Hypocoliuses

 

Bala surrounded by parakeets and hypocoliuses. Which is supposedly the plural of hypocolius. The strangest bird-name in the English language? If you know, you know... 

Peer review

 

Credit: Rhododentrites

Breaking news: for the first time ever (literally ever), a red-eyed vireo has been spotted in Sweden. At Djurgården in Stockholm, to be exact. Usually, these little critters only annoy the denizens of the North American continent.

But...

There is something strange about the report. Yes, you´ve guessed it: it hasn´t been properly vetted yet. Or peer reviewed, if you like that term better. LOL. This reminds me of scientists who publish pre-prints of their papers on-line, before proper peer review. 

In fact, it´s even more extreme, since it´s the chair of the bird-watching committee vetting reports who broke the news to the media...before his own committee had vetted it?!

:D

Not that I give a damn, but sure, if I had been a crazy bird-watcher, I suppose Djurgården would be my next call!

Our avian predicament

 

Credit: Kai Dahms (Unsplash)

Thomas Sheridan knows what kills all those birds...

Changing bird migration patterns

From the Atlantic to the Urals

I kind of like Hungary´s new EU slogan "Make Europe great again". What a pity it comes from a people historically allied with the Ottoman Empire...

:D 

Cough cough cladistics cough

Dinosaurs are extinct, right?

So I recently visited the Museum of Natural History in Stockholm, Sweden. In the climate crisis exhibition, they show a funny video featuring a dinosaur scaring the hell out of the UN General Assembly. Then, the dino addresses the diplomatic multitude, saying things like "extinction is bad" and "I know a lot about extinction". 

There´s just one little problem.

The dino seems to be a Deinonychus (the "raptor" of "Jurassic Park" fame). But while the Deinonychi are extinct, some of their close relatives are not. They belonged to the group of dinosaurs from which birds evolved. Indeed, birds *are* dinosaurs. So the entire dino extinction rebellion is fake news! 

Somebody should school the Museum of Natural History on the basics of cladistic systematics.

Yeah, really. 

We are all Eurasians now

 

Credit: I, Luc Viatour

Seen a lot of these lately, everywhere around where I live, usually don´t see them at all?! Yes, it´s an "Eurasian Jay". Europe is just an Asian peninsula with an attitude. LOL.