Genetic relationships of birds

[Joerg Rockenberger]

Kind of interesting and easy to digest article about the genetic relationships between different bird species. Thought it might be of interest to some here. JR

http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/r...30_birds.shtml

[John Chardine]

John, many thanks. This is a very interesting article, and a great idea for posts to this forum. If anyone sees anything of interest like this, please post!

[John Chardine]

While we are on the topic of bird resources, I've been following the progress of the Internet Bird Collection for a few years and it is getting to be an excellent resource for video of the birds of the world. Have a look at:

http://ibc.hbw.com/ibc/

[Steve Wheeler]

Very interesting article... Wonder how many feathers it ruffled?

"...Second, much of bird classification and conventional wisdom on the evolutionary relationships of birds is wrong."

Steve

[Joerg Rockenberger]

Yes, I am sure that many academic battles have been fought in the past re classification. But then it's not much different in other scientific disciplines as technology and understanding improve.

John, thanks for the link. Looks pretty cool! JR

[Richard Stern]

It's been discussed in various birding internet groups, and so far the consensus is that it's the latest in a series of attempts at re-classification, that includes Sibley etc., and no doubt won't be the last. It's all fascinating stuff, but it's premature to re-write the field guides yet.

With regard to online resources for bird images, here are 2 others that people might not be aware of, and to which amateur photographers have made huge contributions --

http://www.mangoverde.com/ ,and http://www.birdforum.net/bird_index.php (this one is part of Birdforum - a fantastic resource for everything birding, including many high quality images - you have to register, but it's free).

Richard