User talk:Shyamal/archive15

Thoracotremata

There are some papers to read... I knew that would get back to me one way or the other. For I put aside the issue without really referencing any of my changes, it was simply too gross to do it then. It's sourceable and justifiable (I believe), but taxon sampling is simply abysmal, and with the data at hand, splitting Helice is the easiest way to handle this mess (the alternative would be to expand it, but to what point? the data does not allow any conclusion). I have grabbed a bunch of the latest literature and will - eventually - straighten out the whole frickin' Thoracotremata. Ugh. They're worse than trying to place New World vultures... we know where many of the families start and end, but that's about it: the same cannot be said about many genera, and the relationships between genera are anyone's guess. Dysmorodrepanis (talk) 17:42, 1 August 2008 (UTC)

WikiProject Birds August newsletter

The August 2008 issue of the Bird 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. MeegsC | Talk 01:13, 11 August 2008 (UTC)

thanks

Hi,

Thanks for that. I've seen most of them, and at the current state of play (5 supports - thanks again - and no opposes) I'm reluctant to make any further changes until FAC is over. In any case, I don't think there's anything of great significant to add, the heavy metals I suppose is possible, but it's a bit of a non-event. jimfbleak (talk) 09:44, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

Bird project welcome

Hi Shyamal: The welcome banner is already a subst! Just type {{subst:Wikipedia:WikiProject Birds/Outreach/Welcome|~~~~}}. It's listed on the Outreach page... MeegsC | Talk 11:41, 19 August 2008 (UTC)

Oh ok, thanks, missed that. Shyamal (talk) 07:25, 21 August 2008 (UTC)

Chick

I have no artistic ability, but my wife does.... Thanks anyway 12:21, 21 August 2008 (UTC)

delete/move trick to protect article history

Hi. About the moth article problem, that was a simple oversight on your part, I didn't take it personally ;-)

Incidentally, the procedure you used is one I wish was easier to implement - for example, if you have a chance, could you move Eastern Cicada Killer to Eastern cicada killer? Dysmorodrepanis created the article using title case, which is fine for birds, but not for insects, and since the desired title is occupied (as a redirect), a regular move won't work. Thanks, Dyanega (talk) 23:06, 22 August 2008 (UTC)

Yes, I agree. It is essentially a software bug and the way WP has tried fixing it has been to create a hierarchy of user access levels to solve this! Will do the move. Shyamal (talk) 03:36, 25 August 2008 (UTC)

Kingfisher

I defer to your expertise on identifying Indian kingfisher subspecies, but I don't understand why you say you can't have more than one ssp in one locality. We get three ssp of Dunlin in the UK, one breeding, two winter/passage visitors, similarly for several other species. I've often seen yarelli and alba White Wagtails together, and I thought I'd seen two ssp of Black Kite in India - resident govinda and wintering lineatus. Why can't wintering bengalensis overlap the resident ssp outside the breeding season? jimfbleak (talk) 18:28, 25 August 2008 (UTC)

Yes, in theory there can be overlap in the non-breeding season but an overlap in the breeding season with lack of interbreeding and maintenance of distinctness would indicate incipient speciation. There is however no indication of migration in this species of kingfisher. Rasmussen & Anderton further note that the "nominate (or pallasi ) paler, and greener above than other races; widespread bengalensis darker and bluer but not always distinguishable. In S Peninsula and SL, taprobana is distinctly bluer and purer blue than even bengalensis, and thus more like Blue-eared." I suspect that the S Peninsula subspecies can be further restricted to the Western Ghats and it is very unlikely that the photograph taken in Kolkata refers to that subspecies. Shyamal (talk) 02:08, 26 August 2008 (UTC)

"Killer ant"

I would agree with deleting it - there are no articles that link to it; someone just conjured up this article out of thin air - it has no scientific or common meaning. Yes, they put a lot of work into compiling it, but it really is meaningless. Dyanega (talk) 23:18, 27 August 2008 (UTC)

DOB for some forest officers

A A Dunbar Brander 23-4-1877 Osmaston BB 3-1-1868 E O Shebbeare 8-3-1884 A E Osmaston 4-3-1885 E A Smythies 19-3-1885 C F C Beeson 10-2-1889 H G Champion 17-8-1891 BB Osmaston 3-1-1868 P M Lushington 18-11-1863 CLASSIFIED LIST OF FOREST OFFICERS OF THE IMPERIAL AND PROVINCIAL SERVICES IN INDIA AND BURMA ON 1st January 1916 Note to self Shyamal (talk) 10:48, 30 August 2008 (UTC)

Feather

Will do! I'm just finishing up a couple of weeks here in France (lots of goodies, including three Wallcreepers and eight Lammergeiers) and will have nearly two months off before my next trip—so I should have plenty of time to help polish this one off... Of course, I've got lots and lots of overdue paperwork to work on too! : ) MeegsC | Talk 20:28, 7 September 2008 (UTC)

SVG bird diagrams

		The SVG Barnstar
		For all your SVG bird diagrams. Good work! =Nichalp «Talk»= 07:19, 9 September 2008 (UTC)

Thanks, it is fun making them ! Especially when someone wants one and there is none available for free ... Shyamal (talk) 14:12, 9 September 2008 (UTC)

Beavan again

I have googled this, and it appears that Lieut. Reginald Beavan of the 22nd Punjab Native Infantry was his brother, as mentioned in the article in Ibis Volume 10 Issue 4 pages 370-406 "Notes on Various Indian Birds". "I have lately received a fine pair of this large Bustard from my brother, Lieut. Reginald Beavan, of the 22nd Punjab Native Infantry, who shot the male near Morar, in Gwalior, and bought the female from some native trappers etc". Therefore we are right and the other reference is wrong. Smallweed (talk) 10:31, 9 September 2008 (UTC)

