User talk:MeegsC/Archive 1

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Kites

Nice job improving Whistling Kite. Sabine's Sunbird talk 09:03, 23 April 2007 (UTC)

Brown Rock Chat

Thanks for nominating Brown Rock Chat... how did you come across it? I just made it barely 3 days back! Dunno what was the DYK factoid - am going there to see! But thanks!mukerjee (talk) 07:59, 27 April 2007 (UTC)

Glad you found it... For the DYK factoid - this could also be something:

"Is a good mimic, has been recorded imitating to perfection the songs of Yellow-eyed Babbler, Tickell's Blue Flycatcher, and Smaller Grey Cuckoo-Shrike"? This may be be "interesting" - but so is as the fact that it nests in inhabited houses ... But then both mimic-ing and nesting in rafters also happen to some other species. Hope it makes it!

Why don't you change your profile (under preferences) so that the "talk" page shows up? That way people you interact with don't have to hunt for it as much... Thanks again!mukerjee (talk) 09:46, 27 April 2007 (UTC)

Moving awards, etc.

Can I move a DYK notice from my talk page to my user page? If so, how? MeegsC | Talk 12:52, 27 April 2007 (UTC) {{helpme}}

Yes, you can. The easiest way is to use your browser's cut-and-paste feature to cut the markup out of your user talk page and to paste the same markup into your userpage. Hope that helps! --ais523 13:03, 27 April 2007 (UTC)

No worries

Thanks for the compliments to birds. I already have Whistling Kite on my watchlist but I wouldn't worry too much, species articles don't tend to attract too much attention form miscreants. It's bird that I'm reverting three times a day - what a vandal-fest. Have a good time in Greece - take lots of pictures! We need pictures! Sabine's Sunbird talk 00:19, 28 April 2007 (UTC)

Brown Rock Chat

Power be to you !!! Thanks! mukerjee (talk) 13:46, 30 April 2007 (UTC)

Reindeer

Hi MeegsC. Thanks for your mention of Reindeer hunting in Greenland at DKY. Much appreciated. If you have any suggestions for article improvement, it would also be appreciated. Regards. -- Fyslee/talk 20:09, 1 May 2007 (UTC)

William Green (rifleman)

Thanks for all your recent nominations! --howcheng {chat} 03:50, 3 May 2007 (UTC)

Thank You!

		The Random Acts of Kindness Barnstar
		In light of you nominating my article on Victor Gauntlett for Did You Know..., I thought I would award you The Random Acts of Kindness Barnstar. Best Regards, - Trident13 20:26, 3 May 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for Nomination

		The Random Acts of Kindness Barnstar
		In light of you nominating my article on Joe Baksi for Did You Know..., I'd like to show my appreciation by this award. Thanks again, - Work permit 16 May 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for nominating Joe Baksi on DYK. It's my first article created from scratch, your endorsement means a lot to me.--Work permit 02:35, 15 May 2007 (UTC)

Taxoboxes

Thanks for pointing that out. I've updated Wikipedia:WikiProject Birds (genus taxobox example) Smallweed 09:36, 17 May 2007 (UTC)

Wing bones

I found a public domain image and just cleaned it up a bit. Hope this will serve your purpose. Shyamal 15:05, 17 May 2007 (UTC)

Yes, you could edit the image and add lines and numbers. It may also be converted to vector format (SVG) in due course. Shyamal 00:51, 18 May 2007 (UTC)

Alternately I could label up an image and upload it soon. Shyamal 03:23, 18 May 2007 (UTC)

Let me know if you need any modification to this one. Shyamal 15:03, 18 May 2007 (UTC)

Uploading images

It's a matter of personal preference, as far as I am concerned. It is probably better to upload them onto the Commons, be sure to follow the conventions there and at least tag the image with a category. It's easier to upload images onto Wikipedia directly, and someone will eventually load it onto the commons. Once you've uploaded someone else's image that you have permission for you'll need to email the permission you've obtained for that image to Wikipedia as spelled out in Wikipedia:Requesting copyright permission#When permission is confirmed (unless they are prepared to upload it themelsves). A bit of a trial for the people kind enough to give us permission but I guess its their to protect them.

Did you have a good time in Greece? Sabine's Sunbird talk 19:11, 17 May 2007 (UTC)

Aw gee thanks....

Now to get this #$@*$*$ article to FAC but we're just waiting for Clayoquot to get back from the library...cheers, Cas Liber | talk | contribs 09:59, 19 May 2007 (UTC)

Meidias Painter

Thank you for the nomination. It's always gratifying to know my writing is being read. The hook seems fine to me, hope it's successful. Twospoonfuls 10:05, 19 May 2007 (UTC)

DYK list

Yes, you do qualify for the list. Excellent work. Keep it up. Anonymous Dissident ^Utter 13:36, 19 May 2007 (UTC)

Page numbers in reference

I'll admit they are not an obligation, but I find it highly revealing that a majority of articles that can do include page numbers in the current FA log. I don't request something like Cameroon or Mom and Dad (version before I combined identical refs), both of which are ridiculous (each in their own way). Another option is a "first ref abbreviated" system as for Samuel Adams (which I also used for a few paper refs in Verbascum thapsus), although I've found I liked that system less, because you have to hunt the original citations in preceding footnotes. Circeus 15:54, 19 May 2007 (UTC)

I recently adjusted International Phonetic Alphabet to a similar mixed style (with abbreviated titles, and content notes), Quatermass II is another example of what Raven will probably look like, with both full and abbreviated references. For a FA with books, but no page number, see École Polytechnique massacre. For one with the (IMHO horrendous, but probably useful here because there are so many of them) "linked footnotes," see Conatus.

Book parts are more reasonable to cite without page numbers, and are accommodated by {{cite book}}, although multiple chapters from the same book might be best abbreviated as Last, First, "Chapter", in Editor, page numbers. You could optionally use the book title with page numbers in the abbreviated form to bypass author. Circeus 15:01, 22 May 2007 (UTC)

Thanks

Hey thanks

Haliaster

The move from Haliaster to Haliastur is fine. In my opinion, leaving the Haliaster redirect is a good thing, as it means that if anyone accidentally misspells it (as you did), they will be able to see the error. If you really want to get rid of the old name, go to Haliaster and replace the #REDIRECT with {{db-author}}, and an admin will delete the "Haliaster" page. John Vandenberg 22:09, 22 May 2007 (UTC)

Regarding types of Raven

Hi MeegsC, the NHM types can be checked using [1] and the other site mentioned for looking up data is GBIF. Actually the reply (Dr Prys-Jones?) says there are many types. Not that there is no type specimen of the taxon (Corvus corax corax). Even if there is no holotype for Linnaeus specimens, there is most likely a designated neotype. Shyamal 14:43, 23 May 2007 (UTC)

The DYK Medal

		The DYK Medal
		I, Smee, hereby award MeegsC, for your multiple contributions to Did you know? The community appreciates your work. Thank you. Yours, Smee 23:29, 23 May 2007 (UTC)

The 25 DYK Medal

		The 25 DYK Medal
		I, P.K.Niyogi, hereby award MeegsC with The 25 DYK Medal, in recognition of his over 25 contributions to the Did you know? section, as featured on the Main Page. Great job, you're on your way to 100! Thank you for your contributions to the project. Regards, P.K.Niyogi 06:34, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

DYK

Did you know? was updated. On 24 May, 2007, a fact from the article Dance in Cameroon, which you recently nominated, has been featured in that section on the Main Page. If you know of another interesting fact from a recently created article, then please suggest it on the Did you know? talk page.

--Smee 08:52, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

Did you know? was updated. On 24 May, 2007, a fact from the article M/S Nordlandia, which you recently nominated, has been featured in that section on the Main Page. If you know of another interesting fact from a recently created article, then please suggest it on the Did you know? talk page.

-- 2 noms at once, nice! Yours, Smee 08:55, 24 May 2007 (UTC) .

Thanks for nomination

Brilliant! No one has ever done that to me before. Of course the point is, that although the novel is 'set' at Sutton Hoo, the facts and characters, despite retaining their original names and identities, have all been horribly scrambled, which is annoying for the archaeologists! I wonder how it will get on. Thankyou anyhow. Best wishes, Dr Steven Plunkett 00:05, 25 May 2007 (UTC)

Did you know? was updated. On 27 May, 2007, a fact from the article The Dig (novel), which you recently nominated, has been featured in that section on the Main Page. If you know of another interesting fact from a recently created article, then please suggest it on the Did you know? talk page.

