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Birdwatch – issue 205 (July 2009)
Table of contents
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Features
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Ahmed, R. Are you experienced? [Is it possible to effectively judge field experience?]
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McGeehan, A. Is this it? [extract from forthcoming book: Birding from the hip]
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Callahan, D. Thoroughly modern theory [Darwin's birding legacy]
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Yalden, D W & Albarella, U. Stone age birding [extract from A History of British Birds]
- Callahan, D. Back from the dead [The Cebu Flowerpecker rediscovery and Birdfair]
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Punkbirder. Don't despair of summer [Rarity hunting in the summer doldrums]
Better Birding
- Final destination - Bird mortality in summer
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Screaming for help - Conservation of the Common Swift
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Bird food – Flying ant season
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Must see – Curlew Sandpiper
- Independence day - Young birds fledging
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What's on – July events
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Optical events – July guide
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Birding courses and workshops
- July high-tide tables for Britain and Ireland
Garden Birding
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Plants – Common scents: aromatic garden flowers
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In the garden – Blue Tit
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Food of the month – Hoverflies
- Bird behaviour - How chicks beg for food
Columns
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Marven, N. Endemics and amazons: seeking out Dominican parrots
- Young, S. Balancing act: How to use 'white balance' on your digital camera
Where to watch birds
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Hopper, N. Portland
- Jobbins, D. East Tilbury
- Simpson, F. Galloway Forest Park
News and related items
News – Seabird cities set to become ghost towns; Nature 'failed by government'; Bustards start breeding in Britain; Digest
Fraser, M. ListCheck – updating the world view of birds. [Species status: Corsican Finch Carduelis corsicana; Degodi Lark Mirafra degodiensis. Relationships: Illadopsis spp. Potential split: Flightless Cormorants Phalacrocorax harrisi. National list: Colombia]
Tools of the trade
Internet: Insect identification sites; Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology website
Product review: Kowa Genesis33 Prominar 8x33 binocular
Best buys: Country Innovation Venture waistcoat; Leica Ultravid HD cashback offer; Adventurer Guardian bird feeder; RBA X3 pager; RSPB Skinny dipper beauty products
Book and DVD reviews: Birds of the Horn of Africa by Nigel Redman, Terry Stevenson and John Fanshawe (Christopher Helm); Birds of Ethiopia and Eritrea by John Ash and John Atkins (Christopher Helm); Life List by Olivia Gentile (Bloomsbury); Where to Watch Birds in Devon and Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly by David Norman and Vic Tucker (Christopher Helm)
Book Offer of the Month: The History of British Birds by D W Yalden and U Albarella - £39.99 reduced from £55
Accounts of recent rarities in Britain and Ireland
Two cracks at the Black-winged [Black-winged Pratincole: Reculver/Grove Ferry, Kent, 1-25 May 2009]
Reorientating pratincole [Oriental Pratincole: Oxon, West Sussex and Kent, 25 May-3 June 2009]
How now brown cowbirds? [Brown-headed Cowbird: Fair Isle, Shetland, 8-10 May 2009]
Best Western [Putative Western Sandpiper: Dawlish Warren, Devon, 8 April-29 May 2009]
A classic spring for Collareds [Collared Flycatchers: Bryher, Scilly, 12-13 May and Crail, Fife, 16-19 May 2009]
Which was the wheatear? [Black-eared Wheatear: St Agnes, Scilly, from 2 June]
Knot fade away [ Reported Great Knot: Breydon Water, Norfolk, 29-30 May 2009]
Monthly highlights summary: May 2009
Recent reports
Monthly round-ups from eight regions in Britain, and from
Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, May 2009, including images of Great Reed Warbler Acrocephalus arundinaceus; Eastern Subalpin Warbler Sylvia cantillans albistriata; White-winged Black Tern Chlidonias leucopterus; Icterine Warbler Hippolais icterina; Squacco Heron Ardeola ralloides; Dotterel Charadrius morinellus; Black Tern Chlidonias niger; Buff-breasted Sadnpiper Tryngites subruficollis; Red-throated Pipit Anthus cervinus; Red-spotted Bluethroat Luscinia svecica svecica; 2 different Laughing Gulls Larus atricilla; Solitary Sandpiper Tringa solitaria; Franklin's Gull Larus pipixcan; Great Spotted Woodpecker Dendrocopus major; American Wigeon Anas americana; Citrine Wagtail Motacilla citreola; Royal Tern Sterna maxima.
Highlights summary for the Western Palearctic in May
2009, including photos of Oriental Pratincole Glareola maldivarum in Kuwait; Azure Tit Parus cyanus in Belarus; Black-capped Petrel Pterodroma hasitata in the Azores; Elegant Tern Sterna elegans in France; Sabine's Gull Xema sabini in Israel; Alpine Accentor Prunella collaris in Sweden.
Reader holidays
Guatemala: 6-19 December 2009
Competitions
Win birding books from New Holland worth £500
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Galleries 
