World birding NEWS - Birdpoints

A new bird from China
29 January 2009

A new Babbler from Nonggang from Guangxi province of China, aptly named Nonggang Babbler, Stachyris nonggangensis, has been reported by Birdlife International.

Zhou Fang and Jiang Aiwu from Guangxi University on initially sighting it in 2005 have confirmed its identity as an undescribed taxon and its description was published recently in The Auk.

The behavious has been described as that of the wren-babblers which prefer to call and run to each other suddenly from one bush to the other...read the full story from birdlife.org

Smithsonian Scientists Discover New Bird Species
15 August 2008

Scientists at the Smithsonian Institution have discovered a new species of bird in Gabon, Africa, that was, until now, unknown to the scientific community. Their findings were published in the international science journal Zootaxa today, Aug. 15.

The newly found olive-backed forest robin (Stiphrornis pyrrholaemus) was named by the scientists for its distinctive olive back and rump. Adult birds measure 4.5 inches in length and average 18 grams in weight. Males exhibit a fiery orange throat and breast, yellow belly, olive back and black feathers on the head. Females are similar, but less vibrant. Both sexes have a distinctive white dot on their face in front of each eye. ... read the full story from the Press Room of the Smithsonian Institution.

A male specimen of the newly-discovered olive-backed forest robin is carefully examined in the hand of Brian Schmidt, the Smithsonian ornithologist who discovered the species.
Credit: Brian Schmidt

A new bird species from Indonesia
17-03-2008

Ornithologists, including one from Michigan State University, describe for science a new species of bird from the Togian Islands of Indonesia – Zosterops somadikartai, or Togian white-eye, in the March edition of The Wilson Journal of Ornithology.

The announcement of the discovery of a new bird comes with a twist: It’s a white-eye, but its eye isn’t white. Still, what this new bird lacks in literal qualities it makes up for as one of the surprises that nature still has tucked away in little-explored corners of the world. Its eye isn’t ringed in a band of white feathers like its cousins who flock in other remote tropical islands of Indonesia. Still, it has many features in common with the black-crowned white-eye Zosterops atrifrons of Sulawesi, which is clearly its closest relative, said MSU’s Pamela Rasmussen, an internationally known ornithologist specializing in Asian birds.

The Togian white-eye first was spotted by Indrawan and Sunarto 12 years ago during their first trip to the Togian Islands. Those first sightings were fleeting, but they returned and made several more observations of these active little green birds, ... read the full story from the newsroom of Michigan State University.

Beck’s Petrel flies back from extinction!
06-03-2008

A bird that was known only from two records from the 1920s has been discovered in the Pacific after a gap of 79 years. Sightings of the Critically Endangered Beck’s Petrel Pseudobulweria becki - published by the British Ornithologists' Club - have finally proven the species is still in existence, and delighted conservationists... read the full story from birdlife.org

A new subspecies for the World found in Nepal
06-02-2008

Nepalese scientists have recorded a new subspecies of bird at Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve (KTWR) of east Nepal.

The bird was first recorded by Ornithologist and Chairperson of Nepal Rare Birds Committee (NRBC) Mr Suchit Basnet and Mr Badri Chaudhary on 1 April 2005 at Koshi Tappu. The bird was identified as Rufous-vented Prinia bringing Nepal's total bird list to 862 species. The bird is known as Prinia burnesii to scientific community. The new taxon from Nepal is referred to as Nepal Rufous-vented Prinia, Prinia burnesii nipalensis... read the full story from Bird Conservation Nepal