Ernst Walter Mayr was a German-American evolutionary biologist. He was also a renowned taxonomist, tropical explorer, ornithologist, philosopher of biology, and historian of science. His work contributed to the conceptual revolution that led to the modern evolutionary synthesis of Mendelian genetics, systematics, and Darwinian evolution, and to the development of the biological species concept.
The great blue heron is a large wading bird in the heron family Ardeidae, common near the shores of open water and in wetlands over most of North and Central America, as well as far northwestern South America, the Caribbean and the Galápagos Islands. It is occasionally found in the Azores and is a rare vagrant to Europe. An all-white population found in south Florida and the Florida Keys is known as the great white heron. Debate exists about whether these white birds are a color morph of the great blue heron, a subspecies of it, or an entirely separate species.
The common gull is a medium-sized gull that breeds in cool temperate regions of the Palearctic from Iceland and Scotland east to Kamchatka in the Russian Far East. Most common gulls migrate further south in winter, reaching the Mediterranean Sea, the southern Caspian Sea, and the seas around China and Japan; northwest European populations are at least partly resident. The closely related short-billed gull was formerly often included in this species, which was then sometimes known collectively as "mew gull".
The fox sparrow is a large New World sparrow. It is the only member of the genus Passerella, although some authors split the species into four.
The chimney swift is a bird belonging to the swift family Apodidae. A member of the genus Chaetura, it is closely related to both Vaux's swift and Chapman's swift; in the past, the three were sometimes considered to be conspecific. It has no subspecies. The chimney swift is a medium-sized, sooty gray bird with very long, slender wings and very short legs. Like all swifts, it is incapable of perching on flat surfaces, and can only perch on vertical surfaces. Many fly around all day and only come down at night when roosting.
The red-bellied woodpecker is a medium-sized woodpecker of the family Picidae. It breeds mainly in the eastern United States, ranging as far south as Florida and as far north as Canada. Though it has a vivid orange-red crown and nape it is not to be confused with the red-headed woodpecker, a separate species of woodpecker in the same genus with an entirely red head and neck that sports a solid black back and white belly. The red-bellied earns its name from the pale reddish tint on its lower underside.
Brewer's blackbird is a medium-sized New World blackbird. It is named after the ornithologist Thomas Mayo Brewer.
The golden-crowned kinglet is a very small songbird in the family Regulidae that lives throughout much of North America.
The dickcissel is a small seed-eating migratory bird in the family Cardinalidae. It breeds on the prairie grasslands of the Midwestern United States and winters in Central America, northern Colombia, and northern Venezuela. It is the only member of the genus Spiza, though some sources list another supposedly extinct species.
The black-throated gray warbler or black-throated grey warbler is a passerine bird of the New World warbler family Parulidae. It is 13 cm (5.1 in) long and has gray and white plumage with black markings. The male has the bold black throat of its name, and black stripes on its head, as well as black streaks on its flanks; the female is a paler version of the male, with a white throat and less distinct black markings on the flanks and wings. It breeds in western North America from British Columbia to New Mexico, and winters in Mexico and the southwestern United States. The habitats it prefers are coniferous and mixed forests and scrubland, especially those with pinyon pines, junipers, sagebrush, and oaks. Its nest is an open cup of plant fibers lined with feathers, built a few metres from the ground in the branches of a tree or shrub. Three to five eggs are laid, and young are fed by both parents. Common in its breeding range, it does not seem to be seriously threatened by human activities, unlike many migratory warblers.
James Franklin Clements was an American ornithologist, author and businessman. He was born in New York, United States.
The green-tailed towhee is the smallest towhee, but is still one of the larger members of the American sparrow family Passerellidae.
David Allen Sibley is an American ornithologist. He is the author and illustrator of The Sibley Guide to Birds, which rivals Roger Tory Peterson's as the most comprehensive guides for North American ornithological field identification.
David William Snow was an English ornithologist born in Windermere, Westmorland.
The Collins Bird Guide is a field guide to the birds of the Western Palearctic.
Olin Sewall Pettingill Jr. was an American naturalist, author and filmmaker, president of the Wilson Ornithological Society from 1948 to 1950, a member of the board of directors of the National Audubon Society from 1955 to 1974, and a Life Fellow of the American Ornithologists' Union.
Regulus is a genus of bird in the family Regulidae.
The Herald petrel is a species of seabird and a member of the gadfly petrels. Its range includes the south Pacific Ocean and Indian Ocean.
The Australian Bird Guide was published by CSIRO Publishing in 2017. Written by Peter Menkhorst along with Danny Rogers and Rohan Clarke and illustrations by Jeff Davies, Peter Marsack and Kim Franklin, the book took almost eight years to produce. It includes 936 birds including 160 vagrants and information on the evolution and classification of birds. Upon its release, the book was praised for its comprehensiveness, images, and text detail, however, the index and measurements were criticised. A compact version of the guide was also released in 2022.