Thanks. Does Mearns/Mearns or Beolens have anything on them? Shyamal (talk) 10:59, 9 September 2008 (UTC)

Yes. See previous User_talk:Shyamal/archive10#Robert_Cecil_Beavan Smallweed (talk) 11:04, 9 September 2008 (UTC)

Oh yes, but nothing on the presence of the other ornithologist brother. Wonder how wikispecies hit upon the other- Actually it started with the binomial author of Centropus andamanensis. Payne (Cuckoos OUP 2005) has a mention of a "tyeleri" (sic) which must of course be "tytleri" that is attributed to Beavan and from the year and location (Andamans) changed it to Robert Cecil. Hope that it was not in error. Shyamal (talk) 11:35, 9 September 2008 (UTC)

In don't think Reginald was a published ornithologist. The Ibis articles are attributed to R. C. Beavan. Somewhere along the line someone has made the mistake of thinking R stood for Reginald, possibly because this name appears in the first article. Wikispecies have probably followed this reference [1], which to be fair I've always found a very reliable website in the past. I would have thought it was very unlikely that both brothers would have the same dates and initials. Smallweed (talk)

I have mailed Dr Alan Peterson and I hope that zoonomen will correct the mistake. The date problem reminds me of the Charles Swinhoe=Robert Swinhoe birth year problem which again seems to have been resolved for the finally by someone with access to the India office records ! Shyamal (talk) 15:27, 9 September 2008 (UTC)

I got this from IBIS XVIII (1868).- The Avifauna of the Andaman Islands. BEAVAN Capt. Bengal Staff Corps, C.M.Z.S., "In the Appendix to Dr. Mouat’s ‘ Adventures and Researches amongst the Andaman Islands’ published in 1863, Mr. Blyth gives a resume‘ of what was then known of the fauna of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. But since that date our knowledge of the bird class, more especially of those islands, has been considerably added to by the exertions of Colonel R. C. Tytler, a gentleman well known to science as a naturalist, and whose tenure of office at Port Blair, the Convict Settlement of the Andamans, gave him many opportunities of adding to the list of their birds. This information he has been kind enough to place at my disposal, and I therefore intend in the following pages to record his notes, with his initials appended, as well as to enumerate all the species of birds known to have been found on those islands up to the present time." Grantus4504 (talk) 17:48, 11 September 2008 (UTC)

"32. CENTROPUS ANDAMANENSIS, Tytler, sp. nov. Andaman Coucal . This quite new species is of a chestnut, or rather cinnamon-chestnut colour, and a little smaller than the Indian C. rufipennis, but wants entirely the black markings of that bird. It is apparently not uncommon, judging from the frequently heard call, which somewhat resembles that of C. rufipennis; but living as the birds do in the dense cane-jungles, they are as difficult to see as they are to get at. 'I only procured two specimens, the best of which was sent to the Asiatic Society's Museum, and the other unfortunately got destroyed ' (R. C. T.)." Grantus4504 (talk) 17:48, 11 September 2008 (UTC)

This is extremely useful and suggests that the author should actually by Robert Christopher Tytler but our Beavan seems to have communicated it (I corrected the OCR errors on Blyth and Nicobar in your text)! Many thanks again. Shyamal (talk) 02:11, 12 September 2008 (UTC)

The reference is R.C. Beavan (1867) "The Avifauna of the Andaman Islands", Ibis 9(3),pp 314-334. Re Tytler or Beavan, I think it remains Beavan 1867. Priory goes to the person that communicated the new species not the person that discovered it. Grantus4504 (talk) 05:31, 12 September 2008 (UTC)

Thanks again, I will communicate this to Dr Alan Peterson (I think your real name would be good to have for anyone to credit). I will leave that to the better informed ICZN "lawyers" but I think it should be Tytler in Beavan,1867:

Recommendation 51E. Citation of contributors. If a scientific name and the conditions other than publication that make it available [Arts. 10 to 20] are the responsibility not of the author of the work containing them, but of some other person(s), or of less than all of joint authors, the authorship of the name, if cited, should be stated as "B in A", or "B in A & B", or in whatever form is appropriate to facilitate information retrieval (normally the date should also be cited).

Shyamal (See Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Birds) (talk) 06:01, 12 September 2008 (UTC)

Need img of Painted Stork

Mailed a modification on this one

Hi Shyamal,

Could you please do up a Painted Stork image for use by my nature club?

Regards, AshLin (talk) 06:28, 12 September 2008 (UTC)

Sure! Over the weekend ! More by email... Shyamal (talk) 06:57, 12 September 2008 (UTC)

Posters Rome

Hello Shyamal I am only just back from Rome.More on that soon but right now can you help me with this upload? I would like the poster images (not the top one) from http://eternallycool.net/category/photos/page/2 which seems to have a creative commons licence.If so will you upload them for me? I forgot to take pics of this typical but (fortunately) fast disappearing practice of pasting up to up to a hundred posters in layers.Warm Regards Robert

Hi Robert. There are five images of political posters there ... not sure which one you need. Cheers. Shyamal (talk) 12:27, 12 September 2008 (UTC)

Numbers 2 and 3 (starting numbers from the top) to go into Category:Rome until we recategory. Very many thanks Robert.PS My personal e-mail (just signed up)is .Hope to get back to India butterflies next week.

