In 1741, after reaching Alaska from eastern Russia and exploring the Aleutian Islands, the naturalist Wilhelm Steller became shipwrecked along with the rest of Vitus Bering's crew. During his struggle to ward off starvation on the unmapped Commander Islands, Steller discovered what would eventually be confirmed as the world's largest cormorant. Decades later, Peter Simon Pallas recognised the bird described in Steller's journal as a new species, naming it Phalacrocorax perspicillatus (now Urile perspicillatus) in his Zoographia Rosso-Asiatica. Within 41 years of its listing in the scientific literature, Leonhard Stejneger declared the cormorant had become extinct after finding only bones on Bering Island and conferring with indigenous Unangas regarding its decline. Here, we present an inventory of all known specimens (skins and osteological) of this poorly known seabird. There are six skins in four institutions and osteological material in four. Previous references to specimens in Senckenberg Natural History Collections, Dresden, and the American Museum of Natural History, New York, are incorrect. The original source of the skins remains elusive, but they all passed through Sitka, the then-capital of Russian America. All osteological specimens are from the species' only known breeding site, Bering Island in the Commander Islands.

Although generally common in parts of eastern and southern South America, the biology of White-rumped Monjita Xolmis velatus is poorly known. We aimed to augment existing knowledge with previously unpublished data concerning its breeding biology, diet and vocal repertoire. We studied three nests and one encounter outside the nest. To complement our field data, we searched the literature and 7,895 media submitted to online citizen science platforms. We present a list of food items consumed by the species and provide the first detailed description of its vocal repertoire, identifying four different call types. All nests were cups sited low above ground (0.3–4.0 m). The breeding season in Brazil extends at least from June to January. In two nests, more than one adult fed the nestlings. At one, nestlings were fed insects of six orders (mainly Coleoptera), spiders, earthworms, one myriapod, and a lizard (Kentropyx aff. paulensis).

Temminck's major work on pigeons became famous partly because of the complementary plates by Knip, even though Knip had used subterfuge to make the published work appear to be hers. It was generally assumed that this permanently ended their partnership as the evidence for renewed cooperation between the two, present in Knip's second pigeon book, was widely overlooked. A rediscovered letter from Temminck to Knip confirms the renewed partnership, with Temminck supplying specimens of new species of pigeon to be included in Knip's work. One of these was a Ducula from Sulawesi, collected by the Dutch naturalist Forsten. Due to a spelling mistake, this species initially did not receive the name intended by Temminck. Although the error was subsequently corrected by Bonaparte, his action is invalid in the eyes of the International code for zoological nomenclature. Another article in the Code, however, dealing with a different matter, is applicable and rules that the ‘amended’ name is valid after all.

Markham's Storm Petrel Hydrobates markhami is typically found in pelagic waters off Chile, Peru and rarely Ecuador. We report an exceptional record of a grounded fledgling in La Paz, Bolivia, far from its usual habitat and range, possibly as a result of storms or other climatic factors, >300 km from the nearest breeding colonies in northern Chile. The species breeds in the Atacama Desert, with the young flying west to the sea on fledging, but young of other seabirds can become lost due to relatively poorly understood factors, such as light pollution and, more uncommonly, even human intervention. This is the first record of the species in Bolivia and one of the first records of any Procellariform in the country.

Four passerines, Gambaga Flycatcher Muscicapa gambagae, Sombre Rock Chat Oenanthe dubia, Green-winged Pytilia Pytilia melba and Yellow-rumped Seedeater Crithagra xanthopygia, are reported here as occurring or breeding in Djibouti. A male Gambaga Flycatcher is the only modern specimen record of this species from Djibouti. Specimens of Sombre Rock Chat, including one with aberrant plumage, confirm breeding in Djibouti, and the species' juvenile plumage is described for the first time. A single specimen of Green-winged Pytilia confirms morphological variation of this species in the region. Yellow-rumped Seedeaters from Dittilou, Goda Mountains (Tadjoura) confirm the species' common occurrence and breeding status in Djibouti. Further surveys are necessary for the comprehensive exploration and documentation of Djibouti's avifauna.

