Chapter · Colombia · Today
One thousand nine hundred and sixty-six birds
A world record, an official list, and what a figure does not say
No country holds as many bird species as Colombia, and the country has turned that record into a tourism argument. This path reads the two documents carrying the figures, a scientific paper and a ministry press release, and shows that they do not measure the same thing.
Context first
A lesson to read before the others, to set the scene.
- The place
- The era
- The people
The lessons in this chapter
- 1A twenty-four-hour censusOne thousand five hundred and sixty species in twenty-four hours, three thousand six hundred observers, twelve thousand checklists: a world ranking that measures a country's organisation as much as its fauna.10 min
- 2One thousand nine hundred and sixty-sixThe official list went from 1,909 to 1,966 species, through first records, taxonomic splits and established exotics. Three very different causes, added into one figure.10 min
- 3What counting meansThree figures, three objects: what is documented, what was seen on one Saturday, and what a ranking earns. None of them says whether the country's birds are doing better.10 min
How these lessons are written
Each lesson starts from first-hand sources: Wikisource, Gallica, Persée, archives, museums and institutes. A fact without a source does not get written, and every lesson lists its own as direct links.
The rhythm
A lesson is five minutes of cards and four questions. Those questions then come back the next day, then at 3, 7, 21 and 60 days, and that return is what makes it stick. One a day is enough, and you can do several in a row.