A bad spell of Internet. Will try and upload as soon as I can. Shyamal (talk) 06:52, 13 September 2008 (UTC)

Oops. I have uploaded one image Image:Rome-Posters-In-bocca-al-lupo.jpg - but I am not entirely sure about the license. The website that you provided has a footer saying creative commons share alike 2.5 but the photograph itself is taken from http://romewithaview.com/ and by a photographer called Susan Sanders and those images are marked as Copyrighted. So I think I will leave this for now. But the license may need to be verified - the blog site owner may actually be infringing on the rules. Shyamal (talk) 06:59, 13 September 2008 (UTC)

Note to self

Id needed

Neptis columella

Shyamal (talk) 15:42, 18 September 2008 (UTC)

Done. Hopefully right. Shyamal (talk) 14:49, 19 September 2008 (UTC)

Many thanks

Many thanks for the Rome poster pic fix.I noticed that problem and wondered about it.This site is definety copyright free site Feathers but I'm sure you know it already.If not enjoy Warm regards RobertNotafly (talk) 19:45, 19 September 2008 (UTC)

Thanks, I never knew about this site. But I really wish I had a scanner right now, have a load of feathers that I keep thinking of disposing off - each feather labelled with location, many from dead birds - can be fantastic material for anyone with access to Mass Spectroscopy and DNA sequencing tools... but .... gathering various others like booklice, dermestids and feather mites(?)... Shyamal (talk) 02:12, 20 September 2008 (UTC)

Birthday Eagle

My firstWhite-tailed Eagle today just after my birthday.It flew down the road in front of me as I left work,say 15 yards, ahead.It's a very big bird!We are close to the sea but not to the nearest populations. A rare bird here.My e-mail at work isn't great ATM but I now have this address too REMOVED MAIL ID FROM SPAM HARVESTERS Warmest regards RobertNotafly (talk) 20:36, 23 September 2008 (UTC)

WikiProject Amphibians and Reptiles: Rollcall

At WikiProject Amphibians and Reptiles, we recently did a purge of the members list, which your name was on. Please re-add your username as well as your area of expertise at our list of participants if you plan to stay active in this Wikiproject. Also, a discussion is going on regarding the standardization of taxonomy in lizard articles, located in this section. We'd like to have some more voices in this matter. Thanks everyone! bibliomaniac15 23:13, 24 September 2008 (UTC)

Birdwatching

Hi Shyamal, just noticed that you've added a link at the end of the 'Communications' chapter, it shows a padlock...is that due to the https code in the URL? Thought that I'd better bring it to your attention in case you were not aware of it's presence. Aviceda talk 08:20, 26 September 2008 (UTC)

Indian Railways

Hi Shyamal, any reason you reverted the changes made by me to the above topic. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Swapnils2106 (talk • contribs) 20:31, 28 September 2008 (UTC)

History of rail transport in India rather than Indian Railways I see. Well, the whole article needs to be improved and the factoid on online booking seemed anachronistic in the history section as well as being in a news like tone. For the history section, it would be useful if the date on which online booking was introduced was given along with a citation of a reliable source. Shyamal (talk) 01:47, 29 September 2008 (UTC)

Re: Image:BirdBeaksA.svg

thumb Hi Shyamal, Just looking at this image noticed a small error. The Pied Avocet uses its beak for filter feeding rather than mud probing. Grantus4504 (talk) 13:40, 3 October 2008 (UTC)

Hi Grantus, Let me know a suitable reference in support. I always thought of it as sweeping through silt and mud to get at worms. As given here http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/120817706/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0 ... Shyamal (talk) 13:46, 3 October 2008 (UTC)

"Avocets feed by wading in the shallow water at the edge of a lagoon or in tidal mud. There are two feeding methods. In clear water, avocets feed by sight by picking prey from the surface of water or mud. In poor visibility and when locating prey from within the sediments, they forage by touch, sweeping the long, upcurved bill from side to side through water or loose sediment to locate hidden prey." http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdguide/name/a/avocet/feeding.asp Maybe it's a question of degree. I think of mud probing as something like a Curlew or Redshank or Sandpiper, something that probes vertically into the mud. The Avocet is a good example of a beak adapted to a different feeding method, but it uses horizontal sweeps to find food in loose sediments and turbid water. Grantus4504 (talk) 22:46, 3 October 2008 (UTC)

Yes, mud probing in different ways was the way I though of most of the waders. I cannot think of a better term in any case. Shyamal (talk) 03:41, 4 October 2008 (UTC)

ICZN

I'm not sure why differences between editions would be relevant; each edition specifies any "grandfather" clauses and such, meaning that whatever the latest version says is what should be applied to any particular case. If you're dealing with something that is published in 1867, the modern Code should still be applied - and, after all, there was no Code back in 1867. Dyanega (talk) 17:18, 3 October 2008 (UTC)

Hi Shyamal

Thank you for your letter of encouragement. I am clearly a bit of a technophobe, more at home in the field than on the computer. One of my main problems is formatting. How can I format this better? I am reading the instructions and will do my best to follow the guidelines but I wonder if you might be able to assist at all?I have limited time and my email box is filled with letters from people interested in peafowl. It would be much more time efficient if I could improve this site using the references I have provided ( badly as they are not formatting correctly) and some assistance with form and function- also not my strong suit. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Pinudjem (talk • contribs) 23:01, 4 October 2008 (UTC)

Thanks!

Hi Shyamal: Thanks for keeping an eye on my talk page. I undid some "birds are dinosaurs " changes that he'd made to the Bird article; guess he didn't like it! I'm back from vacation tonight (and seriously jetlagged), so hope to get to some of the Feather stuff soon. First I've got to get a newsletter out... MeegsC | Talk 17:50, 5 October 2008 (UTC)

RFA?