Haha! It was vaulted into notoriety before even the inline refs got in. Best wishes Dr Steven Plunkett 00:47, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

Flight feathers

Here are some possibly additional areas for coverage

• Is there something substantial on feather adaptations in aquatic birds ? Cormorants vs Ducks etc.
• Mot-mot tail feathers (bill manipulated shape - is that right?)
• Is the Alula not considered here ?
• A little more on aerodynamics
• Sound production - http://www.cumv.cornell.edu/pdf/Bostwick_Zyskowski_2001.pdf, http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/309/5735/736 http://jeb.biologists.org/cgi/content/full/206/20/3693

Great going! Shyamal 04:13, 25 May 2007 (UTC)

Beats me. Why does it say, articles with unsourced ... at the bottom ? Shyamal 04:20, 25 May 2007 (UTC)

Motmot tails - they drop on their own. [2] Also was looking at another belief that melanized feathers are stronger and it looks like even that may need to be re-examined http://jeb.biologists.org/cgi/content/full/207/2/285/ Shyamal 08:52, 25 May 2007 (UTC)

DYK nomination

Hi, thanks for nominating Cassiber. I'm honoured. --Bruce1ee 06:01, 25 May 2007 (UTC)

Collab

Who nominated me for what?....oh, right. Goddammit it's a tiebreaker and you went and voted for both of 'em ?! (The suspense is killing me -which will be the next bird collab..)

PS: I've beefed up American Crow a bit if you feel like working on corvids....cheers, Cas Liber | talk | contribs 13:30, 25 May 2007 (UTC)

Head of the River (Queensland)

Hi, Yeah I just noticed the lifted part. I didn't write that section though. It was originally part of the Head of the River (Australia) article that needed to be broken up..so I just moved all the existing info to the new article. Sorry..should have been more attentive. Loopla 01:13, 26 May 2007 (UTC)

DYK

Did you know? was updated. On 27 May, 2007, facts from the articles Claus Wedekind, and The Dig (novel), which you recently nominated, have been featured in that section on the Main Page. If you know of another interesting fact from a recently created article, then please suggest it on the Did you know? talk page.

--Aquarius • talk 16:04, 27 May 2007 (UTC)

Did you know? was updated. On 28 May, 2007, a fact from the article William Carrick, which you recently nominated, has been featured in that section on the Main Page. If you know of another interesting fact from a recently created article, then please suggest it on the Did you know? talk page.

--Smee 10:48, 28 May 2007 (UTC)

On May 29, 2007, Did you know? was updated with a fact from the article Flight feathers, which you created or substantially expanded. If you know of another interesting fact from a recently created article, then please suggest it on the Did you know? talk page.

Thanks for that really comprehensive article Meegs. You've earnt yourself the pictured slot. Happy editing and keep up the great work, Blnguyen (cranky admin anniversary) 06:28, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

Need sources

Hi MeegsC,

See this comment Remiges illustration. Do you know of any accurate source illustrations that can be looked up ? Shyamal 03:46, 31 May 2007 (UTC)

Heads up

[3] if you get back in time. :) pschemp | talk 20:51, 10 June 2007 (UTC)

Commas or parentheses for scientific name in opening sentence and elsewhere

(Now that was a long header wasn't it?) There's a debate here about commas versus parentheses for scientific names for organisms (well in this case birds). I'm not sure whether this has been raised elsewhere but would be good to establish once and for all here and could apply as MOS across all biology articles. cheers, Casliber (talk · contribs) 21:03, 18 June 2007 (UTC)

New wing image

Hi, I found this new wing image in a book on www.archive.org . If you like it, maybe you could replace the current image. Shyamal 06:28, 22 June 2007 (UTC)

Re: Obelisk posture

Hey, thanks! I'm glad it was interesting. It seems to be a frequently asked question -- "why do dragonflies stand on their hands like that" -- since they look so funny doing it. —Celithemis 21:03, 22 June 2007 (UTC)

Password

Thanks for the advice. Sadly it won't help since I don't as of yet have an e-mail account. Now I'm seriously thinking I should get one. Cynops2 00:10, 26 June 2007 (UTC)

Jim Naugle

Thanks for your corrections to this article. I am not a native speaker, and your copy-editing was really helpful :-)--Legionarius 03:32, 29 June 2007 (UTC)

Gambia

OK, it'll be tomorrow now - not sure if I took many bird images on that holiday, but I'll do what I can. Jimfbleak 16:55, 29 June 2007 (UTC)

I've been through the list fixing some typos/weird Avibase names that I missed before. I don't know if you want to chop the Avibase link - all the country lists use it, but none reference it. Jimfbleak 19:02, 29 June 2007 (UTC)

I wouldn't trust the Avibase list too much. It uses US names and ignores generally accepted splits, so all the European lists, except the ones I constructed, have Black Scoter, but not Common Scoter. The status is often wrong, but varies from list to list (often rare species are not tagged as such). It's best to find a second source. I checked Eurasian Griffon here, and to my surprise it's listed for Senegal, so Avibase may well have got it right. I'll see what Birds of the Gambia says later. Jimfbleak 06:08, 30 June 2007 (UTC)

Also here and here. Jimfbleak 06:12, 30 June 2007 (UTC)

At least the SABC list uses the correct names! The avibase list is obviously more accurate than I thought, other than the US name problem. It's nearly 10 years since i went to The Gambia, and I didn't take many pics. I went to SA this year, but the bird pics I took don't overlap. I assume that you have Birds of the Gambia, so I'm not much help really.... Jimfbleak 12:17, 30 June 2007 (UTC)

I've moved the page back to its original name, and repointed a couple of links that went to the lower case version.

South American Bittern

On 3 July, 2007, Did you know? was updated with a fact from the article South American Bittern, which you created or substantially expanded. If you know of another interesting fact from a recently created article, then please suggest it on the Did you know? talk page.

--howcheng {chat} 17:32, 3 July 2007 (UTC)

paper request

I have managed to find some of the papers you asked for, send me an email and I'll forward them on to you. Sabine's Sunbird talk 22:29, 3 July 2007 (UTC)

Flight feather

I'm moving in a few days, so I can't really guarantee I'll look at it before next week. If anything, that list of birds without secondaries is bloaty. Don't put images on left of headers. Rework that one-sentence section. Also consider moving the single-use references inside the footnotes; separation has advantages, but is unnecessary for material used only once. As a personal aside, I hate these linked notes (the abbreviation is enough IMO), but that's not an acceptable criterion. I have an inordinate fondness for title abbreviations over years, though that is horrible in linked notes Circeus 21:24, 9 July 2007 (UTC)

Bird unprotection

It's on my watchlist. Also, a lot can change in two months, so give it a try. I'll restore the sprotection if things get too hairy again. Borisblue 07:37, 10 July 2007 (UTC)

DYK

On 13 July, 2007, Did you know? was updated with a fact from the article Tiny Hawk, which you created or substantially expanded. If you know of another interesting fact from a recently created article, then please suggest it on the Did you know? talk page.

--Yomangani^talk 12:55, 13 July 2007 (UTC)

Golden Gate bridge

Hi Firsfron: Just wondering if you remember why you added the WP:Bird project template to the Golden Gate Bridge article (back in December 2006)... Inquiring minds want to know! :) MeegsC | Talk 13:03, 16 July 2007 (UTC)

Hi Meegs!

I actually have no idea; that was seven months ago. ;) But I assume it was a mistake, and it can be safely removed. Best wishes and happy editing, Firsfron of Ronchester 23:09, 16 July 2007 (UTC)

Citation needed

Hi. Thanks for your message. All I think we need to see is a sufficient reference to enable verification of what is said - much the same as with anything on Wikipedia really. I'm sure it's possible to find a single reference which covers this rather than having to include many. If you'd like to fix this, Denis Summers-Smith's works would be a good starting point - let me know if you need further help tracking down something suitable and I'll see what I can do. All the best. SP-KP 15:54, 20 July 2007 (UTC)

Long-billed Wren

I guess the naming standardisation doesn't apply to extinct birds. I suggest creating a stub Long-billed Wren (South America) and fixing the links that need to go to it. We can then either move Long-billed Wren to Long-billed Wren (New Zealand) and have Longbilled Wren as a redirect page or we can just have a dab notice at the top. Sabine's Sunbird talk 20:40, 21 July 2007 (UTC)

Bird lists

Thanks for nudging me. Yomangani^talk 22:46, 22 July 2007 (UTC)

Certhia

Fixed that by putting the Common one back into the Short-toed article. Yes, Common and Brown are still somewhat close, but S-t is closer to Brown and Certhia hodgsoni (formerly included in Common) is actually rather a distinct sister species of Common. These form a western clade, and looking at a map, we have an "Atlantic" group (Brown & S-t.) and a "Eurasian" group (Common & Hogson's) in that clade. Dysmorodrepanis 20:51, 23 July 2007 (UTC)

