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xchrom

(108,903 posts)
Mon Oct 22, 2012, 09:04 AM Oct 2012

Tibetan mountain finch rediscovered after 80 years

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-20008988


A chance encounter put this finch back on biologists' map

It has been missing for 80 years but Sillem's Mountain Finch has now been rediscovered on the Tibetan plateau by a trekker who was too ill to leave camp.

The mountain finch has been an enigma ever since its discovery in 1929, not least because it wasn't identified until 1992.

Two specimens of the sparrow-sized grey and white bird with a russet head were collected by Dutch ornithologist Jerome Alexander Sillem on an expedition to the Karakoram mountain range in 1929.
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Tibetan mountain finch rediscovered after 80 years (Original Post) xchrom Oct 2012 OP
I am amazed at people who know this stuff. lalalu Oct 2012 #1
Twitchers abound in the most unusual places. dipsydoodle Oct 2012 #2
From what I understand it takes a lot of patience. lalalu Oct 2012 #3
This guy had the patience of Job dipsydoodle Oct 2012 #4
 

lalalu

(1,663 posts)
1. I am amazed at people who know this stuff.
Mon Oct 22, 2012, 09:07 AM
Oct 2012

I would just think it was just another pretty bird. Nice find.

dipsydoodle

(42,239 posts)
2. Twitchers abound in the most unusual places.
Mon Oct 22, 2012, 09:15 AM
Oct 2012

For two of the three weeks I was in Cuba earlier this year the old boy in the next room did nothing other than go out bird watching with his camera , binoculars and telescope. He was over the moon when he got to over 50 different species of bird.

 

lalalu

(1,663 posts)
3. From what I understand it takes a lot of patience.
Mon Oct 22, 2012, 09:21 AM
Oct 2012

I would probably fall asleep and miss half the birds.

dipsydoodle

(42,239 posts)
4. This guy had the patience of Job
Mon Oct 22, 2012, 10:35 AM
Oct 2012

He even managed to find a heron's nest with eggs ready to hatch. I think I was the only person he discussed his findings with because was he didn't trust others not to disturb such things and spook the birds.

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