During an excursion to a place called the ‘Great Pine Swamp’ in May 1811, Alexander Wilson (1766–1813) collected specimens of three supposedly new species of wood warbler (Parulidae) and one thrush (Turdidae), which he later described in American ornithology vol. 5. Two decades later, John James Audubon (1785–1851) claimed that he had ‘followed [Wilson's] track' in 1829 and located the ‘Great Pine Swamp' at a logging community on the west bank of the Lehigh River, near the modern village of Rockport, Pennsylvania (PA). Most scholars have assumed that Audubon was correct, that Rockport was indeed the site of Wilson’s ‘Great Pine Swamp’. However, in June 2023, I used historic maps to retrace Wilson’s route and discovered that his ‘Great Pine Swamp’ was actually in Monroe County, PA, c.26 km (16 miles) east of Rockport, on the opposite side of the Lehigh River, in a different physio-geographic province. Here, after two centuries, I resolve the location of the ‘Great Pine Swamp’ and shed new light on Wilson’s and Audubon’s published accounts of species they reportedly encountered there.

The type locality of Indian Thick-knee Burhinus indicus is currently restricted to the surroundings of Mussoorie, Uttarakhand, India. We provide evidence for revising this to the environs of Sardhana, Uttar Pradesh, which is c.150 km south-southwest of Mussoorie.

Adolf Meyer, first author of the name of the dwarf kingfisher Ceyx sangirensis, never visited the island of Sangihe, north of Sulawesi, on which he and co-author Wiglesworth stated the two syntypes were collected (by hired hunters) in the 1870s. The form was lumped with Sulawesi Dwarf Kingfisher Ceyx fallax in 1945 and split again only in 2014, based on characters shown by two other specimens Meyer had sent to the UK. However, because (a) the species was (apparently) not seen again after Meyer's birds were collected in 1874 and (b) Meyer wrote elsewhere that the original labels of some of his Sulawesi material were lost, it was recently suggested that C. sangirensis did not originate on the island. Two further specimens have come to light (including one apparently taken in 1876, thus not by Meyer's collectors) and, although one syntype has been destroyed, the total of birds conforming to key diagnostic features and labelled from Sangihe is now six. This evidence combined with other information indicates that C. sangirensis is or was indeed endemic to Sangihe, and comparisons with 39 C. fallax confirm that it should be treated as a separate species, distinguished by its longer bill and tail, more extensive blue-spangled black crown, few or no shining pale turquoise lower dorsal feathers, more mauve or magenta wash dorsally with cobalt- or royal-blue on the uppertail-coverts, and less extensive white throat. A review of field work, including three months by one of us in remaining forest on the island in 2015, shows that the species has not definitively been seen since the 1870s and must regrettably be regarded as extinct.

The British Ornithologists' Club (BOC) was founded in 1892 by a group of British Ornithologists' Union (BOU) members who wished to meet to discuss matters ornithological more frequently than the existing BOU annual meeting. This paper overviews the process leading up to the inaugural BOC meeting, the backgrounds of the 15 founder members who attended it and how the BOC developed over its first season (October 1892–June 1893). As such, it will provide the background for more detailed information on each of the founders that is planned to appear subsequently as a series of blogs on the BOC website.

Recent research reveals that the original series, a male and female, used to describe Ianthia johnstoniae Ogilvie-Grant, 1906 (= Collared Bush Robin Tarsiger johnstoniae), held in the Natural History Museum, Tring, is mixed. The male is a Collared Bush Robin, but the female is an example of the morphologically very similar White-browed Bush Robin T. indicus formosanus. Because the syntypes represent two different species and in order to fix the identity on the universally understood taxonomic concept associated with T. johnstoniae, we select as its lectotype the unambiguously identified male specimen (NHMUK 1907.12.12.39).