Comments on: BioBlitz Report

By: Our Macadamia Relative « A Neotropical Savanna

Our Macadamia Relative « A Neotropical Savanna — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 19:29:47 +0000

[...] odor isn’t also part of the reason for the name. Then I remembered that when we conducted a Bioblitz on this property last April, my Panamanian friends identified one of the young trees as carne asa.I [...]

By: jae

jae — Sat, 06 Oct 2007 03:09:24 +0000

Just come home from the Beautiful Panama Canal Vacation.. and its really nice going there again

By: Ben Riseman

Ben Riseman — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 02:13:39 +0000

Hi,
I am creating a bioblitz directory and so I’m recording information like contact information and such with it.
I would like to get in contact with “Miconia” about this.
Please reply and we can work together on this.
Thank you.
-Ben Riseman

By: Gordo

Gordo — Fri, 11 May 2007 04:01:02 +0000

I’ve read quite a number of garden forums, but rarely (almost never) have I read about individuals like you taking on a project like this, even though almost anyone could, if they were so inclined. This is amazing stuff, that could offer up all kinds of information about biodiversity that, so far, may be almost unknown. I salute you!

By: miconia

miconia — Thu, 10 May 2007 02:28:37 +0000

Yes, bird names are nicely standardized in English, and it’s good advice to learn those names, but nothing else in the living world is so well standardized. In the U.S., for instance, “red snapper” is used to describe one species in Florida, another in New England, and another yet on the west coast (and that’s just what I know about – there may be more). So scientific names are the way to go, in my opinion.

By the way, have you seen the new Encyclopedia of Life site, just launched today? Very exciting:

http://www.eol.org/home.html

By: olmedo

olmedo — Wed, 09 May 2007 17:52:56 +0000

bird names in spanish are a mess.

even a comparison between the birds of panama and the costa rican book shows a significant variations between spanish names.

english, is completly diferent. thay are very well standarized.

so whenever somone ask me whether to learn bird names in spanish or english i tell them : learn them in english even if you dont understand english besides, you never know, one day you can make a “buck” out of that.

english is the “lingua franca” of today….it is the latin.

olmedo

By: miconia

miconia — Wed, 09 May 2007 17:27:14 +0000

Olmedo,

Thanks very much for your comment and for the link. Great to know about the annual bird count.

Yes, I knew the names were very local – as was true for the plants. The “common name” changes so much from place to place!

However, I do have “A Guide to the Birds of Panama,” second edition, and to my dismay there are only two indices – one for scientific names and the other for English names.

By: olmedo

olmedo — Wed, 09 May 2007 17:01:18 +0000

congrads for your bioblitz.

however, concerning your birding list, i thik you are in dire need of the Birds of Panana book.(the names you use were a bit too “folksie”).

but, anyway, congratulation for the initiative we need more peole like you.

by the way, the birding folks here in chiriqui have a an annual bird count in december in the area of volcan, you can check the results here(at the botton of the page appear the intructions on how to access the national audubon volcan database):

http://www.cielitosur.com/cbc%20volcan.html

cheers,

olmedo