Redirects

I'm certain only articles get redirects. There is no need for redirects to, it's unneeded duplication. Sabine's Sunbird talk 23:44, 23 July 2007 (UTC)

Bird of Gambia

hallo MeegsC,

I'm returned after three weeks visit from the Gambia. Enjoy on many pictures about some birds, which have so far still no picture in the Wikipedia. wait you however to I it within the next weeks upload. (e.g.: cattle egret, squacco heron, hooded vulture, african harrier-hawk, black wood hoopoe, woodland kingfisher, blue-breasted kingfisher, red-billed hornbill, white-crowned robin-chat, yellow-crowned gonolek, red-cheeked cordon-bleu) --Atamari 16:17, 24 July 2007 (UTC) (german wikipedia)

more than 90 percent upload: de:Benutzer:Atamari/Bildergalerie/Gambia/Avifauna

are the identification correct? --Atamari 23:07, 3 August 2007 (UTC)

Moult references

Hi MeegsC, SS pointed out that the bird article - moult section needs references. Since you covered many of those aspects on flight feather, you may know many of the refs. I could look up refs for most of those statements, but it would make the number of citations a little too much but since most of these are covered in Gill or Pettingill, it may be good to cite a single suitable text. Unfortunately I don't have any of those works around, but was wondering if you might have access to them. Cheers. Shyamal 08:35, 3 August 2007 (UTC)

Bird collaboration of the month

As a member of WP:BIRD you are invited to this month's collaboration

Shyamal 02:18, 5 August 2007 (UTC)

Bird fair

Although I live in Leicestershire, I haven't made any plans to do so. I might go if there are some decent birds, but last weekend the water level was a bit high - Two adult Ospreys and juvenile in nest at Manton Bridge though. Jimfbleak 17:46, 14 August 2007 (UTC)

Peregrines

Hi. You asked me to have a look at the Peregrine page. I did, and made a few edits, but overall the page is not written from a very objective perspective. Several of the raptor pages are riddled with speculation, unsubstantiated (and unlikely theories, etc.) I haven't the time or energy to go correcting all that rot, especially given Wiki's rules. As an authoritative source, I'm not allowed to add my own knowledge, but must cite someone else (who may very well be less knowledgable than I) and I just don't have the energy to spend on what is rudamentary to me. The glaring stuff is gone, though>:)

All the best,

JT —Preceding unsigned comment added by Falc (talk • contribs) 23:09, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

DYK

Did you know? was updated. On September 17, 2007, a fact from the article Sirte basin, which you recently nominated, was featured in that section on the Main Page. If you know of another interesting fact from a recently created article, then please suggest it on the Did you know? talk page.

Hello MeegsC and good to see you again. Hope all is well. Blnguyen (bananabucket) 04:45, 17 September 2007 (UTC)

DYK

Did you know? was updated. On 18 September, 2007, a fact from the article Lois DeBerry, which you recently nominated, was featured in that section on the Main Page. If you know of another interesting fact from a recently created article, then please suggest it on the Did you know? talk page.

--Carabinieri 12:27, 18 September 2007 (UTC)

Bird nest

Hi MeegsC, feel free to make changes as fit to the bird nest article. I am also adding various bits of information with the ref citation method I find easier at the moment. So it will take some effort cleaning up and restructuring, which I think you should have the privilege of making :P . Shyamal 05:05, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

DYK

On 28 September, 2007, Did you know? was updated with a fact from the article Bird nest, which you created or substantially expanded. If you know of another interesting fact from a recently created article, then please suggest it on the Did you know? talk page.

--Elkman ^(Elkspeak) 15:54, 28 September 2007 (UTC)

barnstar

		The Original Barnstar
		I just saw your nomination for Flight feather, and then looked at all your contributions, which are excellent. Good luck with your FAC! –Outriggr § 00:21, 31 October 2007 (UTC)

Boilermaker

Hello MeegsC:

I see your note that you are a Boilermaker. I'm wondering which meaning of boilermaker the Purdue nickname comes from.

boil·er·mak·er (boi'lər-mā'kər) n.

  1. One that makes or repairs boilers.
  2. A drink of whiskey with a beer chaser.

Cheers, Wanderer57 19:26, 1 November 2007 (UTC)

Thanks. "The Purdue fans decided they rather liked the nickname, so it stuck! And I think Purdue might have won the game... :)"

I expect Purdue was more likely to keep the name after a win. ;o)

Cheers Wanderer57 20:10, 1 November 2007 (UTC)

Un águila mexicana - a Mexican eagle

These sites seem to be fairly "official looking" on the subject of the Mexican flag and coat of arms.

http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/mx_1984.html#1984-1

http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/mx).html

(The second one seems to be the same thing in English. My Spanish is not good enough to say that with confidence.)

http://www.siti.com.mx/musave.dir/index.htm

(This one has a picture and a scientific name.)

Wanderer57 23:15, 1 November 2007 (UTC)

Me again. The links below may interest you. As you say, the National Bird may not be the same as the bird on the Coat of Arms. It would be confusing, but certainly is possible. Two different genus names show up for the caracara.

You might want to post a question in Talk:Mexico. There are active Mexican editors of that article, including Supraman.

http://listserv.arizona.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind9808c&L=birdchat&P=12061

http://www.natureserve.org/library/guarani_report_appendix_6.pdf

http://listserv.arizona.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0110e&L=birdchat&P=2882

http://www.chapala.com/chapala/ojo2002/nationalbird.html

Bon chance! Wanderer57 00:37, 2 November 2007 (UTC)

Update: I asked a Mexican friend. She assures me that the eagle on the Coat of Arms is the Mexican National Bird. Wanderer57 18:40, 6 November 2007 (UTC)

The "Mexican" eagle is a Golden Eagle. They're found all over the globe. --JT 19:42, 6 November 2007 (UTC)

Re: Greetings

Hello Meegs. I am Dominican, but have been living for the past four years in Spain. Nonetheless, most of my contribs are on Dominican topics, specially so on environmentally related issues, because I worked with the Hispaniolan Ornithological Society over there.

Regarding the storm, no-one I know has been directly affected, but there has been lots of damage on a massive scale. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Cuyaya (talk • contribs) 10:51, 5 November 2007 (UTC)

Body Count (album)

Hi, I worked on the lead a little bit to fix the issues you discussed over at the FAC. Take a look. (Ibaranoff24 23:03, 5 November 2007 (UTC))

Sortable

seems to work for me - one click sorts the column, second click reverses order Jimfbleak 12:54, 6 November 2007 (UTC)

for all of them, although they're not very interesting -second column gives dones followed by blanks or blanks followed by dones you should see the column head you click on change to a down (or up) arrow, while the others give the sideways arrow indicators - can't understand why we are getting diff results from the same table. Jimfbleak 13:02, 6 November 2007 (UTC)

OK - the only thing I can think of is that it might be a browser thing - I use Firefox -but that just shows my ignorance of computing! Jimfbleak 13:09, 6 November 2007 (UTC)

Deletion of the Erdos Number categories

I've formally requested a deletion review towards overturning the deletion of the Erdos Number categories, at this deletion review log item. I don't understand your position on this subject but in consideration of canvassing guidelines it behooves me to mention it to you. Pete St.John 22:01, 7 November 2007 (UTC)

MeegsC, thank you very much for reconsidering! Yes, the problem seems to be that the two sides don't understand each other, and the debate seems circular. You are the first outsider I've noticed who accrues any value to the (maybe inconprehensible) preferences of the user group (mathematcians); and that's charitable. However this turns out, I thank you for the fleeting moment of apparent kindness :-) Pete St.John 22:21, 7 November 2007 (UTC)

Barn Swallow

Thanks for helpful peer review tips- I've been away for a couple of days, and I'm in London tomorrow, but I'll fix asap - Jimfbleak (talk) 13:52, 27 November 2007 (UTC)

I've been through most of your recommendations, not quite finished yet. Could you look, please, at the new bit in status about the World Cup? Do you believe the bit about swallows using buildings subsequent to the NAm use. Although it's referenced, you would think swallows would have nested in barns from time immemorial? Jimfbleak (talk) 17:31, 27 November 2007 (UTC)

thanks again!Jimfbleak (talk) 06:32, 28 November 2007 (UTC)

Template help

{{helpme}}Is it possible to program a template so that the text can change depending on a variable passed to the template? In other words, can I program it to say "has" if the number "1" is passed to it and "have" if a number greater than "1" is passed? I'm working on a script you can access from my sandbox. MeegsC | Talk 17:25, 28 November 2007 (UTC)

Template magic isn't quite my thing, but parser functions should do what you want. See this for a description of '#ifeq' which seems to be the one you'll want to use. --Sopoforic (talk) 17:39, 28 November 2007 (UTC)

You might want to post your inquiry at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Templates or look at the participant list and go directly to one of them. --12 Noon 17:42, 28 November 2007 (UTC)

The Carpenters - Peer Edit

Hi,

Thanks for volunteering to review The Carpenters. It means a lot to me! If possible, you can leave a message on my talk page (click on the "91093" of my username). Is there anything immediately that needs to be taken care of regarding The Carpenters? Let's keep in touch.

