From: Olivier Hamerlynck <olivier.hamerlynck@wanadoo.fr>
Date: 2016-01-03 13:14
Subject: RE: [KENYABIRDSNET] mis ID in Nature paper [1 Attachment]

Hahaha,

And I once gave a presentation in Morocco with a slide from the 2003 World Parks Congress in Durban and confidently stated that Thabo Mbeki was in fact Nelson Mandela…

 

From: Dale, James [mailto:J.Dale@massey.ac.nz]
Sent: 01 January 2016 21:59
To: Birding Africa (Callan Cohen) <callanafrica@gmail.com>; Olivier <olivier.hamerlynck@wanadoo.fr>
Cc: kenyabirdsnet <kenyabirdsnet@yahoogroups.com>; tanzaniabirds <tanzaniabirds@yahoogroups.com>
Subject: RE: [KENYABIRDSNET] mis ID in Nature paper [1 Attachment]

 

Hi Olivier and Callan,

 

Many thanks for the interesting discussion about the flycatcher ID in our plumage colour paper. I am somewhat relieved that the ID was correct - I wouldn't know myself as I was just assuming the photographer's ID was correct. 

 

If you want to see a really embarrassing mis-identification look at this figure in a paper I wrote on "individual recognition" in Trends in Ecology and Evolution (Tibbetts and Dale 2007).  Note the names of the celebrities provided in the figure caption - particularly bad given the figure is about recognizing people based on their faces!  (the error came about through a change in the figure at the last minute and the figure legend was not updated)...

 

All the very best, James

 

From: Birding Africa (Callan Cohen) [callanafrica@gmail.com]
Sent: Saturday, January 02, 2016 12:27 AM
To: Olivier
Cc: kenyabirdsnet; tanzaniabirds; Dale, James
Subject: Re: [KENYABIRDSNET] mis ID in Nature paper [1 Attachment]

Hi Olivier,

 

Thanks for the paper.

 

The bird in Fig 1(c) looks good for Pale Flycatcher though, it's correct.  African Grey Flyc has a bigger eye and head, with more distinct crown streaking, and a paler grey feather colouration.

 

Callan

 

 

 

 

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Dr Callan Cohen  callan@birdingafrica.com

+27 83 256 0491      

 

Director

   

Birdwatch magazine voted Birding Africa as one of the top 5 most recommended bird tour companies in the world

 

Research Associate

Percy FitzPatrick Institute, University of Cape Town

http://www.fitzpatrick.uct.ac.za/fitz/staff/research/cohen/

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

 



 

On 01 Jan 2016, at 8:28 AM, Olivier olivier.hamerlynck@wanadoo.fr [kenyabirdsnet] wrote:



 

 

There is an interesting paper in Nature on bird colouration

 

Dale, J., Dey, C. J., Delhey, K., Kempenaers, B., & Valcu, M. (2015). The effects of life history and sexual selection on male and female plumage colouration. Nature.

downloadable from

http://www3.nd.edu/…/Dale_et_al_Nature_2015_Bird_Plumage.pdf

 

but it would seem that the ID of the the Bradornis Flycatcher in Figure 1c is erronous. The white throat and the fine streaking on the crown suggest African Grey Flycatcher Bradornis microrhynchus

 

I attach what we think is a genuine Pale Flycatcher

 

 

<Pale_Flycatcher2.jpg>