Avian camera trap image data from two game reserves in southwestern South Sudan produced three new country records, four other range extensions, and one filled a distributional gap between north-west Ethiopia and eastern Central African Republic. The study took place at Bangangai (31 traps, January 2015–February 2016) and Bire Kpatuos Game Reserves (52 traps, September 2015–August 2017). A total of 40 species (18 families) was recorded, including two Near Threatened species of global conservation concern: Crowned Eagle Stephanoaetus coronatus and White-naped Pigeon Columba albinucha. The occurrence of Black Goshawk Accipiter melanoleucus, Grey-throated Rail Canirallus oculeus and Nkulengu Rail Himantornis haematopus represent first records for South Sudan.

Fernando Po Mannikin Spermestes bicolor poensis (Fraser, 1843) has had a relatively stable nomenclatural history since its formal scientific description. However, references in previous publications that have long been overlooked also clearly refer to this taxon. The Radiated Grosbeak of Latham (1783) on which the scientific name Loxia lineata J. F. Gmelin, 1789, is based, and the Pico grueso blanco y negro of Azara (1802), also refer to this taxon. Loxia lineata is a senior subjective synonym of Amadina poensis Fraser, 1843, but is a nomen oblitum. Thus, prevailing usage of the current name should be maintained.

Fuegian Snipe Gallinago stricklandii is a poorly known wader found in southern Chile and south-west Argentina, but knowledge of its distribution is still incomplete. Historical records suggest a breeding range between 48°S and 56°S in the Patagonian fjords, however especially few data are available for the north of its presumed distribution. Here we report two records of Fuegian Snipe during the breeding season at 46°S and 48°S. We captured two individuals at Ventisquero Jorge Montt (48°19'S) in early December 2021 (late spring), both with a dry and shrivelled incubation patch, usually indicative of a recently completed incubation period. We also report a photo record and displays at the río Exploradores (46°19'S, 73°24'W). These findings suggest that the northern limit of the species' breeding range extends to at least 46°S.

The race centralis Neumann, 1904, of Square-tailed Saw-wing Psalidoprocne nitens is currently considered both to be poorly differentiated morphologically from the nominate subspecies and restricted to a limited area of north-eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, being replaced elsewhere in the country by nominate nitens. Such views are mistaken. Study of specimens confirms assessments of earlier publications, in Dutch and French, that centralis occurs throughout the forest zone of northern and central DR Congo—to which region it is confined—whereas the nominate is known only from the coastal far west of the country. Moreover, the plumage of centralis is glossy dark bottle green, whereas that of nominate nitens is blackish with a dull oily green gloss. This difference was the justification for the initial recognition of centralis but has been almost entirely overlooked since the publication of the original description. Combined with the commonly reported contrast in throat colour and a previously unrecorded difference between the plumages of immatures, centralis is hence more distinct morphologically than previously appreciated. Further, a recent genetic analysis, involving samples from specimens shown by this study to have been centralis, demonstrated a divergence of c.4% from nominate nitens. In combination, these findings argue for the elevation of centralis to species rank.

Bird migration patterns in the Cerrado region are still very poorly known, even in the best-studied areas of this biome. We present noteworthy records of five winter migrants in the Cerrado, including new records for the state of Goiás (Chilean Swallow Tachycineta leucopyga) and the Distrito Federal (Swallow-tailed Cotinga Phibalura flavirostris). The latter species' status, including temporal, in central Brazil is in chronic need of elucidation. Our records augment knowledge of the distribution and movements of these species outside their breeding areas, and some represent important range extensions.

A trend to treat Queensland populations of Helmeted Friarbird Philemon buceroides (Swainson, 1838) sensu lato of Indonesia, Australia and Papua New Guinea as Hornbill Friarbird P. yorki Mathews, 1912, while consistent with >100 years of scientific name usage before 1975, and not without merit, has been poorly defended. Given the region's biogeography, rigorous assessment is needed of which of several taxa described from New Guinea and often treated as subspecies of P. novaeguineae (S. Müller, 1843) might be most closely related to yorki. This will be critical in establishing nomenclatural priority. Introduction of ‘Hornbill Friarbird’ evidently overlooks ‘Helmeted Friarbird’ having been associated almost exclusively with Queensland populations for >100 years. Clarifying relationships within and among Australian populations to each other and to those in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea will be a key starting point in eliminating legitimate, lingering dissatisfaction with the broader group’s taxonomy and nomenclature.

Tristan Moorhen Gallinula nesiotis is a rail from Tristan da Cunha in the South Atlantic Ocean that probably went extinct around 1874. Here, we describe the only known egg of the species, its history, and confusion surrounding its attribution. It was probably collected by (or given to) Revd. W. F. Taylor sometime between 1851 and 1856, shipped aboard HMS Frolic in 1856, and presented as a gift to Lady Eliza Lucy Grey, wife of Cape Colony Governor Sir George Grey.

