The species accounts are intended to be a database designed to provide a quick reference source to basic biological details about each species. Since the main purpose of GRIN is assist conservation efforts, the emphasis is mostly upon characteristics and behavior that may have some relevance to species survival or management. Other details, e.g., information on plumages, identification tips, courtship displays, and vocalizations, are omitted here, but can be found in the many excellent field guides on raptors.
All of the accounts are incomplete to some degree at this point, but additional details are being added on a daily basis, and it is hoped that they will steadily become more useful. The intent is to ultimately exploit the great advantages – global access, currency, and essentially unlimited text-space -- of electronic communication over traditional forms of publication.
Under distribution, countries are arranged approximately longitudinally from north to south. The approach used with GRIN has been to extract general information from regional and country handbooks and to gradually supplement those details with newer findings published in the primary literature.
All citations mentioned in the species accounts can be found in the GRIN bibliography. The "Important References" listed on the main page are mostly general accounts, including handbook accounts and monographs, and those on succeeding pages (using the "more" icons) are mostly from the primary literature. These sections are intended to provide entry to major literature sources for each species, but users should also search on the GRIN bibliography for more extensive coverage. The selection of the citations included in the species accounts is necessarily arbitrary, and suggestions as to worthy additions are most welcome.
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