Hmm. This isn't be best time for this - my involvement in WP is increasingly shrinking due to other obligations, and I'll be out of town a lot in the immediate future (including the next week, starting tomorrow). I'll give it some thought, but for now, let's hold off, okay? Thanks, Dyanega (talk) 20:08, 8 October 2008 (UTC)

No problem. Shyamal (talk) 00:58, 9 October 2008 (UTC)

WikiProject Birds October newsletter

The October 2008 issue of the Bird 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 has been an automated delivery by BrownBot (talk) 00:28, 11 October 2008 (UTC)

Puzzled

Hello Shyamal I've been taking some buttterfly pics and writing up some of the more interesting species.Here is one [2] but why no pic? Warm regards Robert Notafly (talk) 08:17, 14 October 2008 (UTC)

Conflict brewing again

Hi Shyamal, Could you please keep an eye on this for me? I'd appreciate it. Thanks, --Jwinius (talk) 15:49, 20 October 2008 (UTC)

Hi Jaap, I do not have access to the literature on the species so cannot really comment. There certainly seems to be no reference to the death adder usage for this genus from google scholar though. However I would suggest that such content disputes should be easy to settle by scanning and sharing the relevant section from the primary source cited. Shyamal (talk) 02:47, 21 October 2008 (UTC)

Oh, I'm not asking you to fact-check anything; it's his attitude that I find troubling. The last part of the discussion above became a personal attack. It's like he's having a bad day or something and has decided to vent here at WP. Now that I seem to have frustrated his attempts to turn the death adder disambig page into a redirect, he's gone off to work on Morelia spilota, completely trashing the original format, while resurrecting the old Morelia spilota spilota article that was the subject of a discussion last December. He knows I'm responsible for the original common format, so it seems to me that his actions are mostly motivated by spite. --Jwinius (talk) 06:40, 21 October 2008 (UTC)

Just noticed this one too: despite the fact that Pythonidae is not a large category, he's decided to create a new subcategory, Morelia, and has moved all those articles into there. Does this guy have a chip on his shoulder, or what? --Jwinius (talk) 06:51, 21 October 2008 (UTC)

Sir William Lawrence, 1st Baronet

This has no rating for importance or quality on the Hist Sci or Evol biol flags; could you pl. do this or arrange for it to be done? Thanks, Macdonald-ross (talk) 08:34, 22 October 2008 (UTC)

Done. Hope the importance rating is satisfactory. Shyamal (talk) 09:24, 22 October 2008 (UTC)

Thank you! As it happens, I agree with all your marking. Macdonald-ross (talk) 13:32, 22 October 2008 (UTC)

Colymbus lumme

Hi Shyamal: Thanks for the Colymbus lumme reference. I have just one question: when I go the original work, it shows Colymbus stellata just above Colymbus lumme -- so I'm left wondering what that refers to! I can't puzzle out enough of the German; any chance you can read it? MeegsC | Talk 17:18, 23 October 2008 (UTC)

Hi Shyamal: The German reference in question is the one you attached to the article! : ) MeegsC | Talk 08:30, 24 October 2008 (UTC)

Aha! (*light bulb goes on*); that's why I was able to puzzle out as much as I did! Yes, I'm a bit thick... Anyway here are the actual pages from the reference itself; press the <right arrow> button at the top to move to the page with Colymbus stellata (which is Pontopiddan's original name for the species) and Colymbus lumme on it. (They're on page 39, Nos. 130 and 132.) If lumme is Red-throated Diver, what's stellata??? I'm wondering (since the database page that the reference note in the article currently points to doesn't explicitly ID a species) whether lumme refers to another species. MeegsC | Talk 09:48, 24 October 2008 (UTC)

Thanks! Your Latin's obviously way better than mine! :D MeegsC | Talk 11:10, 24 October 2008 (UTC)

Hi Shyamal: One other question. Your reference for Urinator lumme is dated 1761—which is two years before the species was first described! Can you check that's correct? Is it the date that the genus Urinator was established? In that case, I'd need the first reference for Urinator lumme.

The dates appear to be correct! Shyamal (talk) 14:41, 26 October 2008 (UTC)

Taxoboxes without images

The script I used looks at the "image" parameter of the taxobox. It does not check file formats.

I haven't seen many svg's in taxoboxes; I expect most of them would be range maps (which is a separate parameter); and I have seen some articles on dolphins that have line drawings, possibly svg, in the "image2" parameter. -- Eugène van der Pijll (talk) 17:55, 29 October 2008 (UTC)

WikiProject Birds November newsletter

The November 2024 issue of the Bird 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 has been an automated delivery by TinucherianBot (talk) 07:54, 11 November 2008 (UTC)

Image permission problem with Image:TigerLangur.jpg

Image Copyright problem

Thanks for uploading Image:TigerLangur.jpg. I noticed that that while you provided a valid copyright licensing tag, there is no proof that the creator of the image (or other media file) agreed to license it under the given license.

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• make a note permitting reuse under the GFDL or another acceptable free license (see this list) at the site of the original publication; or
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If you believe the media meets the criteria at Wikipedia:Non-free content, use a tag such as {{non-free fair use in|article name}} or one of the other tags listed at Wikipedia:Image copyright tags#Fair use, and add a rationale justifying the image's use on the article or articles where it is included. See Wikipedia:Image copyright tags for the full list of copyright tags that you can use.

If you have uploaded other files, consider checking that you have provided evidence that their copyright owners have agreed to license their works under the tags you supplied, too. You can find a list of files you have uploaded by following this link. Images lacking evidence of permission may be deleted one week after they have been tagged, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you. Fowler&fowler«Talk» 19:19, 15 November 2008 (UTC)

Hi there, I'm not sure you uploaded it or someone else. The name of the artist is on the image. As I understand it, the copyright in India for (non-anonymous) images expires only 60 years after the death of the copyright holder. I don't know if that is the case or not. Also, on the English Wikipedia, it would need to satisfy the pre-1923 publishing-date criterion (for US public domain), which it doesn't seem to. Regards, Fowler&fowler«Talk» 19:23, 15 November 2008 (UTC)

The artist Warwick Reynolds lived from 1861-1935 and the book was published in 1925. I uploaded this on behalf of User:AshLin and believe this would be public domain on the basis of the author life-time. Shyamal (talk) 01:27, 16 November 2008 (UTC)

It seems that The Jungle Girl and Life in an Indian Outpost http://www.archive.org/stream/lifeinindianoutp00cassiala by Gordon Casserly are in public domain. However the publisher of the book was Ward, Lock & Co. Ltd. per http://www.antiqbook.co.uk/boox/ste/705178.shtml so India was not the publishing location. Shyamal (talk) 02:14, 16 November 2008 (UTC)

Sorry, I forgot to check here. OK, that sounds good. Apologies for the template. Fowler&fowler«Talk» 05:16, 19 November 2008 (UTC)

DYK for Mermithidae

On 28 November, 2008, Did you know? was updated with a fact from the article Mermithidae, 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.

