New Bird Discovered: July 2009 !!!

An odd songbird with a bald head living in a rugged region in Laos has been discovered by scientists from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and the University of Melbourne, as part of a project funded
and managed by the mining company MMG (Minerals
and Metals Group).

The thrush-sized bird is greenish-olive with a light-colored breast, a distinctive featherless, pink face with bluish skin around the eye extending to the bill and a narrow line of hair-like feathers down the centre of the crown.

Doesn't it just amaze you that wildlife is still being 'discovered'...in this day and age? I think it just goes to show us that we need to take care of our environment...we don't even know all that it holds.

Birdlife International is where I found the news and this quote: "This is exciting news and a great discovery", said Dr Lincoln Fishpool, BirdLife's Global Important Bird Areas Coordinator. "It highlights the importance of this region for birds and biodiversity." I couldn't agree more.

For more information (and a better photo), read their entire, facinating, article here.

July Birds:
Mountain Chickadee, Evening Grosbeak, Western_Wood-Pewee, White-winged Dove (yeah, she's back), Calliope Hummingbird, White-breasted Nuthatch, Rufus Hummingbird, Mourning Dove, Great Blue Heron *, Lesser Goldfinch (black- & green-backed), Bullock's Oriole, Hairy Woodpecker, Black-headed Grosbeak, Black-capped Chickadee, Black-chinned Hummingbird, Broad-tailed Hummingbird, Common Grackle, Turkey Vulture, American Robin, Red-winged Blackbird, European Starling, Northern Flicker - Red-shafted, Downy Woodpecker, Black-billed Magpie, House Sparrow, American Goldfinch, Pine Siskin, House Finch - red, yellow and orange variants, Eurasian Collared-Dove