Andrew Ward Kratter

• Collections Manager at Florida Museum of Natural History

An unprecedented irruption of thousands of Razorbills Alca torda into Florida in winter 2012-2013 was followed by a "wreck" of Razorbills and Atlantic Puffins Fratercula arctica in outer Cape Cod in January to March 2013. We describe these events using citizen-science sources (eBird and beached-bird surveys) and band recoveries, then we discuss the...

We report the results of systematic vascular plant and bird surveys in Seasonally Dry Tropical Forest (SDTF) across leeward and windward elevation gradients (31–884 masl) in the Sierra Martín García (SMG), Dominican Republic. We expected to see gradual, systematic changes in plant distributions with elevation owing to the strong effect of topoclima...

We describe a new taxon of manakin in the Machaeropterus regulus complex, from the foothills of southwestern Loreto and northern San Martín departments, Peru. This new form appears to be almost identical morphologically to the Tepui form M. regulus aureopectus but differs strongly from that and all other members of the M. regulus complex in voice....

Simultaneous hermaphrodites that exchange gametes within pairs allow us to test whether equity of resource exchange is positively associated with duration of cooperative partnerships. The chalk bass (Serranus tortugarum) provides an excellent model system for such research because they spawn daily, trading sex roles with the same mating partners in...

AimTo evaluate the roles of Quaternary (< 2.6 Ma) climatic stability and geologic barriers (i.e. the Andes Mountains) in shaping the modern community composition and patterns of endemism in Neotropical dry forest bird communities.LocationMarañón Valley and Tumbes, north-western Peru.Methods We recorded presence and abundance of species in six dry f...

We report evidence of egg-laying in northern Florida by the Shiny Cowbird (Molothrus bonariensis). Examination of the ovary and oviduct of a female trapped in Alachua County, Florida in late June 2006 revealed ovulation and recent passing of eggs. Two other Shiny Cowbird females captured in late May and early June had convoluted oviducts but showed...

Questions: Is the effect of competitor density on the level of sperm competition a strong predictor of natural male gonadal allocation in a simultaneous hermaphroditic fish (Serranus tortugarum)? Is any such relationship consistent at different spatial scales? Does any variation in male gonadal allocation involve trade-offs in male and female gonad...

We surveyed indigenous landbirds at two upland, mostly forested sites in southwestern Santo, Vanuatu. One site (Wunarohaehare, 600–1,250 m elevation) lies on the western, rain-shadowed slope of Mt. Tabwemasana. The other (Tsaraepae, 500–700 m elevation) is 16 km to the south, on the southeastern, very wet slope of Peak Santo. These are the richest...

St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands, is one of the most forested islands in the West Indies and provides an opportunity to conserve both resident birds and wintering neotropical migrants. We conducted double-observer point counts of landbirds in December 2005 and 2006 in Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) plots and National Park Service (NPS) trails in...

The following critiques express the opinions of the individual evaluators regarding the strengths, weaknesses, and value of the books they review. As such, the appraisals are subjective assessments and do not necessarily refl ect the opinions of the editors or any offi cial policy of the American Ornithologists' Union.

In 1996, an expedition of personnel from the Louisiana State University Museum of Natural Science and the Museo de Historia Natural de la Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos made a trail from the east bank of the upper Río Cushabatay, departamento Ucayali, Peru, northeast to the top of a 1,538-m peak at 7°05′S, 75°39′W. The peak supports cloud...

We provide the first comprehensive description of a bird community from a lowland rainforest site on a major island in the Solomon Islands. During two dry season visits (July 1997, June 1998) to the lower Garanga River valley on the island of Isabel, we recorded 65 resident and 6 migrant species of birds. We document relative abundances, habitat pr...

The frogmouth taxon occurring on the Solomon Islands has been known as Podargus ocellatus inexpectatus, a subspecies endemic to four islands in the Solomon Islands of a species that also inhabits New Guinea and Australia. Our morphological, osteological and molecular studies support recognition of inexpectatus at the species level, and further reve...

The following critiques express the opinions of the individual evaluators regarding the strengths, weaknesses, and value of the books they review. As such, the appraisals are subjective assessments and do not necessarily refl ect the opinions of the editors or any offi cial policy of the American Ornithologists' Union.

