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 American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) is a natural history museum on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. Located in Theodore Roosevelt Park, across the street from Central Park, the museum complex comprises 20 interconnected buildings housing 45 permanent exhibition halls, in addition to a planetarium and a library. The museum collections contain about 32 million specimens of plants, animals, fungi, fossils, minerals, rocks, meteorites, human remains, and human cultural artifacts, as well as specialized collections for frozen tissue and genomic and astrophysical data, of which only a small fraction can be displayed at any given time. The museum occupies more than 2,500,000 sq ft (232,258 m2). AMNH has a full-time scientific staff of 225, sponsors over 120 special field expeditions each year, and averages about five million visits annually.
Rollo Howard Beck was an American ornithologist, bird collector for museums, and explorer. Beck's petrel and three taxa of reptiles are named after him, including a subspecies of Galápagos tortoise, Chelonoidis nigra becki from Volcán Wolf. A paper by Fellers examines all the known taxa named for Beck. Beck was recognized for his extraordinary ability as a field worker by Robert Cushman Murphy as being "in a class by himself," and by University of California at Berkeley professor of zoology Frank Pitelka as "the field worker" of his generation.
Robert Cushman Murphy was an American ornithologist and Lamont Curator of birds at the American Museum of Natural History. He went on numerous oceanic expeditions and was an expert on marine birds, and wrote several major books on them. He described a species of petrel which is now known as Murphy's petrel. Mount Murphy in Antarctica and Murphy Wall in South Georgia are named after him.
John Sterling Rockefeller was an American philanthropist, conservationist, and amateur ornithologist. He purchased Kent Island in the Bay of Fundy in order to establish a bird sanctuary, and later donated the island to Bowdoin College for use as a research station.
Albert Stewart Meek was an English bird collector and naturalist.
Sanford's sea eagle, also known as Sanford's fish eagle or the Solomon eagle, is a sea eagle endemic to the Solomon Islands archipelago.
The Kosrae starling, also known as Kosrae Island starling, and formerly as Kusaie Mountain starling, is an extinct bird from the family of starlings (Sturnidae). It was endemic to the montane forests on the island of Kosrae which belong to the Caroline Islands in the south-western Pacific.
Beck's tree frog is a species of frog in the subfamily Pelodryadinae. It is endemic to Papua New Guinea. Its natural habitats are tropical moist montane forests, grasslands and streams. It was first described by the British biologist and herpetologist Arthur Loveridge in 1945 and is named in honour of the American ornithologist and explorer Rollo Beck who led the Whitney South Seas Expedition in the 1920s, collecting bird and other specimens from thousands of islands in the South Pacific.
The Rennell shrikebill is a songbird species in the family Monarchidae. It is endemic to Rennell Island in the Solomon Islands. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests.
The south Melanesian cuckooshrike is an uncommon species of bird in the cuckooshrike family. It is found in New Caledonia, Bougainville Island, the Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu. The species is a large (32–37 cm) cuckoo-shrike with a long square tail and all over dark grey plumage. The eye of adults is yellow, whereas that of the juvenile is dark. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and subtropical or tropical moist montane forests.
The Guadalcanal honeyeater is a species of bird in the family Meliphagidae. It is monotypic within the genus Guadalcanaria. It is endemic to Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands, where it is found high in montane forest. It was first described in 1929 by Ernst Hartert from specimens collected by Rollo Beck and his wife in 1927.
The Temotu flying fox is a species of flying fox in the family Pteropodidae. It is endemic to the Solomon Islands. It is threatened by habitat destruction due to subsistence agricultural practices, as well as natural disasters such as tropical cyclones. Due to its imperiled status, it is identified by the Alliance for Zero Extinction as a species in danger of imminent extinction. In 2013, Bat Conservation International listed this species as one of the 35 species of its worldwide priority list of conservation.
Leonard Cutler Sanford was an American surgeon and amateur ornithologist who served as a trustee of the American Museum of Natural History for nearly thirty years and who was instrumental in building up its bird collections.
The Brewster–Sanford expedition was an ornithological collecting expedition which procured specimens, principally of South American seabirds, for the collections of the American Museum of Natural History. It was initiated by Dr. Leonard Cutler Sanford and financially supported by Frederick F. Brewster, both of New Haven, Connecticut. The expedition took place from 1912 to 1917, with its core members the experienced bird collector Rollo Beck and his wife Ida, though additional assistance was used at many places. Although most of the nearly 8,000 specimens collected were seabirds, land birds were opportunistically acquired as well. Various watercraft were used in the course of the expedition, where much of the collection work was carried out at sea.
The Pacific kingfisher is a medium-sized kingfisher belonging to the subfamily Halcyoninae, the tree kingfishers. It has a wide range throughout the South Pacific islands. It was previously considered a subspecies of the collared kingfisher.
Frank Blake Webster was an influential ornithological publisher, taxidermist and natural history dealer in the late 19th century.
Cornelius Vanderbilt Crane was an American explorer and philanthropist.
The Blossom expedition was a collecting expedition that principally procured ornithological specimens from Africa, South America, and islands in the South Atlantic Ocean for the collections of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History in Cleveland, Ohio. The expedition was initiated by Leonard Sanford, with museum trustee Elizabeth Blossom serving as its eponymous benefactor.
The Guadalcanal fantail is a species of bird in the family Rhipiduridae. It is endemic to the island of Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands. It was formerly considered as a subspecies of the brown fantail. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests. It is threatened by habitat loss.
