I am honoured to be
taking up the job of editing Neotropical Bird Club’s magazine for
birders. Previous editors James Lowen, Nacho Areta and Guy Kirwan
have worked with our contributors to create an extremely high quality
publication that has earned its niche on the birder’s bookshelves.
I can only hope that future issues will continue to thrill and
inspire our readers to enjoy, study and conserve the rich bird life
of the Neotropics.
In recent years there
have been several important efforts to reassess the conservation
status of the region’s bird species including a re-evaluation of
the outlook for Amazonian species in the light of projected
infrastructure, the production of several national Red Data Books and
the publication of the 2012 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. It
is therefore a good time for Andy Swash and Andy Symes to turn the
spotlight on South America’s most endangered species in our main
feature.
One of the objectives
of our Club is to contribute to the conservation of the region’s
birds, and our Conservation Awards Programme is the most obvious way
that we achieve that. Over the past decade, tens of thousands of
dollars have quietly helped local researchers carry out dozens of
vital conservation projects. The funding for these important actions
comes from NBC membership, as well as donations from companies
and individuals. Council Members tell us how the Programme has helped
us do our bit for the birds we enjoy.
We
are grateful again to Alex Lees, who helps us keep our lists straight
in our regular Splits, lumps and
shuffles column.
Our
Discoveries
series continues, with Andrew Whittaker’s adrenaline-fuelled
description of his discovery of the Cryptic Forest Falcon, which he
teased out from the more widespread congeneric Lined Forest Falcon.
DuĊĦan
Brinkhuizen goes Birding
at the cutting edge, training his
optics on the elusive Rufous-crowned Antpitta in Ecuador.
Our
two Photospots
focus on cryptic rather than colourful species with camera-trap
images of the rarely-seen Red billed Ground Cuckoo and studies of
canopy roosting Lurocalis
nighthawks.
We
finish this issue with an inaugural set of Book
reviews.
Future
issues will continue to provide the range and quality of articles NBC
members have become accustomed to expect. In addition, I hope that we
can increase the number of articles we publish on bird identification
and birding techniques in our Identification
workshop and Better
Neotropical birding columns
respectively.
We are always
looking for material for future issues, particularly on these
topics.
Happy Neotropical
birding!
Christopher J. Sharpe,
Senior Editor