--PFHLai (talk) 18:23, 28 November 2008 (UTC)

Lakes in Bangalore

Hi! Shyamal, I find that you have been editing the above artcile, which was intially created by me and expanded by other from time to time. I have also noted that you have also made very positive edting on some of my other artciles. Now, I have expanded the above article, hopefully more than five times, but I could not exactly assess how much of the text portion only has been expanded. I have fully followed the tutorials you gave me on editing. I am sure a further editing by you may be as least as it can be. In case the expansion is accreptable for a DYK Hook, I would appreciate your nominating it for me. In fact, if all my added text from the time I created the article are added it may be more than five times expansion.I propsoe the following three alterantive hooks if you consider that it may be DYK acceptable.

Alt 1 …that Management of Lakes in Bangalore by government agencies witnessed experimentation with limited public–private sector participation that proved controversial resulting in policy reversal

Alt 2 … that Lakes in Bangalore have been largely encroached for urban infrastructure resulting in existence of only 17 good lakes as against 51 healthy lakes in 1985.

Alt 3 …that the numerous Lakes in Bangalore city, where there are no rivers, were constructed in the Sixteenth Century by damming the natural valley systems

Basically the expansion is on management aspect as a policy (Public-private sector participation) which has failed, miserably resulting in policy reversal and should surely be a lesson to others (govt organizations in the country) that "Lake is a Common Property Resource not to be meddled with for private gains".I have written a joint article on Management of Lakes in India for ILEC and hence the interest in Management of lakes in Bangalore --Nvvchar (talk) 14:46, 30 November 2008 (UTC)

Thank you for taking interest in these topics. I am not involved with DYK activity but I may be able to add material now and then from sources such as "Bangalore through the Ages" or editions of the State Gazetteer's. It is important to move away from the reliance on newspaper articles to more reliable sources. Good luck. Shyamal (talk) 15:00, 30 November 2008 (UTC)

Primate at FAC

Hello! As a previous reviewer of Primate at FAC it would be great if you could have another look at the article. The FAC has been restarted, and any comments would be greatly appreciated. Cheers, Jack (talk) 17:42, 1 December 2008 (UTC)

Acid dissociation constant - re-written lead

I have now re-written the lead for acid dissociation constant. The essential content of the lead is the same as before. The effect of this change will be that when chemists will read the explanatory material they will say to themselves, yes, I know that, but non-chemists will hopefully get the gist of what the article is about

I invite you to read it and then record your “vote”, e.g. “now support” or “still oppose”, at wp:Featured_article_candidates/Acid_dissociation_constant. I have assembled a list of names under Re-written lead, so that the responses will be collected together in one place.

Some minor disagreements will inevitably remain. These should not be a reason for opposition. Rather, put constructive ideas on the article’s talk page, so that the article can be further improved by the normal editing process. Petergans (talk) 09:31, 4 December 2008 (UTC)

Itub (talk) has proposed an alternative, shorter version of the lead at User:Itub/ADC lead. Petergans (talk) 10:50, 4 December 2008 (UTC)

The Indian Barnstar of National Merit

		The Indian Barnstar of National Merit
		Awarded to Shyamal, one of the most prolific editors from India. We are proud of you ! -- Tinu Cherian - 07:00, 5 December 2008 (UTC)

That is a very innovative barnstar ! Thanks. Shyamal (talk) 07:03, 5 December 2008 (UTC)

Birds of Prey

Hi, according to a recent DNA study (and the Tree of Life website has this as well) saying that all birds of prey (excepte Falcons and kin) are consider as Accipteirformes (spelling?). You may even notice the changes between the storks and pelicans, having serval stork families in the pelican clan.--4444hhhh (talk) 03:00, 6 December 2008 (UTC)

Good idea--4444hhhh (talk) 03:20, 6 December 2008 (UTC)

Thanks

Thanks for your careful consideration at my successful RfA. Please let me know on my talk page if you have any suggestions for me. - Dan Dank55 (send/receive) 03:57, 7 December 2008 (UTC)

BirdBeaksA.svg

Nice image, but the avocet should better be described as skimming (or something like that - not to be confused with the surface skimming of the skimmer who shears the surface with the lower bill while flying) as it doesn't probe in mud (its bill is curved the wrong way for that) but skims/sweeps sideways to and fro in shallow water with its bill while walking forward. The upward curvature lets a longer part of the bill be immensed compared to a straight bill. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 83.249.88.197 (talk) 05:11, 7 December 2008 (UTC)

I cannot think of a proper verb for this - "Mud sweeping" ? But that would also be confusing... "Sediment sweeping", "Sifting" ? I thought probing was quite generic and did not necessarily mean a up-down movement. Shyamal (talk) 05:17, 7 December 2008 (UTC)

John Westwood

Great find. Nice to see him as a young man. At that age he was a regular Corresponding Member of the Belfast Natural History Society and we have a Giant Clam once in his house at Arnos Grove sent as a gift for the museum.Warmest regards on a cold day here Robert Notafly (talk) 08:25, 9 December 2008 (UTC)

Tytler

Tytler at last! A missing collector of Parnassius. I failed absolutely to find a thing.This is a great find and I see you got Hope and Brunetti too.Just about to add some digital text links to Hope. Then I must go to the museum RobertNotafly (talk) 08:49, 9 December 2008 (UTC)

