And so the publication date of the Helm Dictionary of Bird Identification hoves into view. Advance copies arrived today and it looks fantastic. This also means our competition based on the cover has come to an end, and the winners announced. Have a look at the Challenge website to find out the names of the victors in this fierce battle for identification supremacy.

I must admit that I foolishly though that one photo would prove virtually impossible to identify, but I’d reckoned without these masters of bird species separation.

Nik Borrow's New Britain Hawk Owl. Sweet.

Its a New Britain Hawk Owl, Ninox odiosa. A flick through Claus König’s Owls of the World shows us that these Ninox owls are really, really hard to tell apart, though the pattern of banding on the chest and the white below helps eliminate quite a few of them. Anyway, a total of seven entrants managed to correctly ID this rather smart owl – powerful skills all.

v

Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names