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Amazon expedition - BBC (1 Viewer)

Andy Adcock

Andy Adcock

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Cyprus
Did anyone else see this piece, an ornithologist, casually, shouldering a weapon, persumably to bag specimens.

Swarovski 'bins' around his neck, rifle over his shoulder, I'd have expected a little more discretion given the current debate over 'collecting'. Neither were they shy in stating that specimens were killed and they even showed a table with dead birds laid out.




A
 
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andyadcock said:
Did anyone else see this piece....

A
Click to expand...

Was that the eppie title or the program title or is their a different name for that show?

I've search the streaming sites with zero results for 'Amazon Expedition'. It doesn't mean much, I've notice a lot of the BBC shows never make it to streaming.
 
I think I could have watched it today at 15:30GMT on EasyView but I didn't get to this thread fast enough.

Your second link has 3 showings today but none listed beyond that.

I missed out.
 
Killing and gathering were the intentions.

It was billed as a "genetic material" research project "with strict code of ethics".

Seeing how they claim to have discovered one new owl species, I guess that bird is now dead in a drawer somewhere. Although, the news release left you hanging by saying; "After a brief moment of excitement I had to work quickly to get an excellent record of the voice and then try to collect the bird..." So, there's doubt.

You can view the 30 minute segment on Teatime TV.

Be sure the date in the right-hand corner is 06.05.2018

On the left-side column click the BBC News icon.

To the right, the BBC News hourly schedule appears. Scroll down to 16:30 Amazon Expedition - Into The Peak Of Mist and clip on the box.

When the player opens hit the Play icon.

The segment actually starts at 16:27:17 use the the player to step back or use the mouse on the scroll.

Thanks A, appreciate the focus.
 
I don't catalog birding articles, I hope and try to have a retention on some of what I read. Seeing how the hobby has spanned over decades and decades and decades and a few more....admittedly the retention is not as good as it was.

That said, I believe somewhere in my past I've read this field work of gathering species was old school. There was no longer a need to kill the bird to get genetic or other data. I can't speak for herps or biology as a whole, I don't follow it with a passion.

If I'm mistaken then so be it.

Admittedly, there's was a shock effect at the OP because of what I thought I knew. If I'm wrong, I'm finding what I don't know more troubling to my sensitivities than some 30 minute BBC program.

As for the unknown reading I refer to, it could have been someone in the field driven by technology writing on his/her experience. A demonstration of what could or couldn't be done without taking birds. Although I can't produce it, I remember the joy I had when reading it. That bit of conservation was enough to stick in my head.
 
mjh73 said:
This is the way science is done. What is your point?
Click to expand...

Interesting to see how much 'science' gets done on a BBC documentary programme. SanAngelo is correct to point out that the circumstances in which collecting is justified are much narrower now, and 'genetic material' doesn't have to equate to a dusty specimen in a drawer somewhere.

I believe there are some species which have deliberately not been 'collected' because of conservation concerns - Bugun Liocichla perhaps?

Given they were visiting an 'isolated', 'unexplored' (at least by western film-makers...) area, almost by definition what they'd find was at the very least likely to be extremely range-restricted.

So it seems far from obvious that collecting bird specimens is the only way to 'do' science in the 21st century, particularly in the context of a documentary programme which is doubtless tasked with the aim of making it all look intrepid and exciting.
 
kb57 said:
Interesting to see how much 'science' gets done on a BBC documentary programme. SanAngelo is correct to point out that the circumstances in which collecting is justified are much narrower now, and 'genetic material' doesn't have to equate to a dusty specimen in a drawer somewhere.

I believe there are some species which have deliberately not been 'collected' because of conservation concerns - Bugun Liocichla perhaps?

Given they were visiting an 'isolated', 'unexplored' (at least by western film-makers...) area, almost by definition what they'd find was at the very least likely to be extremely range-restricted.

So it seems far from obvious that collecting bird specimens is the only way to 'do' science in the 21st century, particularly in the context of a documentary programme which is doubtless tasked with the aim of making it all look intrepid and exciting.
Click to expand...

The topic has been dealt with extensively within this group on more than one occasion however, I was surpised that the 'ornithologist', openly carried a gun and then they displayed a range of birds which they had presumably shot.

They were not shy at all about having killed the animals they found.



A
 
kb57 said:
Interesting to see how much 'science' gets done on a BBC documentary programme. SanAngelo is correct to point out that the circumstances in which collecting is justified are much narrower now, and 'genetic material' doesn't have to equate to a dusty specimen in a drawer somewhere.

I believe there are some species which have deliberately not been 'collected' because of conservation concerns - Bugun Liocichla perhaps?

Given they were visiting an 'isolated', 'unexplored' (at least by western film-makers...) area, almost by definition what they'd find was at the very least likely to be extremely range-restricted.

So it seems far from obvious that collecting bird specimens is the only way to 'do' science in the 21st century, particularly in the context of a documentary programme which is doubtless tasked with the aim of making it all look intrepid and exciting.
Click to expand...

Where did I say the only way? Clearly it's not!

But it continues to be an important exercise.
http://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/1995-BCI.pdf
http://www.publish.csiro.au/mu/Fulltext/MUv111n3_ED

The ICZN still requires a type specimen to register a new species

I haven't seen the show, but I thought the inference was it was a doco about the science not some Ray Mears scripted nonsense created for the show?
 
mjh73 said:
Where did I say the only way? Clearly it's not!

But it continues to be an important exercise.
http://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/1995-BCI.pdf
http://www.publish.csiro.au/mu/Fulltext/MUv111n3_ED

The ICZN still requires a type specimen to register a new species

I haven't seen the show, but I thought the inference was it was a doco about the science not some Ray Mears scripted nonsense created for the show?
Click to expand...

Why so defensive, right from your first post!

It wasn't scripted nonsense, scientists were followed on an expedition where numerous new species of frogs and one new bird were found. I would imagine, that selling the 'show' to the likes of the BBC, provided a good deal of the funding for the expedition?

I've seen several 'docs' of this type but none were so open about killing the animals they found.

Just to add, you did write 'This is the way science is done. What is your point?' suggesting no reasonable alternative.



A
 
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I thought from the subject that maybe Amazon had bought out Ford, so the Ford Expedition becomes the Amazon Expedition. Hey why not? They're buying up everyhing else.
 
Leviticus Plews said:
I thought from the subject that maybe Amazon had bought out Ford, so the Ford Expedition becomes the Amazon Expedition. Hey why not? They're buying up everyhing else.
Click to expand...

As you obviously would on a birdwatching site.....


think you're in the wrong place
 
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