Frank Hannington

It seems very likely indeed that this is the Hannington of P. hanningtoni but I can't find any more.Will you start the page and then I'll ask around? Robert I filled in the last red link in Haliday contacts the other day after some years of searching atb RobertNotafly (talk) 13:43, 9 December 2008 (UTC)

Great Jepper

Suspect this is Dublin phonetic of japer or joker.It may be related to jeepers creepers.The Dublin pronunciation is odd Jesus for instance is rendered Jasus (Jay zus). Fits the context.I'll see what I can find about Hannyngton atb RobertNotafly (talk) 20:27, 9 December 2008 (UTC)

Hannygton

Dublin military family with many India connections so I have listed him Irish. I'll see if there are any India butterflies in the Dublin Museum. RobertNotafly (talk) 20:48, 9 December 2008 (UTC)

Typo

To add to the confusion. Should have been HANNYNGTON Notafly (talk) 20:51, 9 December 2008 (UTC)

Semi-protection for Snake

Hi Shyamal, So, what do you say? Do you think semi-protection for Snake is called for? I'd say so, considering the significant amount of vandalism it is regularly subjected to. I calculated that, over the past month or so, the page was vandalized more than twice a day, almost always by unregistered users, and that the vandalism approaches 50% of all edits to this article. Cheers, --Jwinius (talk) 12:54, 13 December 2008 (UTC)

Hi Jaap, my gut feeling is that it would not qualify for semi-protection, mainly due to the article quality. If it can be raised to a point where one can safely say that the likelihood for improvement by well meaning IP editors is really low (FA is a good qualifying point) then it could qualify. As an admin involved with the article it would not be right on my part to do anything at this point, but you are free to make a request on Wikipedia:Requests for page protection and see how it works out. Shyamal (talk) 15:57, 13 December 2008 (UTC)

FA? In this case, that would seem like an rather unreasonable barrier. You may be right, but I'm going to try my luck at WP:RFP anyway. Cheers, --Jwinius (talk) 16:15, 13 December 2008 (UTC)

It worked! That was quick. I'm sure this will make a difference. Cheers, --Jwinius (talk) 17:52, 13 December 2008 (UTC)

Mahalanobis distance

Dear User.

You contributed to the Mahalanobis distance article. Some of its content lacks citations for verification, has been challenged and may be removed. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references.Calimo (talk) 10:25, 15 December 2008 (UTC)

Looks like the whole article should be deleted ! The basic formula appears correct, it should be easy to cite sources for many of the points in the article from most basic multivariate statistics textbooks, but I cannot help much at this stage, math editors who know MathML should be able to upgrade the article without much trouble. Shyamal (talk) 13:42, 15 December 2008 (UTC)

Expansion of Grey-breasted Laughingthrush

• I enjoyed our meeting in Bangalore last December. My return will have to wait for some time.
• Nvvchar (talk) and I have been working together for the past few weeks on a some new articles. Pulicat Lake appeared on the main page/DYK and History of Pulicat should appear there soon.
• We are now almost done with Berijam Lake which we will nominate as part of a triple hook:

DYK ... that a study at Berijam Lake by the Sálim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History indicates the near threatened Grey-breasted Laughingthrush, has been adversely affected due to habitat degradation?

• I am contacting you now to get your help in editing my major expansion: Grey-breasted_Laughingthrush. I'm not a bird editor, though I did use your Rufous-breasted Laughingthrush as a model. Any improvements on this article in my sandbox will be appreciated before I move it over to the mainspace.
• I will next start work on Sálim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History as the final part of the triple hook nomination. I'm sure you will be interested in progress on that and I'll let you know when I have something to look at.
• This is a little background lifted from my messages to Nvvchar:

I'm trying to do several things here:

1. Get three new or expanded articles in one hook, kind of like 3 runs with one hit in baseball or cricket. Unusual... people notice... and pay attention.
2. It seems that the first step in acheiving official recognition of Palani Hills as one of the Protected areas of Tamil Nadu is going to be notification of Berijam Lake area as a bird sanctuary, soon to be followed by larger area with Wildlife Sanctuary status and ultimately National Park with Berijam and probably Kukkal as core areas of the park. These places both ajoin Manjampatti Valley, a core area of Indira Gandhi National Park. Official recognition centers on protection of Threatened species in the area.

After years of waffling on formal GOI notification of the proposed Palani Hills Wildlife Sanctuary and National Park, a few key lines on page 20 of the last SACON annual report hint that it may actually happen.

(remember that the Chairman of SACON is: Dr. Prodipto Ghosh, IAS, Secretary, (December 2005 to May 2007) Ministry of Environment and Forests, New Delhi and Mr. R. Rajagopal, IAS (since 4 Jan. 2007), Secretary to the Government of Tamil Nadu, Department of Environment and Forests, Chennai – 9 is a member of the SACON governing council.)

In Palni Hills, none of the areas are fully protected; the larger shola forests of Kukkal and Mathikettan (Berijam) may be declared as bird sanctuaries. Better protection needs to be ensured for the proposed Palni Hill Conservation Area.

The threat to Grey-breasted Laughingthrush has been well established by the Sálim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History (SACON). A SACON study on the population and habitat use of the Grey - breasted Laughing thrush recommends restoration of grasslands and shola forests in the Palni hills to protect the species.

