r/Ornithology

Ok so this is a lot to explain. I was intensly researching the Red-knobbed Imperial Pigeon, and in trying to track down all of the previous scientific names for it, I discovered this weird thing.

So. The first image is of Red-knobbed Imperial Pigeons. These are the species I believe went undiscovered because someone misidentified them. The second photo is of Pinon's Imperial Pigeon. This is the species I believe the Red-knobbed Imperial Pigeon was misidentified for.

Pinon's Imperial Pigeon (PIP) was first described by Gaimard in 1823. At the time it was described as Columba pinon.

In 1826, our misidentifier, René Primevère Lesson, noticed some pigeons on New Ireland (3rd to 5th slide) that he identified as Columba pinon, the PIP. The translation isn't perfect but you can see what he's trying to say (the original language was French).

In the final slide, you see John Gould's Birds of New Guinea, where all the descriptions of the Red-knobbed Imperial Pigeon are listed. And there, at the very top, you see Lesson's description, with a written link to the exact page in which he was talking about the "Pinon's Pigeon" that was actually a Red-knobbed Imperial Pigeon. And in parentheses, you see "nec Quoy et Gaim", which, as far as I can tell, means something to the effect of "not Quoy and Gaimard," meaning that Lesson's pigeon was not the PIP described in 1823 by Quoy and Gaimard.

This obviously isn't the first time historical figures have made a misidentification, and it's definitely been noted by some people before since it's written plainly in Birds of New Guinea, but it's still funny and definitely not well-known.

I'll give the links to everything so you guys can verify if you wish:

The Birds of New Guinea page:

https://archive.org/details/birdsnewguineaa5goul/page/n260/mode/1up

Lesson's original account of the pigeon:

https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/119030#page/356/mode/1up

Hey all,
For the past few years we’ve had parents of newly hatched magpies come for a little feed at times (cat biscuits, off cut of meat from dinner, meely worms & some sneaky cheese from time to time). We’ve had the usual mum & dad come down take a snack and they take back to the nest, this year is different.
Some of the magpies are still coming in for a feed, we’ve now have a juvenile magpie coming a couple times a day, butcher bird occasionally, 2 kookaburras (one started because he slammed into our pool fence- not once but he’s up to his 3rd time not the sharpest tool he’s called whack fuck) his mate is a bit on the derrrr side too, a couple of dumb & dumbers…. This morning a brush turkey chick flew in, I do like to think of myself as a “Snow White” kinda guy but this is weird.
My thoughts are, as we’ve only had just over 10mm of rain since August there’s not much food about. Is this the case?

Edit:

Yeah… I do feed the birds not a lot and I don’t feed them much human food at all. Raw meat (not mince) mealy worms, some high quality cat biscuits & odd bit of cheese. We have water in a low dish for drinks etc.
My question wasn’t about food, it was about the amount and variety of bird life wanting food at the moment. We have been interacting and doing a little feeding over the years but this year it’s next level.

A big thanks to all the wildlife warriors commenting about me feeding them. Oh yeah and thanks to the dude making comments on my poorly written post - spot on, my last line made zero sense even to me, I think I fixed it.

I wasn’t asking people if I should feed them. We don’t do it much and have done a bit for few years. Always water and few snacks here and there. No need for the attacks. No need for the arrogance or the posturing.
I’m purely asking others that do the same in Brisbane if they have noticed an increase. Like I initially said the parents fly down every few days grab a bit and take it back to the nest. Normally by now they’ve gone back to normal bird lives but this year they’re still coming and a larger variety. Something is different!
That’s all…

Taken at Yellowstone national Park if that helps

I've seen this dove on my feeder several times today and I don't know what to make of this area under the feathers of their throat. The feeder is filled with safflower seeds and that's what it looks like they have there, but how would that happen? Or is it possibly bugs of some kind?

Edit: I spoke to a local rehab and they said if I can catch it to bring it to them. I'm going to see what I can do.

Thank you for all of the helpful info and suggestions!

Captured a moment at a regional park in SoCal where a house finch was attempting to drink water from the drinking fountain - interestingly there's a reservoir at this park too.

Maybe broken Jaw? Or some sort of sickness? I don’t think he has anything in his crop…

I noticed this little black capped chickadee always stands on one leg, although it can still use both to balance. Does this seem like an injury, or just a quirky behaviour? Google says it’s a way to keep warm, but I’m not sure…

Spotted in north-west Germany.

I have never seen this behaviour myself before, only heard about it. I didn't see any swooping or any other form of "attacking" from the ground, it just looked as if the crow was simply following the kite. They flew this way together for around ten minutes, and then the crow flew away.

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