A fact from Blue nuthatch appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 11 June 2014 (check views). The text of the entry was as follows:
Did you know... that the blue nuthatch(pictured) protects its corneas from falling debris when prospecting on trees by contracting the bare skin around its eyes – an adaptation apparently unique to the species?
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Old GA review, nominator abandoned article, partial fixes made
I have not reviewed a bird article before, so some preliminary comments, some of which may be wholly ignorant because I know very little about birds from a scientific sense:
Can you educate me as to why the very fun but "anyone can edit" w.xeno-canto.org/species/Sitta-azurea is a WP:RS as opposed to a wiki-type site akin to, imdb or something similar that in other contexts we don't use here? Are there previous bird FACs that passed that used this site for sound recordings, or a past explanation? Montanabw(talk)01:44, 12 July 2014 (UTC)[reply]
It's akin to an external link (which we do use here) – which don't require their own references. More importantly, it's a much more hands on kind of thing by the very nature of the activity; every tom, dick and harry is not involved; the context makes it much more selective than something like IMDb. Proof in the pudding: the database is predominantly contributed to by professional ornithologists/biologists and the like and indeed, the three recording there of the blue nuthatch are by: Marcus Braun, a Post Doc at the B Cube Center for Molecular Bioengineering] of Technische Universitaet Dresden; Frank Lambert, who has a PhD in ornithology and used to work for IUCN(!) and Mike Nelson who is a full-time guide for BirdTour Asia and has made over 10,000 bird recordings. Yes, my FA on Przevalski's nuthatch.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 23:13, 9 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]
LEAD: I see Sittidae redirects to Nuthatch. So I wonder if instead of saying, "a species of bird in the family Sittidae. It is a medium-sized nuthatch," perhaps the two sentences could be merged for the benefit of the non-scientist, something akin to "a species of bird in the family Sittidae, or nuthatch. It is a medium-sized member of that family, measuring..." Montanabw(talk)01:44, 12 July 2014 (UTC)[reply]
Is there a more technical term of art in bird-land than "upper parts" or IS that the term of art? Can you link to a parts of the bird chart somewhere or clarify if by "upper parts" you mean just the back or the back and head...? (Note: upperparts is linked to Anatomical terms of location, but is not described there) Similarly, "the belly of a very dark blue" means just the back section of the underside? The "chest" extends to the legs? Montanabw(talk)01:44, 12 July 2014 (UTC)[reply]
Second paragraph of the lead could be expanded a bit if you wanted to, clarifying food, habitat, etc. Lead overall is a little light in terms of a full summary of the article, I'd say a 25% tp 30% expansion would not be a bad notion. Montanabw(talk)02:15, 12 July 2014 (UTC)[reply]
Any possibility of wikilinking some more of the terminology in the "voice" section if articles exist? I presume the phonetic renderings of the birdcalls are in a standardized format used by bird experts? Is there any way I can verify that? Montanabw(talk)02:15, 12 July 2014 (UTC)[reply]
Not a fan of one-sentence subsections, such as "Predation" - expand or merge? (Not sure if merging with "threats" is appropriate, but that's a possibility) Montanabw(talk)02:15, 12 July 2014 (UTC)[reply]
Description is good, but "differs significantly" is not explained - what about its look differs significantly? You touch on the wing edges thing in the taxonomy section, but it is still unclear if that is the "significant" thing. Also, how can it be differentiated from the velvet nuthatch? Montanabw(talk)02:26, 12 July 2014 (UTC)[reply]
I think the info about description should come first. i.e. switch the positions of "The nuthatches constitute...a black eyestripe." and "The blue nuthatch was first...Lesson (1794–1849)"
Done
Could Sitta be between parentheses instead of dashes?
Done
"proposed a revision of the nuthatch genus, in which certain species would be split off into separate genera, based on distinct morphological traits " → "Proposed splitting Sitta in multiple genera on the basis of distinct morphological traits"
Done
Why is the order of scientific and common name reversed for the beautiful nuthatch? Also, formosa should be lowercase.
Done
No citation for the third paragraph.
Attempted
Could you replace "et. al" with "and colleagues"?
Done
The wiki link to mitochondrial DNA should include the word DNA.
Done
Could "statistical association" be replaced with a less technical term?
Done changed it into correlation
If the yellow-billed nuthatch wasn't included in the study, how was its position in the clade inferred?
Actually, I have no clue, since it might require access to the website "birdoftheworld". But done removing. Done
"plus" → "along with"
Done
The phylogenetic tree should be moved up to below the paragraph about the study.
Done
For the number of subspecies, IOC would be a better ref since that's the taxonomy we use.
This section is poorly organized, and keeps moving from point to point, making it hard to understand. The general sequence of the section should be: appearance of the nominate subspecies → sexual dimorphism → difference between subspecies
Done
The video should be moved to be beside Diet
Done
Move the subspecies images above Vocalizations
Done
Mantle should be linked.
Done
Upperparts should be one word and linked.
Done
Specify that retrices are flight feathers on the tail.
Is the "brown cast" in juveniles only on the ear coverts and crown, or does it extend over the whole body? The sentence should be reworded to make this clearer.
Attempted rewording it.
Is the informations about all the measurements necessary? It seems too specific for a Wikipedia article.
Maybe the vocalizations be reminiscent of those of other nuthatches could be moved to the end of the paragraph, since it's unlikely the reader will known what the other species' vocalizations are.
Done
Could the paragraph quoted from HBW be rephrased in running prose?
Sorry, I actually was checking that article about sourcing and etc, somehow forgot to change it. Facepalm Done
"including species of Trachypholis Zopheridae beetles, typical click beetle (of the family Elateridae), leaf beetles (in the subfamily Eumolpinae) and spiders and moth caterpillars" → " including Trachypholis beetles, click beetles, Eumolpinaeleaf beetles, spiders, and moth caterpillars."
This actually brings me to something that I'd noticed before. I speak some (iffy) French, and noticed that much of this article seemed like it was a direct translation of the French version. If this is the case, tell me, because translating between Wikipedias requires attribution that I'll add. AryKun (talk) 12:18, 18 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]
I've made a couple final edits myself and passed the article, congratulations and thank you for being so prompt with your responses my comments. AryKun (talk) 03:59, 22 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Done