for most of the trip. A Brown Fish Owl, slowly flapping across the road and into the full beam of the truck’s headlights, was a pleasant surprise; as were the group of mountain chickens crossing the road (Mountain Bamboo Partridges to be precise). The stop to photograph the latter delayed us by 10 minutes or so, and I called the driver I had arranged to meet in Tengchong to tell him that I would be a few minutes late.

At 9.05am we arrived at the rendezvous point on the outskirts of the city. I said goodbye to my Gaoligongshan driver and hello to Mr Zhou, who would drive me to the border region. Or so I had thought until, that is, I noticed that Mr Zhou has his moped with him. “Where’s the car?” I asked.

“Mashang lai!” he said with a serious look.

Nothing annoys me more than being told that something is coming on a horse. That’s the literal meaning of mashang. It’s meant to be reassuring and to conjour up an image of someone galloping towards you at breakneck speed, who would arrive in moments.

I enquired about the horse’s progress. It transpired that Mr Zhou’s wife had the car (to squeeze in an extra customer before picking me up). After 20 minutes, my patience was wearing a bit thin. I called Mrs Zhou, who told me that she was still speeding towards me on their horse and that she would be with me in, guess what, no more than another 20 minutes.

I’m afraid this was the last straw. I had got up at 4.30am to be here for 9am and, what’s more, if they had told me earlier about the delay I would have stopped in the mountains for an hour or so.

I told Mrs Zhou what I thought about her and her husband’s shoddy service, and told her to take her time as I would not be using their lame horse. Although this made me feel better, it probably wasn’t a sensible thing to do, as I had to make my own arrangements for what was a less than straightforward journey. But I didn’t care, the principle was worth suffering for.

I marched across to the other side of road and waited for a taxi. After five minutes, I hadn’t seen a single one. Then I saw an empty taxi driven by a 60 something year old woman. Elder Sister Wang looked surprised to see me, but stopped nevertheless. “Where are you going?” she asked. I told her.

“That’s crazy,” she laughed, “No ones goes that far west!” In fact, it’s impossible to go any further west as my destination abuts the border with Burma, one of the most dysfunctional countries on the planet. After two minutes of discussion, I had persuaded her to take me half way; and after realising she was a remarkably good driver – in fact one of the best I’ve seen in China – I renegotiated for her to take me all the way (and to pick me up in five days' time). The package also included a two hour birding stop en route for both trips.

Happy with the deal, Elder Sister Wang dropped down to third gear, breezed past a convoy of bread vans that were struggling to negotiate the pot holes on the dirt track, and raced towards one of the few areas in China that has superb lowland evergreen forest.

This forest holds no fewer than three species of hornbill (and a host of other birds that only just get in to Chinese territory). This would be my third trip to the area. On the second trip I had seen Wreathed and Oriental Pied. Great Hornbill had eluded me. Would this be a case of third time lucky I wondered?

13 species photographed today, all new for 2010:

Mountain Bamboo Partridge (ssp ?), sev
Sooty-headed Bulbul (ssp ?), c50
Siberian Stonechat (ssp ?), few
Eastern Cattle Egret (monotypic), c50
Great Cormorant (ssp sinensis), c30
Small Pratincole (monotypic), c50
River Tern (monotypic), c10
Grey-throated Sand Martin (Riparia chinensis), c20
River Lapwing (monotypic), 2
Blue Rock Thrush (ssp ?), 1
Eugene's Whistling Thrush (Myophonus eugenei), 1
Crested Treeswift (monotypic), c40
Chestnut-tailed Starling (monotypic), sev

Can be seen at www.ChineseCurrents.com/2010birds17.html

Other birds seen:

Ruddy Shelduck, 1
Blue-throated Barbet, 3
Hoopoe, 2
Pied Kingfisher, 2
White-breasted Kingfisher, 2
Kestrel, 1
Greater Coucal, 1
Brown Fish Owl, 1
Spotted Dove, 1
White-breasted Waterhen, 1
Moorhen, 1
Common Sandpiper, 1
Greenshank, 2
Little Ringed Plover, c10
Little Egret, c20
Crested Serpent Eagle, 1
Long-tailed Shrike, c20
Grey-winged Blackbird, 1
Siberian Rubythroat, 1
White-capped Water Redstart, 1
Pied Bushchat, sev
Black-collared Starling, c30
Swallow, sev
Red-rumped Swallow, c20
Striated Swallow, few
Striated Grassbird, 1
Citrine Wagtail, 2
Grey Wagtail, 1
White Wagtail, few

2010 = 133 species photographed

Wow, this is really sounding like an adventure! I understand your feeling about those "fast" horses, usually rather slowish. On the other hand, estimating times and distances is not necessarily a recognized science everywhere, especially as one gets to the edges of civilization....

