Ornithologists Find First New U.S. Bird in 37 Years (but it is dead)

[n2doc]

By Brandon Keim August 26, 2011


For the first time in almost four decades, a new bird species has been discovered in the United States.

But there’s a catch: the Bryan’s shearwater was identified in a museum collection. Though others have been reported, the first living bird-in-hand example awaits finding.

“I’m pretty certain it’s still out there,” said Peter Pyle, an institution at the Institute for Bird Populations.

Pyle identified the shearwater while compiling a monograph on Hawaii’s birds. The specimen had been collected in 1963 at Midway Atoll, and was identified at the time as a little shearwater, an especially small member of its long-winged seabird family.

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/08/new-shearwater-species/

[slackmaster]

1. It's just resting

[Ikonoklast]

3. 'E's pinin' for the fjords.

[Fumesucker]

2. "The Ugly Chickens" came to mind immediately..

http://www.lexal.net/scifi/scifiction/classics/classics_archive/waldrop/waldrop1.html

[semillama]

4. This family of birds are notoriously difficult to ID visually.

and this one was only identified through genetics! Good luck identifying it from a rocking boat in the ocean!

BTW: I'm a little disappointed in Wired that they illustrated the article of a bird only known from one specimen with a photo of a living, non-Bryan's shearwater (but labeled it as a Bryan's). They should know better.

Here's the actual specimen: