Welcome to issue 15 of Neotropical Birding!
The Autumn 2014 issue of Neotropical Birding, NB15, has just been published. This issue commemorates the life of Alexandre Renaudier, the young French ornithologist who died prematurely last year. Alex was a very keen birder, who spent most of his time in the field and made some extraordinary ornithological discoveries. He had a sensitive ear, testimony to which is the wonderful collection of recordings he co-authored: Bird Voices from French Guiana. He had a close relationship with NBC, acting as Country Representative for France and French Guiana between 2006 and 2013.Appropriately, our cover story presents the first photographs of the enigmatic Rusty Tinamou Crypturellus brevirostris from Alex's adopted home, French Guiana – truly Birding at the cutting edge.
Our first Photospot provides further ground-breaking images from the same country, this time of nesting Black-bellied Cuckoo Piaya melanogaster, while the second piece is dedicated to another mysterious species, Giant Snipe Gallinago undulata.
Alex rarely found the desk-time necessary to publish his findings, but in our Identification Workshop, he and his friend Olivier Claessens reprise Field identification of Least and Yellow-billed Terns, a subject explored by Floyd Hayes in Cotinga in 2001. Further advances have made this challenge a lot easier and should result in better reporting in the future.
Switching environments somewhat, the American Bird Conservancy's Dan Lebbin takes us back to northern Peru, in a sequel to his Nightbirds article published in NB11. Dan returns in the daytime, with some suggestions for tracking down 50 species of hummingbird. A Hummingbird Paradise, perhaps?
No issue of Neotropical Birding is complete without an invitation from Alex Lees to “get your lists out” for another roller-coaster ride through the world of avian taxonomy and systematics in Splits, lumps and shuffles (one of Alex Renaudier's favourite columns).
Our compilation of recent published and unpublished records, Neotropical Notebook, is compiled by Guy Kirwan and his team of collaborators: Dušan Brinkhuizen, Diego Calderón, Bradley Davis, Jeremy Minns and Kini Roesler.
NBC has always played a role in conserving Neotropical Birds. Jez Bird tells us about this year's award winners and the continuing benefits of projects financed in the past in NBC Conservation Awards Update. Your contribution to NBC helps Award recipients give something back to the Neotropical birds we all enjoy.
We round off the issue with Book reviews of two of last year's most exciting publications: Birdwatching in Colombia and Birds and People.
Happy Neotropical birding!
Christopher J. Sharpe, Senior Editor
Neotropical Birding 15: contents
Sharpe, C. J. (2014) Welcome to issue 14 of Neotropical Birding. Neotrop. Birding 15: 2.
Ingels, J., Claessens, O. & de Pracontal, N. (2014) Neotropical Birding 15: a tribute to Alexandre Renaudier. Neotrop. Birding 15: 3. E-mail: johan.ingels@skynet.be
Lees, A. C. (2014) Splits, lumps and shuffles. Neotrop. Birding 15: 4–14. [resume of recent publications on taxonomy and systematics concerning multiple taxa] E-mail: alexanderlees@btopenworld.com
Rufray, V., Pelletier, V. & Ingels, J. (2014) First photographs and new records of the Rusty Tinamou Crypturellus brevirostris from French Guiana. Neotrop. Birding 15: 15–19. [Crypturellus brevirostris] E-mail: vrufray@biotope.fr / johan.ingels@skynet.be
Claessens, O. & Renaudier, A. (2014) Field identification of Least and Yellow-billed Terns: experience from French Guiana. Neotrop. Birding 15: 22–31. [Sternula superciliaris, Sternula antillarum] E-mail: olivier.claessens@gepog.org
Lebbin, D., Aucca Chutas, C., Olmos, F. & Spencer, A. (2014) Hummingbird paradise: northern Peru. Neotrop. Birding 15: 33–41. [multiple Trochilidae spp. of N Perú] E-mail: dlebbin@abcbirds.org
Kirwan, G. M., Brinkhuizen, D., Calderón, D., Davis, B., Minns, J. & Roesler, I. (2014) Neotropical Notebook: published and unpublished records. Neotrop. Birding 15: 46–62. [resume of recent records concerning multiple taxa] E-mail: gmkirwan@aol.com
Ingels, J. & Fernandez, M. (2014) Photospot: A nest of Black-bellied Cuckoo Piaya melanogaster in French Guiana. Neotrop. Birding 15: 63–65. [Piaya melanogaster] E-mail: johan.ingels@skynet.be
Smith, P., Bland, D. & Clay, R. (2014) Photospot: Waka Waka: The Giant Snipe Gallinago undulata in Paraguay. Neotrop. Birding 15: 66–69. [Gallinago undulata] E-mail: faunaparaguay@gmail.com
Bird, J. (2014) NBC Conservation Awards update. Neotrop. Birding 15: 71–75. [Glaucidium nubicola, Megascops colombianus, Coeligena orina, Henicorhina negreti, Dacnis hartlaubi, Compsospiza garleppi] E-mail: jezbird@gmail.com
Morris, P. (2014) Book review: Birdwatching in Colombia. Neotrop. Birding 15: 78–79. E-mail: pete.morris@virgin.net
Sharpe, C. J. (2014) Book review: Birds and people. Neotrop. Birding 15: 79–80. E-mail: neotropical.birding@neotropicalbirdclub.org
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