Your birds are starting to have overlap with my Thailand trip, so its nice to see some familiar names and faces. Will be waiting for the next installment.

Great Stuff!

Very much looking forward to hearing how you get on farther west, but definitely impressed with the wren babbler, the Rufous-throated and Mountain Bamboo Partridges Partridge the barwing and Mrs Hume's Pheasant (although I've had crippling views of a pair on the road at Baihualing).

Great to see the pix of the river specialists too - happy memories of my own trip in March a few years ago.

"Ma shang lai" has brought me to the brink of violence, so I understand your feelings!
2.5 hours was the final answer on one occasion and a switch to a totally unsuitable vehicle on day 1 of a week long trip was another.

Keeps life interesting I suppose.

Cheers
Mike

Thanks Gretchen and Mike

Pleased that you like the thread.

The next installment is on a horse ;-)

Cheers 'til then.

17th February

Yunnan, Burma border

I saw a hornbill in China 20 years after I first came birding here. I'm not saying it became an obsession to see one, but I had spent weeks exploring the China-side of various border regions (Vietnam, Laos, Burma). But I drew blank after blank.

Then, last year, I found a male Wreathed Hornbill soaring over the forest about 3 miles from the border with Burma. The following day I found an Oriental Pied, less than a mile from the border.

But still no sign of the biggest, and arguably the most majestic of them all, Great Hornbill.

So, with that species firmly on my mind, I started climbing the mountain track.

After an hour I heard the distinctive call of an Oriental Pied, very close by. In fact it was so close, I didn't have time to lift up my camera when it swooped over my head, quickly disappearing into the valley below.

Just as I was regathering my composure following this close-encounter, I saw IT.

I knew immediately it was a Great Hornbill. It was flying from left to right, just over the tops of the trees of the hillside to the east.

Problem was, I also knew that I would only be able to see it for three or maybe four seconds before its flight-path would take it out of view.

I picked up my binoculars of course, and was able, at last, to watch my most-wanted bird in the world. Next time I'll pick up the camera.

Great and Oriental Pied in the space of two minutes is hard to beat. Or so I thought...

Two hours up the same track I stopped to take a photo of a flock of Nepal Fulvettas (an impossible task, as always) when out of the corner of my eye I saw something coming towards me. I turned and immediately let out an expletive or two...

Wreathed Hornbill! Very close. Flying slowly towards me. Not one, not two, not three, not four, but a FLOCK of FIVE MALES!

Without doubt, the most amazing sight I've ever seen in my birding life.

Not to mention, three hornbill species in two hours of China birding.

What more is there to say...

Photos of 9 species, all new for 2010, are posted at
www.ChineseCurrents.com/2010birds18.html

Wreathed Hornbill (monotypic)

Atherton's Bee-eater (nom ssp. Athertoni)
Pin-tailed Green Pigeon (nom ssp apicauda)
Black-winged Cuckooshrike (ssp ?)
Ashy Bulbul (nom. ssp flavala)
Hair-crested Drongo (ssp brevirostris)
White-hooded Babbler (nom. ssp rufulus)
Hardwick's Leafbird nom ssp hardwickii)
Brown Dipper (ssp dorjei)

Details of the other birds seen will follow shortly.

2010 = 142 species photographed

Ahh, you even got photos of the 5 Wreathed Hornbills - really nice! Quite a day to see 3 kinds of hornbills. I did wonder about your drongo photo - does that show a key id feature (curling tail)?

Atherton's Bee-eater - that's a new one on me. Does it spend all day on the same branch, and refuse to fly?

Thanks Gretchen and Andrew K (your garden list is a bit more impressive than mine here in Beijing!)

Hi DMW, as far as the Bee-Eater is concerned: If you prefer Blue-bearded, then you are welcome to use it...

