Wing of the Week

Here's a new wing. This week we have the subtle browns and reds of the wing of the Bukidnon Woodcock (Scolopax bukidnonensis, topside of wing in the top photo and wing's bottom side in the bottom photo). This species was first described to science in 2001 by former Cincinnati Museum Center zoology curator Dr. Robert Kennedy (Kennedy et al. 2001 Forktail 17: 1-12). Woodcocks are an unusual group of forest and field dwelling shorebirds with rounded, dome-shaped heads and large eyes positioned on the top of their heads to give them a 360 degree field of vision. Recorded on the islands of Luzon and Mindanao in the Philippines, little is known about this secretive species. Dr. Kennedy first caught a single individual of this species on 22 January 1995 on Mount Kitanglad on the island of Mindanao in the Lanao-Bukidnon Highlands (hence the name given to this species of the Bukidnon Woodcock) and that specimen served as the type by which the species was described. Just another one of the important specimens in the Cincinnati Museum Center's Zoology Department documenting biodiversity on a global scale. For more on the unique avifauna of the Philippines check out Dr. Kennedy and coauthor's book 'A Guide to the Brids of the Philippines'. I'll have more on a relative of the Bukidnon Woodcock that lives in Ohio with the next installment of 'Wing of the Week'.

-END