Wikipedia:WikiProject Birds/Outreach/Newsletter October 2008

The Birds WikiProject Newsletter
Issue VII (October 2008)

Welcome to the seventh issue of the Birds WikiProject newsletter. Ties to our project are growing: Avibase, one of the internet's largest generators of database-driven country checklists, now directs its users to Wikipedia's pages for more information on individual species.

Articles of note

New featured articles and lists:

  1. Willie Wagtail (August 4)
  2. List of birds of Ontario (August 8)
  3. Greater Crested Tern (August 12)
  4. Puerto Rican Amazon (August 14)
  5. White-breasted Nuthatch (August 25)
  6. Red-necked Grebe (September 2)


Welcome to our newest members


Article statistics



What is a bird of prey?
Collaboration efforts
  • Bird of prey, this month's collaboration article, is an overview of the many species of diurnal and nocturnal raptors. Please help us boost the quality and content of this important article—which is currently a mere start!
  • In a related note, be sure to vote for November's collaboration, which will be chosen on 21 October. As always, we could use a few new nominations...
Project news
  • A listing of bird-related articles destined for the next Wikipedia DVD is available here.[1] Unfortunately, a few of the identifed articles are currently stubs (Apodiformes, Columbiformes and Cuculiformes), and others have banners indicating various problems. We should try to get as many as possible updated and upgraded before the October 20 cutoff—the date by which we need to identify "safe" versions for inclusion.
  • The bot that runs the project's cleanup list has unfortunately developed some problems since its last run (in August), but there are still plenty of corrections to make on the existing list!
  • We're still on course to reach our (informal) target of 100 good / featured articles or lists by the end of the year, with only 12 more to go. Antbird is currently at FAC (where reviews would be helpful). Do you have an article nearing completion that needs some copyediting, reference searches or writing assistance? Let the project know!
Bird news
  • A new species of white-eye is described in October's issue of Ibis. The bird, dubbed Vanikoro White-eye (Zosterops gibbsi) by its describers, is endemic to the Vanikolo Islands, which are part of the Solomon Islands. The Wikipedia editor who creates a new article on this species (containing at least some basic information) will be named in next month's newsletter. An abstract of the Ibis article is available here.

Got a suggestion? A correction? Something you'd like to see included in a future issue? Drop a note at the Tip Line with your ideas!

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