We report 1258 specimens of217 species of indigenous and non-indigenous birds salvaged or collected in Florida and deposited in the Florida Museum of Natural History from 1992 to 2001. Each of these specimens advances our understanding of the geographic and seasonal occurrence of birds in Florida, with added biological perspective from data on sex,...

We report two recently collected specimens of Accipiter imitator from Isabel Island, one of them the first specimen of a melanistic individual of the species. Surprisingly, we found no specimen records from Isabel of Accipiter albogularis, a very similar congener that occurs together with A. imitator on several islands. We call attention to the dif...

We provide the first comprehensive description of a bird community from a lowland rainforest site on a major island in the Solomon Islands. During two dry season visits (July 1997, June 1998) to the lower Garanga River valley on the island of Isabel, we recorded 65 resident and 6 migrant species of birds. We document relative abundances, habitat pr...

Bald Eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) are opportunistic hunters that employ a num-ber of techniques to capture a wide variety of prey (Bent 1937, Brown and Amadon 1968, Sherrod et al. 1976, McEwan and Hirth 1980). These eagles are known to occasionally pursue prey, including flying birds, in pairs or larger groups (McIlhenny 1932, Sherrod et al. 1...

In 1996, an expedition of personnel from the Louisiana State University Museum of Natural Science and the Museo de Historia Natural de la Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos made a trail from the east bank of the upper Río Cushabatay, departamento Ucayali, Peru, northeast to the top of a 1,538-m peak at 7°05′S, 75°39′W. The peak supports cloud...

During an expedition to Rennell, Solomon Islands, from 20 to 30 June 1997, we collected specimen and observational data that add to our understanding of this island's unique avifauna. We observed three species previously unrecorded on Rennell: a putative caprimulgid species, the Tree Martin (Hirundo nigricans), and the Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike (Co...

The nests of Celeus spectabilis (Rufous-headed Woodpecker) and Cercomacra manu (Manu Antbird) are described. These are the first published descriptions of the nests of these species, both of which are restricted to thickets of spiny bamboo (Guadua weberbaueri) in southwestern Amazonia. The nest of the woodpecker, a hole placed 2.8 m high in a softw...

Spot‐mapping of territories was used to document the restriction of nineteen bird species to thickets of bamboo ( Guadua weberbaueri ) in lowland forests in southeastern Peru. These species were defined as bamboo specialists. An additional seven species showed a preference for such thickets, but also used other habitats. These results correspond wi...

Analyses of several characters indicate that two bamboo specialist foliage-gleaners in the Furnariidae--Anabazenops fuscus (White-collared Foliage-gleaner) of southeastern Brazil and Automolus dorsalis (Dusky-cheeked Foliage-gleaner) of western Amazonia--are sister species. The nest site of Automolus dorsalis, above-ground in cavities, indicates th...

Habitat preferences of the Rufous-fronted Antthrush Formicarius rufifrons were studied along the Rio Tambopata in south-eastern Peru. All territories of this threatened species, endemic to lowland forests in the department of Madre de Dios, Peru, contained the near-juxtaposition of two distinct vegetation types: tall floodplain forest with shaded u...

Geographic variation in the Yellow-billed Cacique (Amblycercus holosericeus) was examined to determine whether bamboo-specialized populations in highland Costa Rica and the Andes are more phenetically similar to one another than to lowland populations not specialized on bamboo. Significant geographic variation was found for all mensural characters;...

The avifauna of a locality in the Chaco region of Bolivia was studied during expeditions in 1990. Six species were found for the first time in Bolivia: Black-hooded Parakeet (Nundayus nenduy), Rufous-legged Owl (Strix r&es), Scimitar-billed Woodcreep- er (Drymornis bridgesii), Chaco Earthcreeper (Upucerthia certhioides), Little Thornbird (Pha- cell...

Montane bird communities on isolated ranges in southern California and Baja California were analysed with respect to patterns of diversity and composition in tests of various island biogeography hypotheses. Low species/area slopes and small amount of geographic variation suggest that colonization is generally recurrent and frequent. The importance...

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