Future of HBW (1 Viewer)

[McMadd]

Richard

If you know it's at the depot surely an evening visit avec a crowbar is called for? None of this 'waiting for Monday' nonsense ;D

Mine arrived...at the folks in UK...about a week ago so no reading for me until September :0(

McM

 

[Swissboy]

UPS seems to be completely incompetent, but at least honest...

The last 30km seems to be a delivery too far. :C

Maybe the driver needed some light reading for the weekend...

Sometimes it helps not tracking what you expect. At least, the frustration level does not get an extra boost.

 

[Daniel Philippe]

The photo section is truly astounding, though perhaps a bit gratuitous.

On page 406 the dark mantles and the orange bills look strange for Greater Crested Terns :eek!:

 

[edenwatcher]

On page 406 the dark mantles and the orange bills look strange for Greater Crested Terns :eek!:

I noticed that ...

Rob

 

[Richard Klim]

Karan Island, Saudi Arabia

On page 406 the dark mantles and the orange bills look strange for Greater Crested Terns :eek!:

Focusing On Wildlife: The Saudi Arabian Gulf Coral Islands.

This island has the largest breeding population of Lesser Crested terns in Saudi Arabia as well as good numbers of Bridled Terns and White-cheeked terns and a small number of Swift Terns.

DiscoverWildlife.com: Breeding Colony of Lesser Crested Tern, Karan Island, Saudi Arabia.

(My copy belatedly arrived today. :king

 

[Richard Klim]

Desertas Petrel

It's curious that Pterodroma deserta Mathews, 1934 should be included as one of "a number of species genuinely new to science described since the publication of their respective volumes".
[On that basis, eg, Ticking Doradito Pseudocolopteryx citreola should be equally deserving of recognition as a newly described species.]
Surely it's better regarded as just one of the numerous splits proposed since publication of the original HBW volumes (irrespective of the fact that deserta was evidently treated as a synonym of feae in HBW 1).

New bird species

... Also included are a handful of older names that were previously considered invalid but have now been shown to be applicable to valid taxa.

But why not also include Pseudocolopteryx citreola (an old name previously considered invalid but now recognised as a valid species by BirdLife etc)?
[And perhaps there are other similar omissions...?]

 

[Swissboy]

...The photo section is truly astounding, though perhaps a bit gratuitous.
....Rob

I feel the same way. This is a selection of often amazing photos. But they are not in any obvious way connected with the rest of the volume. Kind of a book within the book, probably added to make the volume a bit less slim. We don't even get the text captions as in the other volumes. Just names and location. A bit meagre in my opinion.

A comparative taxonomy would have be more fitting. Instead, we are expected to buy the upcoming illustrated checklist, when we have all the info except for the sequences already.

 

[lewis20126]

Label

Well Lynx have put a label on the package - not sure if has been posted from Spain yet. Fingers crossed that delivery takes a less circuitous route to Hampshire than to Somerset!

cheers, alan

 

[Richard Klim]

Fingers crossed that delivery takes a less circuitous route to Hampshire than to Somerset!

I called UPS when mine still hadn't arrived by mid-afternoon yesterday. Within an hour I got a very apologetic call back from the Bristol depot. Apparently on Friday it was sent out for delivery at 07:30, but the agency driver arrived back at the depot in the evening with about half of his packages undelivered (having run out of time). Yesterday, it was supposedly sent out for delivery at 04:37, but when the depot contacted all drivers in the area to confirm that one of them had it on board for delivery, they all claimed not to have it! The depot concluded that it must have been mistakenly sent somewhere else entirely, but promised to give it top priority for a third attempt this morning. Anyway, somehow it was delivered about ten minutes after the call from the depot.

Barcelona to Paris to Birmingham to Bristol: 52 hours
Bristol to Wells (30km): 87 hours :smoke:

 

[lewis20126]

Bristol to Wells (30km): 87 hours :smoke:

Walking speed for a tortoise is (apparently) 0.21 to 0.48 km (0.13 to 0.30 miles) per hour. Your parcel managed 0.35 km per hour. These data seem strangely coincident. Have UPS changed their delivery methods?

cheers, alan

 

[Richard Klim]

Have UPS changed their delivery methods?

I think UPS may be an abbreviation for UPyourS!

 

[McMadd]

I did suggest a more efficient method Richard...

http://www.birdforum.net/showpost.php?p=2783370&postcount=101

Glad it got there in the end!

ATB
Mark

 

[Richard Klim]

I did suggest a more efficient method Richard...
http://www.birdforum.net/showpost.php?p=2783370&postcount=101

Very tempting, next time...

 

[Swissboy]

...Barcelona to Paris to Birmingham to Bristol: 52 hours
Bristol to Wells (30km): 87 hours :smoke:

Mine was delivered here by Swiss Post; they still seem to know what they are doing. o

Glad to see you finally got your book, Richard. Rather nerve-wracking, though.

 

[MJB]

Barcelona to Paris to Birmingham to Bristol: 52 hours; Bristol to Wells (30km): 87 hours :smoke:

Just be glad it wasn't the Wells in Norfolk.... (Wells-next-the-sea)!
MJB
PS It's been suggested that if I have a hope of being taken for a local, I have to practise singing this mantra loudly and seemingly endlessly:

"I'm Norfolk an' good, I'm Norfolk an' good...."

 

[Melanie]

Are there photographes of all newly described taxa in that volume (excluding the possible extinct Bogota Sunangel) or are the most species only depicted by illustrations?

 

[Richard Klim]

Are there photographes of all newly described taxa in that volume (excluding the possible extinct Bogota Sunangel) or are the most species only depicted by illustrations?

The new species accounts don't include photographs, but many are depicted in the Discovery of new bird species section.

Some of the original scientific descriptions of Amazonian species include photographs.

 

[Melanie]

Thanks for the information, Richard. Good, that photos of most of the newly described species can be find in the internet.

 

[Melanie]

I've finally got my HBW copy today. Well, I've only browsed the photo section so far and this one is truly amazing.