Thank you! --Cuyler91093_{contributions} 04:45, 29 November 2007 (UTC)

I know I have some documents that show interviews speaking about the Carpenters. I'll work on it tomorrow. There is no need to rush. --Cuyler91093_{contributions} 09:48, 1 December 2007 (UTC)

colon

Hi Meegs—the colon is fine; alternatively, you could use a dash ("Connecticut – Richard" or "Connecticut—Richard"). You might consider dropping the comma after "1946", or you might retain it. I'm not sure that you need both "two" and "both". Tony (talk) 09:59, 1 December 2007 (UTC)

List of Massachusetts Birds peer review

Thanks for the tips on cleaning up the list. I'll try to get on them as time allows.... Pmeleski 14:54, 2 December 2007 (UTC)

Formatting dates

I have restored the full-date links in The Carpenters that you recently removed. Your point in the edit summary that date links 'aren't "required to give context to the article"' is true, but you will find this admonition neither in the main WP:MOS page (as you cited) nor in the part of WP:MOS — WP:CONTEXT — that makes this general argument. This is because the primary reason for using date links is for user preference-based formatting, as discussed in WP:MOSDATE (or MOS:DATE, for better squeezing into edit summaries ☺).

The idea is that any time a date can be formatted to suit any of the styles chosen by users, it should be. The only time dates should not be formatted are basically (A) in titles and headings, which should be fixed (and shouldn't include links anyway); (B) when quoting (the original text should be used); and (C) when the MediaWiki software can't handle the formatting correctly, as in date ranges (e.g., December 4-5). I'd be happy to answer any questions you have about this policy. I hope you find this information useful. ~ Jeff Q (talk) 17:43, 2 December 2007 (UTC)

Hi Jeffq: I'm working with the main article editors to bring the article up to FA standards; they've asked me to help out with copy-editing. The automated review generated by the bot which examines peer review articles for MOS problems specifically recommended removing those links. If that isn't correct, then someone needs to bring that to the bot author's attention—we're only doing what we've been asked to do! :) MeegsC | Talk 17:51, 2 December 2007 (UTC)

Here's the review that recommends we remove them. MeegsC | Talk 19:01, 2 December 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for the info. The problem is that you're misinterpreting what the bot is recommending. The policy per MOS:DATE is that solitary days of the week (e.g., Saturday), solitary months (e.g., January), solitary years (1970), and solitary month-year combinations (January 1970) should not be linked unless they provided needed context. (Same thing with decades and centuries, I guess; I never bother to link or unlink them, so I don't recall the exact policy.) But month-date (January 3) and full-date (3 January 1970) should be linked, not for hyperlink purposes but really to properly format them per user preferences. Please read the full MOS:DATE policy to see the detailed explanation of the difference.

A quick examination of the version of the article before the bot's recommendation was posted indicates at least one linked solitary year (1972, in the "The Carpenters (1969-1983)" paragraph that starts with '"Top of the World" was the group's…'). I imagine that was enough to trigger the recommendation.

I would agree that the bot's message could be clearer, but I'd bet these bot writers just assume that anyone working on these recommendations knows all the subtle distinctions, which IMHO is a bad assumption. (I doubt there's a single human being who can say they know the state of the entire WP:MOS, which means the more comprehensive the bot is in its recommendations, the more important it is that it's precise about those recommendations.) Meanwhile, this is how we learn about these subtleties — having fellow editors post annoying messages about them. (Believe me, I know. ☺) Please forgive the nudgery. ~ Jeff Q (talk) 21:36, 2 December 2007 (UTC)

Hello, Zepp

		Hello, Meegs
		Congratulations for finding my hidden User page! ≈ The Haunted Angel Review Me! 20:52, 2 December 2007 (UTC)

2006 Chick-fil-A Bowl FAC

Wanted to let you know that 2006 Chick-fil-A Bowl is a featured article candidate again. You supported the article the last time it came up as a candidate, but unfortunately, not enough other people agreed to support it last time. I'd really appreciate it if you could take a spin by the comments page when you've got the time and leave your support if you think it's still worthy. Thanks! JKBrooks85 23:05, 2 December 2007 (UTC)

Barn Swallow

Your punctuation note came as a surprise to me, since I wrote it in British! Looks as if US editors, in the course of otherwise very constructive editing have helpfully fixed the punctuation not realising it was OK anyway. When I looked at the article after your note, it had been "corrected" again. If it occurs again, I'll add a hidden note. Thanks for your help and support. Jimfbleak (talk) 09:25, 6 December 2007 (UTC)

Elton

Hi and thanks! I am a Wikipedian for more than three years and I am the administrator, I know why we have interwiki links here. The reason why I removed that link is that hu:Elton doesn't say about the lake but about completely different topic. Cheers. - Darwinek (talk) 17:32, 6 December 2007 (UTC)

Soaring birds

That's probably a better definition of what I was trying to say. The essence to my argument was that silhouettes can be used to identify a number of birds, and also to learn about their wing morphology and likely lifestyle. However, this will be of limited value in the case of swifts, swallows, hummingbirds, etc. I was also thinking whether it could apply to bats, and I'm not sure. My naive impression is that their wing morphology is not as variable as that of birds. Anyway, just putting it here because it may be better to let the discussion run on for a little longer before I start giving my own views/summary. Samsara (talk • contribs) 15:42, 7 December 2007 (UTC)

(butting in) Thing is Samsara I've only seen silhouettes widely used in a minority of bird groups (i.e. raptors and seabirds only). Good idea. I am worried about clutter on some bio pages though. mycomorphboxes have been fun (not) to work with on fungi pages but are very useful. cheers, Casliber (talk · contribs) 15:50, 7 December 2007 (UTC)

Discussion of animal pictures, articles

I just wanted to write back and thank everyone who's participated in the discussion about what kinds of animal pictures fit the requirement of encyclopaedic value, with specific reference to head shots, notably of birds; and also about whether the inclusion of some graphic information should be compulsory at FAC (distribution maps, various depictions of the animal).

I'm sorry that the discussion became derailed by User:Fir0002. I'll adhere to WP:AGF for the time being.

I thought I would sum up what we discussed:

• Head shots can be useful for birds that have distinctive colour markings or other features on the head, but makes less sense for others (Totnesmartin)
• Head shots are necessary when species are only distinguishable by their cranial morphology (Dinoguy2)
• Head shots are not of interest outside Craniata (Dinoguy2)
• MeegsC brought up the term "soaring" as a better description of where flight silhouettes would be useful; Casliber later referred to "raptors and seabirds" (I checked my bird books (n=4), and I see silhouettes or semi-profile views of the flying bird used in a much wider range of taxa, including ducks, pigeons, herons, cranes, storks, swallows, swifts, and probably others that I didn't memorise)
• Jimfbleak expressed the opinion that there can be no rule where exceptions exist. (I disagree. Rules could allow for exceptions, which just means we only have to discuss the exceptions, not every other case as well.)
• Jimfbleak said it may be better to use sparrows or pigeons for the size comparison. (I disagree: Not everywhere that has internet has sparrows and pigeons, and house sparrows at least are different sizes in different places)
• Jimfbleak expressed desire for restricting FPC to animals in the wild, and allow captive shots only for domesticated species.
• Casliber supported mandatory distribution maps
• Casliber opposed size comparisons for plants (I'm guessing this was pre-emptive, as nobody had proposed size comparisons for plants)
• I then suggested that a mechanism could be created for WikiProjects to set up their own definitions for excellent articles, and these could be showcased aside from the traditional Featured Articles and TFA; this proposal was mostly ignored by subsequent comments
• Firsfron expressed concern that there wouldn't be enough illustrators to create the required illustrations and raised further exceptions (which I regard as irrelevant because the proposal already allows for special cases to be considered differently)
• Firsfron suggested that if anything other than a distribution map was made mandatory, an illustration of a skull might be the best thing
• Sabine's Sunbird seemed to oppose distribution maps being mandatory on the basis that they took effort to make (I'm unsure that this is correct, and was left wondering what the HBW size comparisons were)
• Calibas was against "rules" (I don't see how we can carry on without some of the policies and guidelines we have)

In conclusion, most concerns were to do with allowing for exceptions, which is already the case in all guidelines I'm aware of, including the proposals discussed here.

