In 2007, a new species of antpitta was discovered in Urrao, Antioquia, Colombia. Things went sideways from there.
This is the kind of long, convoluted story that I find both fascinating and that I like to write about. It seems to have no end, though, so I’ll provide links to the most succinct timelines and closest-to-the-source posts. One stop shopping!
- 6 March 2011: First, Gunnar Engllom gives a blow-by-blow chronology with relevant points.
- Includes full text of a Science magazine review of the situation, reflected by the facts as they were known at the time.
- Also, links to both papers describing the species, and important associated editorials and responses.
- Finally, a series of updates at the bottom.
- March 2011: Detailed discussion of the validity of the ProAves-proposed name and description, from the South American Classification Committee.
- 28 March 2011: A letter from the editor of The Condor clarifying the events surrounding the publication (pdf); a very damning statement against ProAves. (Some background here in an English editorial from the editors of Ornitología Colombiana, the journal of the Asociación Colombiana de Ornitología.
- 30 March 2011: Statement of clarification of events by discoverer Diego Caranton.
For a few more takes on the situation, check out the ABA Blog, The Drinking Bird, Talking Naturally, or the long thread at BirdForum.
Things have been a little quiet lately. Where will this go from here? What will be the final decision on the naming of this bird? How damaged is the reputation of ProAves, and how fractured the relationship between it and Colombian ornithologists? Stay tuned.
Update, August 2011: The South American Classification Committee has voted to accept Grallaria urraoensis as a new species, and to with that name and not that of G. fenwickorum due to, uh, technical difficulties. Another great analysis/rehash, and, I think, the right decision.
We've had Sophie since she was a kitten. She's never been allowed outdoors, and shows absolutely no interest in going out. Maybe because there are fewer gullible humans to cuddle with than inside our house.
Juniper was a stray we got as an adult, and has been harder to keep away from the doors. We have a boatload of toys for her, so we're all well entertained. She finally gets the point she can't go out; we're still working on the concept of window screens.
I’ve banged this drum before, but please — keep your cats indoors. The Wildlife Society has made the articles regarding the threats posed by (and to) outdoor cats from their current issue of the Wildlife Professional open access. Take a look.
Over yonder in the right sidebar is a list of Urban Ecology Resources. You can expand each category by clicking on it. One item in the Literature category is my urban bird bibliography (Word doc), where I keep track of papers published on the topic. I’ve just uploaded a new version. New additions include:
- Benitez-Lopez, A., R. Alkemade, and P. A. Verweij. 2010. The impacts of roads and other infrastructure on mammal and bird populations: a meta-analysis. Biological Conservation 143:1307-1316.
- Hu, Y., and G. C. Cardoso. 2010. Which birds adjust the frequency of vocalizations in urban noise? Animal Behaviour 79: 863-867.
- Isaac-Renton, M., J. R. Bennett, R. J. Best, and P. Arcese. 2010. Effects of introduced Canada Geese (Branta canadensis) on native plant communities of the southern Gulf Islands, British Columbia. Ecoscience 17:394-399.
- Kempenaers, B., P. Borgstrom, P. Loes, E. Schlicht, and M. Valcu. 2010. Artificial night lighting affects dawn song, extra-pair siring success, and lay date in songbirds. Current Biology 20:1735-1739.
- Saggesea, K., F. Korner-Nievergelt, T. Slagsvold, and V. Amrhein. 2011. Wild bird feeding delays start of dawn singing in the great tit. Animal Behaviour 81: 361-365.
Papers in the whole document go back to about 2003, taking up where the Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory bibliography left off.
