sciencecenter: First new bird discovered in United States in nearly four decades But there’s a catch - it was discovered in a museum collection. The Bryan’s shearwater was discovered in Midway Atoll in 1963 and misclassified as a little shearwater. Ornithologists at the Institute for Bird Populations discovered the mistake while compiling a book, and confirmed the different through genetic testing. Scientists are confident that its living relatives are still out there, but they have yet to find them, as they’re not even sure where the birds natively live. Hear that noise? That’s the sound of a million amateur dead bird collectors flipping through their collection, trying to discover a new species.
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sciencecenter:

First new bird discovered in United States in nearly four decades

But there’s a catch - it was discovered in a museum collection. The Bryan’s shearwater was discovered in Midway Atoll in 1963 and misclassified as a little shearwater. Ornithologists at the Institute for Bird Populations discovered the mistake while compiling a book, and confirmed the different through genetic testing. Scientists are confident that its living relatives are still out there, but they have yet to find them, as they’re not even sure where the birds natively live.

Hear that noise? That’s the sound of a million amateur dead bird collectors flipping through their collection, trying to discover a new species.