To return to the original proposal, nobody has been able to make a strong general case for head shots in birds or any other larger taxon, a finding I interpret as meaning my personal guideline is sound. I hope others may find parts of it useful and adopt them. If you have any further comments on the FPC, FAC, or WikiProject content creation proposals, please leave them on my talk page. Thank you. Samsara (talk • contribs) 13:59, 11 December 2007 (UTC)

DYK

On 11 December, 2007, Did you know? was updated with a fact from the article Fernandina's Flicker, which you created or substantially expanded. If you know of another interesting fact from a recently created article, then please suggest it on the Did you know? talk page.

--Carabinieri (talk) 15:08, 11 December 2007 (UTC)

List of Massachusetts birds

I fixed the section headers and the table of contents this morning (making only the first letter capitalized except in the case of proper nouns). I'm not sure what you are looking for with the references. If you want references added throughout the article, I can't help with that. I know almost nothing about birds, and I just picked this article at random to help with. If you just wanted the References section changed into the standard format, I've done that (if that was not what you wanted, please feel free to revert that edit). GaryColemanFan (talk) 16:19, 14 December 2007 (UTC)

Bird header

Hi MeegsC, I am unable to figure the problem you are facing with the template. I turned on the section editing and it seems to look fine. See User:Shyamal/sandbox and User:Shyamal/Template:Birdhead. Shyamal (talk) 12:49, 15 December 2007 (UTC)

Bird capitilization

Thanks. I believe your cite. However, it seems a bit like the esoteric enforcing something not generally used in a general purpose encyclopedia. Anyway, I think we should discuss this Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Birds <---there. The convention used by a birding book may not necessarily be useful at Wikipedia. TableManners (talk) 17:45, 16 December 2007 (UTC)

Follow Up on The Carpenters

Hi Meegs,

First off, I'd like to thank you very much. I truly believe that The Carpenters has improved so much, all thanks to you. Second off, I'd like to hear some of your opinions. Do you think it's deserving of an A (as opposed to the B that it has now)? Thank you so much! --Cuyler91093_{contributions} 05:22, 17 December 2007 (UTC)

Judge John Deed

Hi, thanks for all of your suggestions at the peer review. I'll comb through them all at the end of the week. Brad (talk) 14:17, 18 December 2007 (UTC)

Flight feather/Evolution: Thanks for your response.

"accusing other editors of "reprehensible" decisions and then signing your post "respectfully" is probably not the best way to encourage people to take your comments as ... constructive criticism"
-- Yeah, I thought long and hard about that. I believe that sometimes respect for a subject -- and for a colleague writing about it -- can require saying "I think that you're making an important error there." IMHO this is especially true in matters scientific and in writing an encyclopedia for the public.
I think that it can be done respectfully, and I tried to do so. Maybe I could have phrased things more skillfully.
Please allow me to re-iterate that my respect is sincere. -- Writtenonsand (talk) 02:12, 26 December 2007 (UTC)
(As I come to think of it, your response to my post is frankly of the same pattern: You wish to point out an error that you believe I've made, but to do so respectfully. It's always tough for us to strike the right tone in these things. We do our best. Have a good one. :-) ) -- Writtenonsand (talk) 02:13, 26 December 2007 (UTC)

The Carpenters Again

Do you think I should add more citations to the Carpenters? Do you have any more suggestions for me? I'd be happy to help. --Cuyler91093 - Contributions - 20:51, 27 December 2007 (UTC)

Re: Congrats

Thanks, MeegsC! Appreciate it. JKBrooks85 (talk) 01:10, 31 December 2007 (UTC)

Wilson's Snipe and Common Snipe

Thanks for the feedback and the technical correction.[4] I changed it to Wilson's Snipe, but we in the U.S. still call it "Common Snipe" in the context of hunting as far as I know. Is this okay?[5] Thanks. TableManners ^U·T·C 03:08, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

HBW

Hi - thanks for your offer of help with looking something up. If you take a look at Birds of South Asia, you'll see that in the footnotes, I've got two references to HBW vol 10, one (#14) is detailed and the other (#18) sketchy. Basically, I'm just after the info I need to bring the sketchy one up to the same level of detail of the detailed one, if that makes sense. Thanks. SP-KP (talk) 00:31, 29 January 2008 (UTC)

Meegs - many thanks, Steve. SP-KP (talk) 19:29, 30 January 2008 (UTC)

Feather illustrations

Hi MeegsC, I added a few images recently that may be of use with cleanup/modification. Image:ThrushTail.jpg, Image:MeasureBeakThrush.jpg, Image:MeasureWingThrush.jpg , Image:UpperWingThrush.jpg,‎ Image:BarbetRictalBristle.jpg, Image:ThrushUpperWing.jpg‎, Image:ThrushWing.jpg. Shyamal (talk) 04:40, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

WP:ERRORS

The page you posted this comment on is reserved for errors on the main page itself, rather than the featured article page, which you are able to fix without the help of an admin. As for the penises- common or garden vandalism. I will look into it, but we generally don't protect today's featured article. J Milburn (talk) 23:43, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

The problem has been fixed, just a vandal taking advantage of a transcluded template. Template was reverted and protected, image deleted and vandal blocked. J Milburn (talk) 23:53, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

Speedy deletion of Template:User:MeegsC/grebe-header

A tag has been placed on Template:User:MeegsC/grebe-header requesting that it be speedily deleted from Wikipedia. This has been done under section T3 of the criteria for speedy deletion, because it is a deprecated or orphaned template. After seven days, if it is still unused and the speedy deletion tag has not been removed, the template will be deleted.

If the template is intended to be substituted, please feel free to remove the speedy deletion tag and please consider putting a note on the template's page indicating that it is substituted so as to avoid any future mistakes (<noinclude>{{transclusionless}}</noinclude>).

Thanks. --MZMcBride (talk) 22:14, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

Welcome to Novels WikiProject

Hi, and welcome to the Novels WikiProject! As you may have guessed, we're a group of editors working to improve Wikipedia's coverage of topics related to fiction books often referred to as "Novels".

A few features that you might find helpful:

• Our navigation box points to most of the useful pages within the project.
• The announcement and open task box is updated quite regularly. You can watch it if you're interested; or, you can add it directly to your user page by including {{WikiProject_Novels_announcements}} there.
  While you are updating your userpage, don't forget our userbox {{Wikipedia:WikiProject Novels/Outreach/User WPNOVELS}}.
• The project has a monthly newsletter; it will normally be delivered as a link, but other methods are available.

There are a variety of interesting things to do within the project; you're free to participate however much—or little—you like:

• Starting some new articles? Our article structure guidelines / template outlines some things to include.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask one of the members, and we'll be happy to help you. Again, welcome! We look forward to seeing you around! :: Kevinalewis : ^{(Talk Page)}/_(Desk) 17:24, 22 February 2008 (UTC)

Bird Article

Clearly You like Birds. As do I, but to not let people write about birds' compairison to and add the classification that make them dinosaurs and still retain bird classification to open people to the knowlege of birds are dinosaurs. Unfortunatlly some people just skim the articles an have no clue bird are dinosaurs or think, well, birds are related to dinosaurs, but are not dinosaurs, like crocodiles , and so this should be addressed at the top of the article. If you really like birds, please don't disrepect their past and geneology conected to non-avian dinosaurs and help fend off the editors that don't agree. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Westvoja (talk • contribs) 01:07, 23 February 2008 (UTC)

sorry, thanks for reminding me

oops, forgot to update next collaboration choosing date. Now done. Casliber (talk · contribs) 01:47, 23 February 2008 (UTC)

YES! AMILLIONS TIMES YES!!!!!!

