Wikipedia:Featured article candidates/Splendid Fairy-wren

The following is an archived discussion of a featured article nomination. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the article's talk page or in Wikipedia talk:Featured article candidates. No further edits should be made to this page.

The article was promoted 04:16, 23 October 2007.

Splendid Fairy-wren edit

I am nominating Splendid Fairy-wren at FAC.. I developed this at the same time as Superb Fairy-wren, and was going to leave it but some very generous birdwatchers donated some terrific photos with characteristic behaviours. I believe it fulifils criteria WRT prose, formatting, refs and comprehensiveness. cheers, Casliber (talk · contribs) 03:31, 19 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Support Blnguyen (bananabucket) 03:54, 19 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Yes

Same suggestion(s) I stated in your other FAC bird article. Learnedo 19:49, 19 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the support. I'm trying to judiciously handpick some quality links. cheers, Casliber (talk · contribs) 20:27, 19 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Support ~~Comments~~ I just gave the page a thourough copyedit and believe that it still has a few problems with the prose and possible confusions. For example:

"is a wide-ranging fairy-wren found from western New South Wales across to Western Australia."

don't like how its worded (changed - how's that - feel free to tweak) cheers, Casliber (talk · contribs) 04:36, 21 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

"Thus in 1975, the first three forms below were sunk into Malurus splendens."

Sunk? Isn't there a better term? (yes, was a bit casual ---> done) cheers, Casliber (talk · contribs) 04:29, 21 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

"A clutch of two to four matt white eggs..."

What is matt? (=dull/lustreless) cheers, Casliber (talk · contribs) 04:30, 21 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Also, I plugged in a cite needed tag under Distribution. Thanks. Rufous-crowned Sparrow 03:44, 21 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

(well spotted - I'd forgotten the ref -done) cheers, Casliber (talk · contribs) 04:32, 21 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I am happy to address any other concerns. cheers, Casliber (talk · contribs) 04:36, 21 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I've given the article another copyedit. A few quick and easy possible changes stood out to me. First, in the subspecies, could you list the describer's full name and link him? And who described emmottorum? In the Distribution section, do you want to refer to the subspecies by the subspecific name instead of the subspecies's common name? Up to you, but may cause a casual reader some confusion. And under Courtship, what are conspecifics? I'm assuming the female wren, but you may wish to clarify this. Other than that, I think it looks pretty good. Thanks. Rufous-crowned Sparrow 23:10, 21 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

OK, done all I can at the moment - material on emmottorum is tricky to come by and I have expanded as much has I can presently.cheers, Casliber (talk · contribs) 00:20, 22 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Support now. Thanks for adressing my concerns. ~~However, you did miss Matthews in the M. s. musgravei section (no first name).~~ (Oops, you did this while typing this bit up). Thanks. Rufous-crowned Sparrow 00:22, 22 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

~~Conditional~~ Support under the assumption my objections are addressed:
- There are no references in lead section. People who use the lead to get a general idea on the subject, which is why articles are written in summary style, should be able to get their references without scouring the rest of the article.

(tricky this - I reffed the two most unusual statements -everything else is fairly mundane. Wasn't sure if a lead peppered with refs was necessarily good either. I am happy to slot a couple more in if you want.)

Done Reffing the unusual suspects is fine. Just make sure the rest of them are referenced elsewhere in the piece. - Mgm|^(talk) 21:55, 22 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

- Females while incubating emit a purr. "While incubating" either needs to be enclosed in commas, as it is a clause, or be moved to the end of the sentence. Also, to me as non-expert incubating is a vague term. Incubating what? Do you mean breeding?

Done(OK - changed to "Females emit a purr while brooding." - could also go with "Brooding females emit a purr." but that seems just a little too perfunctory somehow.) cheers, Casliber (talk · contribs) 11:42, 22 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

- Done"Groups of two to eight Splendid Fairy-wrens remain in and defend their territories year-round." Since you describe them as monogamous, I'm assuming grouped birds have 1 territory. Also, "remain in and defend their" is a somewhat odd construction. I suggest using: "Groups of two to eight Splendid Fairy-wrens remain in their territory and defend it year-round." (like it. done)
- Do the birds show a preference for taking petals of any particular species of flower instead of just the color? (unknown - only colour recorded to date - was wondering that myself)
  - Too bad, not much we can do about that apart from original research, perhaps we can get an ornithologist to look into it? - Mgm|^(talk) 21:55, 22 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]
- I had a little trouble picturing the nest in my mind. Can someone obtain an image? (I'll try looking)
  - Not done Feel free to alter the template once one is found. An image would be the icing on the cake, but I'm not going to oppose one missing image that might be hard to get. - Mgm|^(talk) 21:55, 22 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]
- "A study conducted on a population of Black-backed Fairy-wrens has shown them to be socially monogamous and sexually promiscuous, meaning that although they form pairs between one male and one female, each partner will mate with other individuals and even assist in raising the young from such pairings. In this case over a third of offspring were the result of these matings.[49]" Why mention Black-backed wrens? Repeat of earlier info. The monogamous and promiscuous comment is a repeat from earlier and I don't see the link to the Splendid Fairy-wren. - Mgm|^(talk) 09:05, 22 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Done(Good spot - the Black-backed is a subspecies of the splendid - forgot to change that. And I've melded the two passages together.)cheers, Casliber (talk · contribs) 11:55, 22 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Let me know if all OK (apart from nest photo - will cross figners on that one) now MGM :) cheers, Casliber (talk · contribs) 13:16, 22 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I've stricken the conditional out. You know have my support. - Mgm|^(talk) 21:55, 22 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

The above discussion is preserved as an archive. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the article's talk page or in Wikipedia talk:Featured article candidates. No further edits should be made to this page.