A quick summary of the news and birding events that are happening in the region
14th and 15th October 2006
This weekend, Salvanatura will be holding its annual birdathon. A number of teams will be heading to different parts of El Salvador to try and record as many species as they can in a weekend. The record is just below 300 and the aim this year is to break the 300 barrier. It is a sponsored event to raise money for their bird monitoring project.
2006 AOU list changes
Recently, the AOU updated the official list of bird species in North America.
The new list includes a number of new scientific names, due to the reclassification
of some birds. In northern Central America this only affects species of Charadriformes
(mainly Sterna terns). The Wandering Tattler was Heteroscelus incanus
and it is now Tringa incana. The Sooty Tern was Sterna fuscata
and it is now Onychoprion fuscatus. The Bridled Tern was Sterna
anaethetus and it is now Onychoprion anaethetus. The Gull-billed
Tern was Sterna nilotica and it is now Gelochelidon nilotica.
The Caspian Tern was Sterna caspia and it is now Hydroprogne caspia.
The Royal tern was Sterna maximus and it is now Thalasseus maximus.
the Sandwich Tern was Sterna sandvicensis and it is now Thalasseus
sandvicensis. The Elegant Tern was Sterna Elegans and it is now
Thalasseus elegans.
I will not update all of my lists as a result of this, but my master list has
been updated, so when a site list is updated, the new names will appear.
The full AOU list (for the whole of North America) in pdf or excel format can
be found at http://www.aou.org
Summer 2006
Operation Wallacea will be returning to Honduras to continue their project on the birds (and other wildlife) of Cusuco National Park. They are looking for volounteers with bird monitoring experience to help them out. This is a great opportunity to do some important research in this little-known part of the world. See here for more details, or visit the Operation Wallacea website http://www.opwall.com/
8th February 2006
On February 8th, Jesse Fagan will be giving a talk with the Houston Aububon Society about birding in El Salvador. For more information visit the Houston Audubon Society Website www.houstonaudubon.org
15th and 16th October 2005
The weekend of 15th and 16th October will be the 3rd annual Bird-athon, that is being organised by SalvaNatura. A number of groups will be visiting sites around El Salvador to record as many species as possible in two days of intensive birding. Last year, we just fell short of recording 300 species, but we intend to try and break that figure this year.
The more groups we have the better and anyone is welcome to take part. It was
originally scheduled to be on the 8th and 9th October, but the country was in
a state of emergency caused by the heavy rains from Hurricane Stan and it had
to be put back a week.
This is a fundraising event that is being held by SalvaNatura to raise money
for their bird monitoring program. SalvaNatura is an important non-goverment
organisation that has done a huge amount to promote conservation and original
research in El Salvador. They are always desperately in need of funds, which
go directly into their research and conservation programs. Please help them
to raise money, by pledging help for the bird-athon. There will also be another
one organised next year, so plan to come to El Salvador and join in.
To help raise funds for SalvaNatura by pledging a donation to the 3rd annual Bird-athon, or if you want to take part, contact Oliver komar who is the organiser of the event.
Oliver Komar (Director, Programa Ciencias para la Conservación)
SalvaNATURA
Colonia Flor Blanca, 33 Ave. Sur #640
San Salvador, El Salvador
(503) 2279-1515, fax (503) 2279-0220