(but The BBBC are saving that name for the Hainan endemic Nyctyornis athertoni brevicaudatus - just in case the DNA tests prove that John Atherton is not the father ;-)

Sorry for getting carried away with the Wreathed Hornbills... but somehow didn't seem right to clutter that posting with the list of other birds I saw that day (17th February):

Lesser Yellownape, 2
Blue-throated Barbet, sev
Leschenault's Bee-eater, 5 (nom. ssp leschenaulti) ["Chestnut-headed" or should that be "Chestnut Head & Shoulders" ?]
Himalayan Swiftlet, c30
Mountain Imperial Pigeon, 1
Wedge-tailed Green Pigeon, few
Emerald Dove, 3
Long-tailed Shrike, few
Maroon Oriole, 4
Bar-winged Flycatcher Shrike, 1
Grey-headed Canary Flycatcher, 1
Rufous-bellied Niltava, 1
Hill Blue Flycatcher, 2
Nepal House Martin, c20
Flavescent Bulbul, c30
Black Bulbul, c35
Striated Grassbird, 1
Grey-bellied Tesia, 3
Red-billed Scimitar Babbler, few
Rufous-capped Babbler, sev
Silver-eared Mesia, c30
Streaked Spiderhunter, c10
Olive-backed Pipit, 3
Common Tailorbird, few
Rufous-gorgeted Flycatcher, few

English nomenclature of the birds of China

This touchy subject, has recently been touched on.

With so many splits, lumps, as well as numerous disagreements over which English name to use, it was decided that an organisation would be set up to make sense of it all.

The BBBC's naming-criteria are really quite straightforward:

1 Show respect to the pioneers of ornithology in China and further afield by using commemorative names wherever this makes any kind of sense (better than inaccurate and often misleading names of body-parts and provenance we concluded). For instance, we use Pere David's Niltava rather than the ill-named Fujian Niltava.

2 Favour names that sound a bit romantic and exciting (okay, I admit that Atherton's Bee-eater was voted through very, very late in the evening).

3 Er... that's it.

There may have been more decisions, but I can't say for sure as no minutes are kept and recollections of what's been decided tend to vary a lot between members - particularly regarding decisions made during the latter part of the sessions.

We meet irregularly, but if you are ever in Beijing (the home of the BBRC) you are more than welcome to contact me. I will be happy to convene a meeting to discuss whatever agenda you may like to propose - assuming, of course, it falls within our remit (the guidelines are in the name).

Cheers!


Shi Jin

One of the founding-members of The BBBC (The Beijing Birds and Beer Club).

Back to some serious(ish) stuff:

18th February

Yunnan, Burma border

I endured a bone-shaking 45 minute motorised rickshaw ride to get up to Rong Shu Wang at first light. The "one-tree forest" is certainly an amazing sight. But it's the birds of this area that are worth getting up early for. Last year I had seen Collared Treepie and Banded Bay Cuckoo here. Others have seen even more exotic birds, such as Grey Peacock Pheasant and Hodgson's Frogmouth.

A close up view of the blue-bearded Atherton's Bee-eater was a nice opener, as were the Long-tailed Sibias and perched Mountain Imperial Pigeon, but I didn't find very much else here this morning.

I met some Chinese birdwatchers (there were more than a dozen birding the area) who kindly gave me a lift further up the mountain. It was there, near the highest point of the road, that I ran in to a flock of about 30 Grey Sibia, which entertained for more than 30 minutes.

It was only this evening, as I was going through today's photographs on my computer that I discovered another sibia species I actually hadn't seen - or at least hadn't noticed in the field - a Rufous-backed Sibia! The Grey Sibia I was trying to photograph had just flown and I got a picture of a tree trunk instead... but near the top of the frame was a Rufous-backed Sibia dropping onto a branch. The comedy of errors continued as one of the later shots of a sibia in flight was not what I thought it was. It was another, or perhaps the same Rufous-backed. Here, then, is the downside of taking photos of birds in a dimly-lit forest, sometimes you don't actually know what you are photographing!

What's all the fuss you may be wondering. Well, the dilemma is that I have not actually seen Rufous-backed Sibia in China or anywhere for that matter. And yet I have two photographs of one (the flight shot of which I'm attaching). How funny (not to mention incompetent).

The hit (and mostly miss) photo day continued until the early evening when I saw a flock of 4 parakeets zipping around a fruiting tree that was on a ridge, a long way off. Frustratingly, I failed to get them in my viewfinder, so their identity remains a mystery. I then convinced myself that they had actually flown into the fruiting tree. I couldn't get any closer to the tree , and I was struggling to pick anything up with my bins, but nevertheless I waited.