You have just made my day. i would be happy tobe a co taskforce co leader with you, but i will be away from the comp till sunday, so talk to you then. -Tobi4242 (talk) 02:37, 23 February 2008 (UTC)

Bird Article

Thanks for the message. After contacting you the first time, I found the dissucion page to the Bird article and wrote down my reasons to edit it. Next time I will summarize my edit, but soreses to my edit are already listed under the Dinosaur, Feathered Dinosaurs, Dromeosaur, and Trodiont(spelling error). And several paleontologist web sites that are linked to these articles already metioned the kinship of bird and non-avian dinosaurs. And hopefully some day, Bird and Dinosaur articles will become one. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Westvoja (talk • contribs) 16:43, 23 February 2008 (UTC)

Featured topic

That would be great. All the articles are complete except for Cathartidae. Any help on that would be fantastic, particularly from editors who have experience working on family articles. Thanks again! heyjude. 14:30, 24 February 2008 (UTC)

task force

Just to let you know, I am still in middle school, so i amfar younger than most editors, and probably not expierenced enough to head it mostly myself, so i would ask jimbleak or whatever(no offense to him)to also head it. sorry if my age is a shock or conflict, and also, i have a full plate myself, but i could still help. thanks. -Tobi4242 (talk) 19:35, 24 February 2008 (UTC)

Glad to here it, and the newsletter looks great.-Tobi4242 (talk) 21:08, 25 February 2008 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Featured list candidates/List of Interstates in Texas

I believe I have taken care of all the issues you had. When you get a chance, can you take a look to see if you have any additional comments? Many thanks. --Holderca1 ^talk 14:49, 28 February 2008 (UTC)

RFA

MeegsC, I am continually impressed with your contributions across en.wp, especially in the namespace. Would you wish to go to RFA, if I did a nomination? Regards, Rudget. 19:02, 28 February 2008 (UTC)

That's fine. Get in touch whenever you feel. Reagrds, Rudget. 15:57, 29 February 2008 (UTC)

WikiProjet Birds March 2008 Newsletter (full contents)

The Birds WikiProject Newsletter Issue I (March 2008)
Welcome to the first issue of the Birds WikiProject newsletter. We hope to produce it monthly, to keep project members up-to-date regarding current efforts and issues. This month only, the full newsletter is being delivered to your mailbox. In future months, a link will be posted instead, though you can choose to continue receiving the full newsletter—or to receive nothing at all—here.	Articles of note New featured articles and lists – 2008: Blackbird Andean Condor Chiffchaff Northern Pintail House Martin New good articles – 2008: American Robin Chough Osprey (a former collaboration) Rock Pigeon Song Thrush Storm-petrel White-eyed River Martin Special kudos to jimfbleak (talk · contribs), who was lead editor on an impressive eight of these articles—with, of course, capable assistance from others in copy-editing and article review!
Project news The current project collaboration is Moa. Help us to improve the article about this intriguing group of birds—now-extinct species which were once the dominant herbivores in New Zealand's forests. On a related note, be sure to vote for April's collaboration, which will be chosen on 21 March. Nominations are listed on the collaboration page; feel free to add a new article to the list if there's one you'd especially like to see worked on. Work on our first potential featured topic—New World vultures—is progressing nicely, with only two articles left to go: New World Vulture and Cathartidae. Lead editors Hey jude, don't let me down (talk · contribs) and Rufous-crowned Sparrow (talk · contribs) are particularly looking for help on the family (Cathartidae) article. We now have more than 2,400 articles awaiting assessment. If each project member assessed just a couple of articles a day (most will be stub or start class), we could quickly drive that number down. To find articles needing assessment, have a look at the Statistics table here and click on Unassessed for a listing.
New task force co-leader wanted Tobi4242 (talk · contribs) has volunteered to help start up a Raptors task force, to fall under the umbrella of the Birds WikiProject, but is looking for another editor willing to serve as co-coordinator. Anyone who'd like to help is encouraged to get in touch.
Got a suggestion? A correction? Something you'd like to see included in a future issue? Please contact MeegsC (talk · contribs) with your ideas!
To stop receiving this newsletter, or to receive it in a different format, please list yourself in the appropriate section here.

This has been an automated delivery by BrownBot (talk) 18:39, 1 March 2008 (UTC)

Congratulations on the project's first newsletter! I just wanted to let you know that there is a list of all WP newsletters and I added yours. If possible, be sure to update this page every month when you have a new newsletter. Additionally, you can use this page to find ideas for expanding/improving your newsletter based on other projects' newsletters. Good job and happy editing! --Nehrams2020 (talk) 01:10, 2 March 2008 (UTC)

Hello. I just got back from a long trip to Boston, so sorry for being brief, but there is only one article left for the Feature Topic, as New World Vulture and Cathartidae are the same. Thanks for advertising though- it would be nice to have help, particularly as the time I can spend here becomes more limited. Rufous-crowned Sparrow (talk) 04:51, 2 March 2008 (UTC)

The Novels WikiProject Newsletter - Issue XXII - March 2008

The March 2008 issue of the Novels WikiProject newsletter has been published. You may read the newsletter, change the format in which future issues will be delivered to you, or unsubscribe from this notification by following the link. Thank you. This is an automated delivery by KevinalewisBot --17:15, 7 March 2008 (UTC)

WikiProject Novels - 1st Coordinators Election

An election has been proposed and has been set up for this project. Description of the roles etc., can be found at Wikipedia:WikiProject Novels/Coordinators. If you wish to stand, enter your candidacy before the end of March and ask your questions of anyone already standing at Wikipedia:WikiProject Novels/Coordinators/May 2008. Voting will start on the 1st April and close at the end of April. The intention is for the appointments to last from May - November 2008. For other details check out the pages or ask. KevinalewisBot (talk) 13:23, 12 March 2008 (UTC)

Peer review thanks

		The Original Barnstar
		Thank you for peer reviewing Le chemin de fer. Peer review work is rarely appreciated as much as it should be. Although this star is an insufficient expression of my thanks, it will have to do. Also, I've looked at your contribs and you seem like an accomplished editor with quality edits. Please continue doing what you do; your work is appreciated! ALTON .ıl 04:51, 22 March 2008 (UTC)

Thank you for your comments on this peer review for Le chemin de fer. The are appreciated, and investing your time in someone else's article is very admirable work. ALTON .ıl 04:40, 22 March 2008 (UTC)

Re:Vandals

Thankyou for bringing this to my attention. I have blocked the troublesome IP for 1 week. Lradrama 13:35, 26 March 2008 (UTC)

WikiProject Birds April 2008 Newsletter

The Birds WikiProject Newsletter Issue II (April 2008)
Welcome to the second issue of the Birds WikiProject newsletter. Good news for our FA-class article Bird: It's now the top Google hit for both "Bird" and "Birds"!	Articles of note New featured articles and lists: Song Thrush (March 20) New good articles: Emperor Penguin (March 20) Hooded Crow (March 17) Featured topic update Work on our first potential featured topic is nearing completion, with only New World vulture (B-class) and Cathartes (stub-class) left to go. Any help you can give in bringing either article up to GA/FA status would be appreciated.
Project news The current project collaboration is Cattle Egret. Help us to improve the article about this widespread species, which is found throughout most of the world—often lurking near the feet of foraging livestock. On a related note, be sure to vote for May's collaboration, which will be chosen on 21 April. Nominations are listed on the collaboration page; feel free to add a new article to the list if there's one you'd especially like to see worked on. A drive is on to bring all of our bird family articles up to at least start class. Currently, 44 families have only stub-class articles. See the list of families needing improvement to help with the project. Our list of articles awaiting assessment has dropped in the past month, and now numbers less than 1,900. If each project member assessed just a couple of articles a day (most will be stub or start class), we could continue to drive that number down. To find articles needing assessment, have a look at the Statistics table here and click on Unassessed for a listing. Special thanks to Dixonsej (talk · contribs), who has been assessing up a storm!
Aviculturalists wanted... Snowmanradio (talk · contribs) is hoping to help start up an Aviculture task force. Anyone who'd like to help improve our coverage of aviculture-related topics is encouraged to get in touch.
Got a suggestion? A correction? Something you'd like to see included in a future issue? Please contact MeegsC (talk · contribs) with your ideas!
To stop receiving this newsletter, or to receive it in a different format, please list yourself in the appropriate section here.

This has been an automated delivery by BrownBot (talk) 00:48, 2 April 2008 (UTC)

FYI

In case you have not noticed - Wikipedia:Requests_for_adminship/Sabine's_Sunbird ! Shyamal (talk) 07:56, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

The Novels WikiProject Newsletter - Issue XXIII - April 2008

The April 2008 issue of the Novels WikiProject newsletter has been published. You may read the newsletter, change the format in which future issues will be delivered to you, or unsubscribe from this notification by following the link. Thank you. John Carter (talk) 22:40, 10 April 2008 (UTC)

Thanks and Birds

Thanks for the welcome. I like birds too. And the outdoors. A loon is visiting a lake near where I live; I saw it fly in, and then it made its beautiful loon call! I'll check out the bird project. See ya around! Rocky Mountain Goat (talk) 23:45, 12 April 2008 (UTC)

Outreach ideas.