Pando, the northernmost department of Bolivia, is mostly covered in Amazonian forest but has only recently started to be surveyed avifaunally. Here, we describe findings made during six expeditions in 2018–22, including two species new for Bolivia (Bonaparte's Parakeet Pyrrhura lucianii and Acre Tody-Tyrant Hemitriccus cohnhafti), four species new for Pando (Black-capped Tinamou Crypturellus atricapillus, Least Grebe Tachybaptus dominicanus, Broad-winged Hawk Buteo platypterus, Scarlet Tanager Piranga olivacea), a subspecies new for Bolivia (White-bellied Parrot Pionopsitta leucogaster xanthurus), a subspecies new for Pando (Crested Becard Pachyramphus validus validus) and the first departmental record of a doradito (Pseudocolopteryx sp.). Additionally, we document extensions to the known distributions of several other taxa, several of which are evidently benefitting from deforestation.

Eurasian Hobby Falco subbuteo migrates between its breeding grounds in Europe, parts of North Africa and East and South Asia, and non-breeding areas in Africa and Asia. It is a vagrant to many parts of the world, including North America and Australasia. A first-calendar-year individual was photographed aboard a boat near the São Pedro e São Paulo archipelago, off north-east Brazil, in December 2022, providing the first record of this species for South America.

We detail the types and some other early specimens of the four taxa currently usually treated as subspecies of the New Guinea endemic, Pheasant Pigeon Otidiphaps nobilis. This material has been subject to a number of erroneous statements in the previous literature. In chronological order of description, O. n. nobilis Gould, 1870, was based on a single specimen of unknown provenance and collector, now at the Natural History Museum, Tring; O. n. cervicalis E. P. Ramsay, 1880, and its objective junior synonym O. n. regalis Salvin & Godman, 1880, were based on multiple syntypes taken in 1879 (several of them the same specimens), all held in Tring (despite being previously reported as such, two specimens in Sydney appear to have no name-bearing status); O. n. insularis Salvin and Godman, 1883, is known from the two syntypes, collected in 1882 and held in Tring, and just one other specimen, taken in 1896 and held in the American Museum of Natural History, New York; and O. n. aruensis Rothschild, 1928, was based on a specimen collected in June 1914, now in New York, although there is a significantly earlier specimen of this taxon in the Museum Heineanum Halberstadt.

A population of the West Indian endemic Red-legged Thrush Turdus plumbeus formerly inhabited the Swan Islands (off northern Honduras), but is apparently extinct, having first and last been seen in 1887. Named Mimocichla rubripes eremita Ridgway, 1905, it fell into the synonymy of T. p. rubripes, found across the western two-thirds of Cuba. A recent check on seven Swan Islands specimens suggests that the validity of their subspecific status might be upheld for their apparently more extensive black throat, but further study is needed. The extinction of the population cannot be explained, but economic activity in the years from the 1850s to 1900s conceivably played a part. Meanwhile, Tristan Thrush Nesocichla eremita Gould, 1855, endemic to the archipelago of Tristan da Cunha, is nowadays also reassigned to Turdus. To resolve the resultant case of secondary homonymy, a substitute name for the Swan Islands population of Turdus plumbeus is offered.

We report two new species for Bolivia: Biscutate Swift Streptoprocne biscutata and Buckley's Forest Falcon Micrastur buckleyi, which brings the total number of birds known in Bolivia to 1,449. Additionally, we documented the first individuals of the ‘caraguata’ morph of Dark-throated Seedeater Sporophila ruficollis, indicating that it spends its non-breeding season in Bolivia, alongside typical S. ruficollis.

Rusty-cheeked Scimitar Babbler Erythrogenys erythrogenys (Vigors, 1832) comprises two subspecies in the Himalaya (nominate and ferrugilata) and two more, disjunctly (with Spot-breasted Scimitar Babbler E. mcclellandi interposing), in Myanmar and Thailand (imberbis and celata). Prompted by the observation that these two populations appear to exhibit differences in eye colour, we use citizen science data (343 online photographs and >100 sound-recordings) and 66 museum specimens to evaluate potential differences in bare-part and plumage colour, morphometrics and vocalisations. We find that Thai-Burmese birds are distinguished from their Himalayan counterparts by their red vs. white irides, dark vs. pale bills, browner ear-coverts, typically grey vs. whitish lores and the absence of a white submoustachial spot. They also less frequently have white flecks on the eye-rim and are, on average, less heavily streaked on the breast. Thai-Burmese birds are further characterised by their smaller size with significantly shorter wings and tail, and divergent voice of females in duet (a mellow peew and burry prreew vs. a staccato pip!). Cumulatively these multiple differences, fully consistent in iris colour, size and female voice, and highly indicative in other features, point to a more appropriate treatment of the Thai-Burmese birds as a species, Red-eyed Scimitar Babbler Erythrogenys imberbis (Salvadori, 1889).

We present data on the breeding biology of Ceará Gnateater Conopophaga cearae obtained during field work in the Serra de Baturité region, Ceará, Brazil, between 2017 and 2023: five nests, nine eggs, one nestling, one fledgling and a broken-wing display were documented. We also searched for specimens in two Brazilian ornithological collections, which resulted in an additional nest, two eggs and five specimens with evidence of breeding condition. Finally, we review available breeding data for the Conopophagidae, revealing that breeding biology information for the family is largely confined to two of the 11 currently recognised species.