Then, 20 minutes later, out came a parakeet flying slightly towards me and the bright, low sun that was behind me. Strangely, it looked bigger than the four I had seen earlier with the naked eye. I thought I'd better get a photo of it.

I'm pleased I did, because it was an Alexandrine Parakeet.. a bird that breeds in Burma and Assam, but has only been seen a few times in China. Talking of Burma, the Alexandrine just kept on going, all the way to and across the river that marks the border with that country.


19 species photographed today, 15 species (in bold) new for 2010:

Are posted on my website at www.ChineseCurrents.com/2010birds19.html

Mountain Imperial Pigeon (ssp griseicapilla), 1
Long-tailed Sibia (nom. ssp picaoides), 5
Greater Racket-tailed Drongo (ssp grandis), 2
White-throated Bulbul (ssp burmanicus), few
Long-tailed Thrush (monotypic)
"Himalayan" Bluetail (ssp ??)
Atherton's Bee-eater (nom. ssp athertoni), 1
Nepal Fulvetta (tentative ID) If this, then ssp commoda, sev
Crested Serpent Eagle, (ssp burmanicus), 1
Striated Bulbul (ssp?), c20
Grey Sibia (monotypic), c30
Short-billed Minivet, sev
Scarlet Minivet (ssp elegans), sev
Streaked Spiderhunter (nom. ssp magna)
Grey-headed Canary Flycatcher (ssp. calochrysea), 1
"Blue-throated" Barbet (? ssp ?? the prominent black malar stripe on this bird is not described in available literature)
Alexandrine Parakeet (ssp avensis...), 1, the third or fourth record for China as far as I know
Bronzed Drongo (nom. ssp aeneus), c20
Rufous-backed Sibia (nom. ssp annectens), 1

Other birds seen:

Lesser Yellownape, 1
Grey-headed Pygmy Woodpecker, 1
Blue-throated Barbet (nom ssp asiatica ie without black malar), c20
Drongo Cuckoo, 1
Harwick's Leafbird, 1
Grey Treepie, 1
Ashy Drongo, few
Bar-winged Flycatcher Shrike, few
White-throated Fantail, 1
Yellow-bellied Fantail, few
Chestnut-bellied Rock Thrush, 1
Rufous-gorgeted Flycatcher, few
Siberian Rubythroat, 1
White-capped Water Redstart, 1
Plumbeous Redstart, few
Siberian Stonechat, sev
Pied Bushchat, 1
Velvet-fronted Nuthatch, 1
Grey-throated Sand Martin, 1
White-eye sp, c20
Flavescent Bulbul, c doz.
Sooty-headed Bulbul (few)
Black Bulbul, c20
Mountain Bulbul, few
Hume's Leaf Warbler, 1
Puff-throated Babbler, 1
Red-billed Shrike Babbler, 1
White-browed Shrike Babbler, 1 fem
Grey-cheeked Fulvetta, few
Beautiful Sibia, 1
Silver-eared Mesia, c15
White-bellied Yuhina, c doz.
Black-throated Sunbird, 3
White Wagtail, few
Olive-backed Pipit, few

2010 = 157 species photographed

Shi Jin said:

Show respect to the pioneers of ornithology in China and further afield by using commemorative names wherever this makes any kind of sense (better than inaccurate and often misleading names of body-parts and provenance we concluded).

Click to expand...

Hear! Hear! But I hope that includes Eastern European eponyms where applicable. I was amazed to read the following condescending argument by Ben King (Checklist of the Birds of Eurasia):

It is vital that all names be easy to pronounce. It is elitist, as some have said, with the advantages of a superior education and broad travel, that people can learn to pronounce those Russian names. The reality is that most English-speaking bird folks never will. A list with names that most can't pronounce will present problems for many users.
It is important to keep in mind that the users of the English names on this list are mostly not going to be scientists and travelling birders, but rather backyard bird lovers, conservationists, bureaucrats, teachers, students, media people, editors and others unfamiliar with birds.

Click to expand...

And in that impoverished spirit, he arbitrarily consigns to oblivion the likes of Godlewski, Kozlov, Przevalski, Roborovski, Széchenyi, Severtzov, Sukatschev... :C

[Although, for reasons unexplained, Jankowski seems to have been singled out for a reprieve. |=)|]

Richard