1. There are at least 60 references to Salim Ali (ornithologist) within all of Wikipedia and surprisingly there is no article about the SACON in Coimbature. Their 2007 Annual report alone has enough info for an article. With excellent leadership and funding from GOI, Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), they are very reputable.
2. SACON’S MISSION is To help conserve India’s biodiversity and its sustainable use through research, education and peoples’ participation, with birds at the centre stage. As a Wikipedia editor, I can identify with the education part of that mission.
3. The Grey-breasted Laughingthrush article is now tiny and can easily be expanded. Together with the other threatened species in Berijam, this bird is at the core of any political/legal justification for protected area notification for Berijam and adjacent areas. Creating more awareness of the place, the bird and the Center can only help in the long run to conserve the Palni Hills.
4. Similar to the Bangalore Lakes, this is a current issue that people care about. The future of those lakes depend on what happens now. By increasing peoples knowledge about anything, we as Wikipedia editors of high visibility articles, inform the public, and maybe even decision makers, to develop educated opinions and make informed descisions about the places they and we care about. In your case, Lakes of India, in my case Protected areas of Tamil Nadu.

Well that's it. Any comments you have on any of the above and especially edits of the draft expansion of Grey-breasted Laughingthrush will be most appreciated. Please feel free to pass this along to anyone else who you think may be interested. Cheers, Marcus (talk) 21:52, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

I will try and fix this cluster soon. It is a confusing set of species with a whole load of recent taxonomic changes. There are several articles in this cluster that need to made consistent Laughingthrush, Wynaad Laughingthrush, Grey-breasted Laughingthrush and Rufous-breasted Laughingthrush. Shyamal (talk) 02:48, 13 December 2008 (UTC)

• Well I'm about done with User:Marcus334/Sandbox#S.C3.A1lim_Ali_Centre_for_Ornithology_and_Natural_History and User:Marcus334/Sandbox#Grey-breasted_Laughingthrush_X5. User:Nvvchar/sandbox#Berijam_Lake needs some conversions from ref to cite and thats ready also. When all three are ready for prime time, I will post them and nominate then for a triple hook DYK.

I understand what you're saying about the recent taxonomic changes, probably due to Birds of South Asia. The Ripley Guide. But all I want to know is if there are any errors or omissions in my Laughingthrush article, based on traditional knowledge of the bird. I only have web sources, no bird books. Renaming can come later.

FYI, our article History of Pulicat appeared on Mainpage/DYK, yesterday the 13th. Regards, Marcus (talk) 08:35, 14 December 2008 (UTC)

• I just noticed you updated the Mainspace article. Can you merge my sandbox expansion with that or may I? I want to at least get the info about Berijam lake from the Salim Ali center cite into the article, and make it at least a 5X expansion. Marcus (talk) 09:15, 14 December 2008 (UTC)
• Photos of Sacon Centre would be great! this is where I got the Berijam info. Thanks for the help. Will look at Grey-breasted Laughingthrush tomorrow. It's 4:30 am here. Must to go to bed soon.Marcus (talk) 09:32, 14 December 2008 (UTC)
• I completed merge of Grey-breasted Laughingthrush. Please check for accuracy. Also triple hook nomination complete. See: Template_talk:Did_you_know#Articles_created.2Fexpanded_on_December_16 Marcus (talk) 03:35, 16 December 2008 (UTC)

Speedy deletion of "Petaurista caniceps"

A page you created, Petaurista caniceps, has been tagged for deletion, as it meets one or more of the criteria for speedy deletion; specifically, it is nonsense or gibberish.

You are welcome to contribute content which complies with our content policies and any applicable inclusion guidelines. However, please do not simply re-create the page with the same content. You may also wish to read our introduction to editing and guide to writing your first article.

Thank you. Gail (talk) 12:20, 20 December 2008 (UTC)

Rufous-crowned Sparrow

Interesting... I didn't realize that fall couldn't be used after a "the". Thanks for the copyedit. Rufous-crowned Sparrow (talk) 15:50, 21 December 2008 (UTC)

Talk

Shyamal, I am in Bangalore. Can I talk to you? My mobile number is NOTED&REMOVED.--Nvvchar (talk) 08:33, 22 December 2008 (UTC)

Will call you later this evening. Shyamal (talk) 12:09, 22 December 2008 (UTC)

• It was nice talking to you. I have some of the flickr pictures Ids which are licensed but I have failed to upload since the easy upload is not working. Will you please help upload the following Ids and give me the Image ids?

Eld's Deer (Thamin), http://www.flickr.com/photos/jasja_dekker/1855764456/ Thamin or Eld's Deer, http://www.flickr.com/photos/ideonexus/3015012348/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/66555845@N00/2265641657/ Thanks. --Nvvchar (talk) 02:23, 23 December 2008 (UTC)

The generally slow internet this week is related to the deep sea cable breakage near Egypt. I have uploaded two of the files File:CervusEldiAMNH.jpg and File:CervusEldiSkull.jpg, the google earth picture is copyrighted. Shyamal (talk) 03:04, 23 December 2008 (UTC)

Very prompt.Thank you very much.--Nvvchar (talk) 04:50, 23 December 2008 (UTC)

unitarian greetings

• a fine Xmas message for all of us to be mindful of.... hehehe. Cheers, Casliber (talk · contribs) 23:05, 24 December 2008 (UTC)

Heh heh - have a great holiday season nevertheless ! Shyamal (talk) 02:30, 25 December 2008 (UTC)

DYK for Grey-breasted Laughingthrush

On 27 December, 2008, Did you know? was updated with a fact from the article Grey-breasted Laughingthrush, 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.

Dravecky 20:36, 27 December 2008 (UTC)

North American River Otter

Hello Shyamal.

I was referred to you through Jimfbleak in reference to your expertise with images and copyrights. I came to him with a request for advice concerning an image transfer from a website to the North American River Otter article. The objective was to transfer a Range Map of this species from the IUCN Redlist Website: http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/12302. However, the image is copyrighted and Jimfbleak suggesting coming to you for further guidance. Do you have any suggestions on how to obtain a similar image that can be placed on the Wikipedia article?

Thank you and best regards, --Wikitrevor (talk) 20:54, 28 December 2008 (UTC)

Hello Shyamal.