I've been toying in my head for a while with the best way to recruit new members, and reach out to a wider birder community. The fact is that we are now one of the largest bird websites out there - I mean the biggest actual site, but also as a repository of information and media. I think we could get more high quality editors (and image contributors) out there if we could generate some interest from the other big websites (like fatbirder) or the birding magazines. I'm reluctant to go spamming websites (as a moderator on a messageboard I know how well that goes down), but I'm wondering if we couldn't approach one of the birding magazines to try and pitch a story. The media loves Wikipedia stories, and the truly international nature of the Project (with Kiwis, Aussies, Indians, Americans and Brits for starters) could be quite cool. What do you think? Perhaps we could see if anyone on the project knows anyone who we could pitch it to. Sabine's Sunbird talk 22:15, 13 April 2008 (UTC)

Nice idea. I have a piece of published rhetoric here on why such information should be made more publicly accessible. Let me know if I can help. Shyamal (talk) 01:34, 14 April 2008 (UTC)

Copyright on bird lists

Hi MeegsC, great work on the copyright issues checks. I think a small FAQ section on whether lists of birds constitute copyright violation should be on the WP:BIRD page just to pre-empt future troubles. You could post the mail, with the emails masked but the message ID headers included. Message IDs are the long alphabets+numbers in email headers Message-ID: <89CC7F16AF99834EBDA28D3E76BE21A3CC49F5@UMEXCH1.domain.name> that are not normally visible but are tracked on the servers and constitute legal evidence. Shyamal (talk) 01:57, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

Thanks

For your reply to my question on Talk:Common Raven. That was exactly the sort of information I had been looking for. -- arkuat (talk) 08:17, 19 April 2008 (UTC)

Also thanks

...for your work peer reviewing Philadelphia Phillies seasons. I hope I've addressed your concerns; please feel free to leave more comments. KV5 (talk) 14:03, 25 April 2008 (UTC)

My edit of you private page

I took the liberty of editing your private page, MeegsC/Sandbox3, because the syntax for the template {{shortcut}} is in the process of being updated. Your implementation, which worked previously, broke the new syntax. You can find more information at CAT:SHORTFIX. Best wishes. --DRoll (talk) 23:09, 25 April 2008 (UTC)

WikiProjet Birds May 2008 Newsletter

Archives  |  Tip Line File:Cape Petrel (Pintado) at Antarctic Convergence Zone.jpg The Birds WikiProject Newsletter Issue III (May 2008)
Welcome to the third issue of the Birds WikiProject newsletter. Good news: we've finally eliminated our massive backlog of unassessed articles! Never fear though; we have plenty of new group tasks to keep us busy. See details below...	Articles of note New featured articles and lists: Emperor Penguin (April 5) Red-billed Chough (April 10) New good articles: Cattle Egret (April 18) Featured list review candidate List of birds in Canada and the United States Needs to be sourced (see the list of citations requested here) to avoid being de-listed. Welcome to our newest members jmgarg1 (talk · contribs) Lighthead (talk · contribs) OnorioCatenacci (talk · contribs) Rocky Mountain Goat (talk · contribs) Welcome banner We've got a new greeting, which can be put on the talk page of new members to welcome them to the project. To use it, simply paste {{subst:Wikipedia:WikiProject Birds/Outreach/Welcome|~~~~}} into the talk page.
Project news Last month's collaboration (Cattle Egret) was promoted to GA status before the month even ended! Help us do the same with Cockatiel, which is our current project collaboration. This is a good chance to help our Aviculture task force get their first project off the ground. On a related note, be sure to vote for June's collaboration, which will be chosen on 21 May. Nominations are listed on the collaboration page; feel free to add a new article to the list if there's one you'd especially like to see worked on. Thanks to tag team efforts by Maias (talk · contribs), Dixonsej (talk · contribs) and MeegsC (talk · contribs), all previously unassessed bird articles have now been assessed. Excellent work—thanks to all who helped with this massive task! A change in Wikipedia's taxobox setup has meant the removal of the IUCN status scale image from all articles. These will need to be re-added to all appropriate articles (that is, all articles for which the IUCN has a listing) by hand—unfortunately, the use of a bot to do this is apparently out of the question! To re-display the scale, add "| status_system = iucn3.1" to the taxobox parameters in the article.
Bird family article drive A drive is on to bring all of our bird family articles up to at least start class. Currently, more than 40 families have only stub-class articles. See the list of families needing improvement here to help with the project.
Bird list template creation As a first step in creating templates for the bird family headers used in various country/state/province birds lists, there's a page here to set up and edit the information we'll put in the templates. Please help to improve our lists by writing a short summary of a bird family or two. We have nearly 270 to do!
Got a suggestion? A correction? Something you'd like to see included in a future issue? Drop a note at the Tip Line with your ideas!
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This has been an automated delivery by BrownBot (talk) 00:24, 1 May 2008 (UTC)

The Novels WikiProject Newsletter - Issue XXIV - May 2008

The May 2008 issue of the Novels WikiProject newsletter has been published. You may read the newsletter, change the format in which future issues will be delivered to you, or unsubscribe from this notification by following the link. Thank you. SteveCrossinBot (talk) 08:10, 10 May 2008 (UTC)

Domesticated Pigeons Task Force

Hi MeegsC, Thanks again for the encouragement. I would like to take you up on your kind offer. Can you help me to find a way to get a better shortcut to the DP Task Force page? Right now this is the shortcut--WP:WikiProject Birds/Task forces/Domesticated pigeons. Not much of a shortcut at all. :-) I was hoping perhaps you could suggest a way to shorten that?--Onorio (talk) 23:32, 15 May 2008 (UTC)

How about WP:PIGEONS? Just create it and make it a redirect to the taskforce page. Sorry for butting in. I'll leave quietly.--Sting au Buzz Me... 23:48, 15 May 2008 (UTC)

You're not butting in and I deeply appreciate your assistance. Thanks for your help. --Onorio (talk) 13:08, 16 May 2008 (UTC)

 Done found some time :-) Sting au Buzz Me... 05:31, 16 May 2008 (UTC)

Glad you've got that sorted! It looks like you're off to a good start—and that you've got a few folks really committed to your task force, which is certainly helpful... MeegsC | Talk 09:51, 16 May 2008 (UTC)

Peregrine Falcon

Hello, thank you. You are of course correct, I meant to add that it is reverse sexual dimorphism and got confused by the previous anonymous users edits which swapped these round and then swapped them back again. I have put the reverse back in since this is accurate. Thanks, Jdrewitt (talk) 19:37, 20 May 2008 (UTC)

Champion Jockey

As a racing expert - I am aware the Champion NH jockey is not decided for over 11 months yet. I just thought it was a good idea that we have a running update on the 2008/9 title - as this is set to be the closest one in over 12 years (with 3 names already cutting to the chase). I will therefore recreate this edit with more emphasis on the fact that it is a contest in progresss. If you disagree with this don't hesitate to contact me on the talk page so we can sort out a compromise. Best; Seivad (talk) 23:06, 21 May 2008 (UTC)

Thanks for congrats

Thank you for your note. How kind. – Scartol • Tok 10:58, 27 May 2008 (UTC)

WikiProject Birds June 2008 Newsletter

Archives  |  Tip Line The Birds WikiProject Newsletter Issue IV (June 2008)
Welcome to the fourth issue of the Birds WikiProject newsletter. It's been a good month for article improvement, with six new GA articles, and one new FA article. And we managed to save the featured status of List of birds in Canada and the United States, which had been threatened with delisting. There's still plenty to do on all fronts, of course...	Articles of note New featured articles and lists: Cattle Egret (May 8) New good articles: Pamela C. Rasmussen (May 8) White-winged Fairy-wren (May 17) European Robin (May 19) Common Treecreeper (May 24) Puerto Rican Amazon (May 26) Flammulated Flycatcher (May 30) Welcome to our newest members Kirkmona (talk · contribs) Pamela Gardiner (talk · contribs) PrehistoricManiac08 (talk · contribs) Sting au (talk · contribs) Bird article statistics Bird articles by quality and importance Quality Importance Top High Mid Low NA ??? Total FA 2 19 61 155 237 FL 1 6 24 31 FM 634 634 GA 6 11 34 159 1 211 B 10 38 70 240 2 360 C 12 104 269 1,126 3 1,514 Start 5 112 825 6,509 9 7,460 Stub 16 1,278 7,659 10 8,963 List 12 76 777 104 4 973 Category 1 4,157 4,158 Disambig 201 201 File 304 304 Portal 57 57 Project 58 58 Redirect 1 14 106 251 2,093 2,465 Template 3,913 3,913 NA 2 2 Other 1 1 Assessed 37 326 2,725 16,901 11,524 29 31,542 Unassessed 2 4 16 22 Total 37 326 2,727 16,905 11,524 45 31,564 WikiWork factors (?) ω = 98,641 Ω = 5.26
Collaboration efforts We improved our April collaboration (Cattle Egret) all the way to FA status! Help us to do the same with this month's project collaboration. The White Wagtail is a very variable species (or is it several species, as some authorities insist?) found throughout much of Europe, Asia, and northern Africa, and in small numbers in westernmost Alaska. Be sure to vote for July's collaboration, which will be chosen on 21 June. We could use a few new nominations...
Domestic pigeons task force We have our first official task force, covering articles related to domestic pigeons; new project member OnorioCatenacci (talk · contribs) started the group in May. If you're interested in helping with that suite of articles, drop by the new task force page at WP:PIGEONS.
Project news The ongoing drive to improve our bird family articles continues; there are still at least 36 bird family articles currently rated as stubs. If you'd like to help improve one or more, the list of those needing work is here. A change in Wikipedia's taxobox setup has meant the removal of the IUCN status scale image from all articles. To re-display the scale, add "| status_system = iucn3.1" to the taxobox parameters in any article for which it is appropriate.
Got a suggestion? A correction? Something you'd like to see included in a future issue? Drop a note at the Tip Line with your ideas!
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This has been an automated delivery by BrownBot (talk) 12:54, 1 June 2008 (UTC)

Welcome

Welcome!

Hello, MeegsC, and welcome to Wikipedia! Thank you for your contributions. I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are some pages that you might find helpful:

• The five pillars of Wikipedia
• How to edit a page
• Help pages
• Tutorial
• How to write a great article
• Manual of Style

I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian! Please sign your name on talk pages using four tildes (~~~~); this will automatically produce your name and the date. If you need help, check out Wikipedia:Questions, ask me on my talk page, or ask your question and then place {{helpme}} after the question on your talk page. Again, welcome!  Wcm2010 21:19, 19 April 2007 (UTC)

The Novels WikiProject Newsletter - Issue XXV - June 2008

The June 2008 issue of the Novels WikiProject newsletter has been published. You may read the newsletter, change the format in which future issues will be delivered to you, or unsubscribe from this notification by following the link. Thank you. SteveBot (owner) 02:51, 21 June 2008 (UTC)

Antbird sounds

Are you back from Alaska yet? I'd love some antbird sounds. Sabine's Sunbird talk 04:10, 25 June 2008 (UTC)

Thanks so much! They sound great. Sabine's Sunbird talk 02:41, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

re:American Black Vulture map

I looked at a few other maps and you're definitely right. Unfortunately, I can't fix the map right now because my computer crashed due to a virus, and though I'm borrowing a computer to use the internet, it doesn't have the right software to fix the map. I should be getting a new computer in mid-July, and will correct the map then. --heyjude. 13:09, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

Gokcen_Karan

Nothing there to suggest that he is notable within the wikipedia guidelines, even the list of books isn't actually a list of book titles, just links to computer topics. There are no independent references, so I'd say it's a clear nn. jimfbleak (talk) 12:49, 1 July 2008 (UTC)

redirect deleted too jimfbleak (talk) 19:08, 2 July 2008 (UTC)

Copy edits and the backlog

Hi there!

I noticed you were active in the former league of copy-editors. I joined the LOCE something like a few days before it became historical, and have been making a lonely effort to reduce the copy-edit backlog so I've been curious - why did the LOCE close, are there any efforts going on out there to reduce the copy-edit backlog, and do you think there's a point in establishing (and would you join) a wikiproject purely to maintain the category of articles needing copy edits? Thanks ;) -Samuel Tan (talk) 09:58, 2 July 2008 (UTC)

Actually, I only joined a few days before it went historical too—as, I think, did a few others. So yes, I'd be interested in getting something going again. I've been working on a few of the Jan. 2007 articles (Donovan McNabb, Manayunk, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, etc.) in my spare time, but it's definitely not a speedy process! From what I've read on the talk page, I think the giant backlog became something of an issue, but from what I can see, all flagged articles went into that backlog—regardless of whether they were specific requests from people asking for help before taking articles to GA/FA/FL, or articles flagged by readers who thought they needed work. (The graph on the WP:LoCE main page includes everything, at any rate.) It would have been helpful to have some way of separating out the two categories, so that those specifically requesting help could have received a timelier response! :P Anyway, I've been plugging away on my own too, trying to chip away at that giant list... Nice to know there are others out there too! : ) MeegsC (copied from talk page of Samuel Tan)

Yes it can really be very slow. Especially on the seriously long articles! We don't actually need to "split" the copy edits into "flagged" and "specific requests" because there are already specific wikiprojects for people who are trying to get their articles tio GA/FA (WP:GAN, WP:PR, etc?). The problem has been trying to get the editors on those projects interested in helping to clear the backlog; no one has responded to my requests on those talk pages. So I'm thinking of a wikiproject created purely to maintain the list of articles needing copy edit, and trying to find out why the LOCE died, just in case people try to get a new copy-editors wikiproject closed too :) We'll see. I'll see how many people I can get interested. -Samuel Tan (talk) 10:33, 2 July 2008 (UTC)

I'll let you know when we have enough to start a project... Minimum number of people interested is 5, I think. We can work out the details when we have a bunch of interested people. :) -Samuel Tan (talk) 13:32, 2 July 2008 (UTC)

Saint Pierre and Miquelon

First, you're right the above area does not qualify as Caribbean. Neither, for that matter, does Bermuda. The Saint Pierre and Miquelon group was created like the groups for all other overseas territories as a way to maybe allow a bit of focus on those territories, which tend to get less attention from the project of the "parent" country. In this case, the people at WikiProject France chose, for whatever reason, to not make the group on that area a direct subproject of theirs. Also, unfortunately, there is not now a WikiProject North America, nor, given the number of projects already dealing with all the other areas of NA, is there likely to ever be one. That left the most appropriate "parent" to add parameters to the Caribbean, as the nearest. Canada wouldn't work, given the political differences. Also, I think pretty much everyone would agree SP&M isn't likely to ever merit a standalone project. The only option that came to mind was to expand the scope of that project to include Bermund and SP&M. If however that is unacceptable, I could try alternate arrangements. John Carter (talk) 14:27, 5 July 2008 (UTC)

Thank you

Thank you very much for wanting to help. If you guys want to put your banner on all the bird disease yalk pages (and subgroups that I listed) then I have no problem with that, as long as you also modify your scope statement to include bird diseases. Only putting it on two seems inappropriate. As for where you could help, well, where ever you are motivated and qualified. I mentioned the H?N? articles that don't yet exist as one place to start. Interested in trying to write those? Have you read Influenza A? WAS 4.250 (talk) 17:36, 5 July 2008 (UTC)

US v Rest of World English

Hi MeegsC, I'm sure that it's been argued thousands of times on Wikipedia, and I find the spelling of a word (gray or grey) to describe the color (colour) of a bird that is found throughout the world fairly trivial, but when I noticed that it was changed on the Peregrine article I thought that it might remind US readers that there are other points-of-view beside Uncle Sam's. It might be worth checking out the English spelling comparison chart page [6] ....note that of the six countries 4 or 5 spell 'Grey' with an e not an a. I believe the bird in question can be found in all of them (...except NZ) As an Australian I'm currently enjoying using non-microsoft software, one of the benefits being that I don't have to use US English protocols. I'm not a 'Yank-basher' (I have many good-friends in the USA) but please take a moment to see why many people world-wide have issues with this sort of arrogant attitude. Aviceda talk 10:41, 8 July 2008 (UTC)

WikiProject Articles needing copy edit (tentative name)

Hello there!

I have begun laying the groundwork for a new WikiProject that has a very simple goal, to improve Wikipedia by dealing with the articles tagged for copy edit, and I am wondering if you are interested in helping me start it. This project is not a clone of WP:LOCE because we will not deal with requests for review (that is currently handled by our good friends over at Peer Review).

I expect that this will be a relaxed, happy and casual WikiProject, because participants will be able to take things at their own pace and use the project page to ask other participants for help. The project proposal is here, and I have created an almost-functional project page in my userspace here.

There are now over 4000 articles needing copy edit, and very, very few people working on them, so any help, however small, is appreciated. If you are interested, please sign up at the proposal page. Once we have enough people, I will shift the project page, along with its subpages from my userspace into the Wikipedia namespace. For now we can use this section of my talk page to discuss the direction and details of the project, and, of course, its name. *grin*

Cheers! --Samuel Tan 12:28, 21 July 2008 (UTC)

Thanks for the support! The project page is now up at Wikipedia:WikiProject Articles Needing Copy Edit. It's now a bit bland 'cos there are no pretty pictures yet heh... Feel free to sign up there, and discuss details and direction and what not at its talk page. I'll be sending out invitations to the members of WP:Grammar, and later WP:LOCE and maybe WP:PR. Cheers! -Samuel Tan 03:13, 22 July 2008 (UTC)