I give you a thousand thanks. Thank you so much for your time and effort put into making the fantastic range map. Your contribution is splendid!

Thank you and best regards, --Wikitrevor (talk) 04:31, 29 December 2008 (UTC)

Please accept this Original Barnstar for your generosity and contribution to North American River Otter.

		The Original Barnstar
		--Wikitrevor (talk) 05:16, 29 December 2008 (UTC)

Thanks, I will try and read through your fascinating otter article soon. Shyamal (talk) 05:38, 29 December 2008 (UTC)

Help

Cite tag error at the Bar-tailed Godwit article. I updated records to match the paper rather than the earlier numbers from the website, and ended up with this cite tag error. Give it a look when free. prashanthns (talk) 10:49, 29 December 2008 (UTC)

Thanks. prashanthns (talk) 15:26, 29 December 2008 (UTC)

Acid dissociation constant

If you could weigh in on Petergans recent behavior with the article that would be great. If you look at the history and the talk page, you should be able to get a good idea of what has gone on.--Jorfer (talk) 18:40, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

Dendrelaphis images

Hi Shyamal, For the past three or four months, I've been busy reorganizing all of the snake images at Wikimedia Commons. I think I've been able to identify and organize most of them within a reasonable degree of accuracy, but I'm not sure about these two that you're apparently responsible for uploading: File:Bronzeback sal.jpg and File:Bronzeback head sal.jpg. I believe they are both of a Dendrelaphis species, but am not sure which one. Can you help? Thanks, --Jwinius (talk) 11:26, 3 January 2009 (UTC)

Thanks! --Jwinius (talk) 16:46, 4 January 2009 (UTC)

How to use this top Indian Wikipedian list for effective collaboration

Hi, I have added a section 'How to use this list for effective collaboration' on User:Tinucherian/Indians WP page to see if we can put this list to really good use, pl give your thoughts on the same and we can take it further from there. Thanks. Vjdchauhan (talk) 18:10, 6 January 2009 (UTC).

Image copyright/public domain?

Shyamal, I trust you are having a good new year.

Please confirm that I can upload images to Commons from 1941 1st edition of the Book of Indian Birds by Salim Ali, if I use {{PD-India]}.

I have an opportinity to get a first edition from which I would like to copy and upload images for use in some wiki articles. I don't want some jerk robot to delete images if I spend $ for the book. If I can't upload, I'll just get a cheaper used 2002 copy for reference.

Also, I have just about finished Central Asian Flyway and Suchindram Theroor Birds Sanctuary that I will loaded to mainspace tonight.

I will nominated a double hook DYK:

...that the proposed Suchindram Theroor Birds Sanctuary would be the southernmost protected area on the Central Asian Flyway, a bird migration route covering 30 countries used by 279 migratory waterbird populations?

Any comments, suggestion or edits will be appreciated.Marcus (talk) 01:31, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

Hi Marcus, best wishes for the new year too ! I think the picture may not qualify for PD-India since it applies to mainly anonymous works published prior to 1947. For those with authors traceable the 70 years after death would hold in this case going into PD in 1987+70 = 2057 ! But this kind of trivial illustration should be easy to make using Inkscape. Shyamal (talk) 10:45, 10 January 2009 (UTC)

Melon fly

Thank you for editing the article. I am new, and flies are not my main gig. Please hit the article with everything you've got. That goes for your friends too. (If you made those edits, then surely you know some bug guys on wiki.)--Anna Frodesiak (talk) 11:38, 10 January 2009 (UTC)

WikiProject History of Science newsletter : Issue V - January 2009

It's here at long last! The January 2009 issue of the WikiProject History of Science newsletter is ready, with exciting news about Darwin Day 2009. Please feel free to make corrections or add news about any project-related content you've been working on. You're receiving this because you are a participant in the History of Science WikiProject. You may read the newsletter or unsubscribe from this notification by following the link. Yours in discourse --ragesoss (talk) 02:54, 11 January 2009 (UTC)

Archiving

Oh, many thanks! There's much I still have to learn about the system. Macdonald-ross (talk) 09:40, 12 January 2009 (UTC)

Djibouti Francolin

Good luck in the jungle. When you get back and have an opportunity, would you be interested in sketching a Djibouti Francolin? I'm trying to bring it up to GA, but free images are lacking. There are links to a Birdlife sketch and some pictures in the External links. Thanks, and happy new year! Rufous-crowned Sparrow (talk) 17:19, 1 January 2009 (UTC)

Back with less than expected tick and leech marks ! Will try a shot at this. I generally find birds with vermiculations, streaks and complicated patterning a little tough to do justice using SVG. Strangely the photograph here and the illustration here look quite different. More later. Shyamal (talk) 10:52, 10 January 2009 (UTC)

Hmmm. The picture at the bottom of this page seems to be closer in appearance to the ones in the Rare Birds Yearbook. I'm not sure why the red is so prevalent on the picture that you used or, for that matter, the BirdLife sketch. Could you make the bird's back a lighter gray as it approaches the neck, make the top of the head a light gray while keeping a small red eyestripe just above the eye, and ring the individual reddish feathers with some more light gray? Look at the picture yourself and see if you agree with these suggestions. Thank you. Rufous-crowned Sparrow (talk) 21:50, 12 January 2009 (UTC)

Ah, had not seen this image. Will look over it. Shyamal (talk) 01:24, 13 January 2009 (UTC)

Thank you. The only thing I would change would be to make the eyestripe above the eye a bit more vibrant red. Other than that, it looks good with the pictures in the RBYearbook and on the website. I don't know why it appears so different from the BL sketch. I haven't read anything that mentioned two different color morphs. Thanks again. Rufous-crowned Sparrow (talk) 03:22, 13 January 2009 (UTC)

Thanks. I went ahead and placed it in the article. Rufous-crowned Sparrow (talk) 04:33, 13 January 2009 (UTC)