Jennifer Felicity Mary Horne (died 5 October 2008 in Nanyuki, Kenya) also known as Jenny Horne or after her marriage as Jennifer Horne-Short, was a Kenyan ornithologist and bioacoustician. During a

British Ornithologists' Union The British Ornithologists' Union (BOU) aims to encourage the study of birds ("ornithology") and around the world, in order to understand their biology and to aid their conservation. The BOU was founded in 1858 by Professor Alfred Newton, Henry ...

financed Mascarenes expedition in 1973 and 1974, she made the first complete voice recording study of all endemic land birds including Réunion Harrier,

Echo Parakeet The echo parakeet (''Psittacula eques'') is a species of parrot endemic to the Mascarene Islands of Mauritius and formerly Réunion. It is the only living native parrot of the Mascarene Islands; all others have become extinct due to human activit ...

Mauritius Kestrel The Mauritius kestrel (''Falco punctatus'') is a bird of prey from the family Falconidae endemic to the forests of Mauritius, where it is restricted to the southwestern plateau's forests, cliffs, and ravines. It is the most distinct of the Indi ...

Pink Pigeon The pink pigeon (''Nesoenas mayeri'') is a species of pigeon in the family Columbidae endemic to Mauritius. The pink pigeon nearly became extinct in the 1970s and the 1990s and is still very rare. It is the only Mascarene pigeon that has not beco ...

Mascarene Swiftlet The Mascarene swiftlet or Mauritius swiftlet (''Aerodramus francicus'') is a species of swift in the family Apodidae. It is found in Mauritius and Réunion, and the populations on the two islands have recently been confirmed to differ subspecifica ...

and

Mascarene Martin The Mascarene martin or Mascarene swallow (''Phedina borbonica'') is a passerine bird in the swallow family that breeds in Madagascar and in the Mascarene Islands. The nominate subspecies occurs on Mauritius and Réunion and has never been found ...

. In 1974 she teamed up with Colin Groves in the Tana River floodplain where they studied the endangered

Tana River Red Colobus The Tana River red colobus (''Piliocolobus rufomitratus''), also called the eastern red colobus, is a highly endangered species of primate in the family Cercopithecidae. It is endemic to a narrow zone of gallery forest near the Tana River in sout ...

and the

Tana River Mangabey The Tana River mangabey (''Cercocebus galeritus'') is a highly endangered species of primate in the family Cercopithecidae. Some authorities have included the taxa ''agilis'' and '' sanjei'' as subspecies of this species, while others award the ...

. In 1978 she married ornithologist

Lester L. Short Lester Leroy Short (born May 29, 1933) is an American ornithologist. His main research field is the order Piciformes. Biography Short was born in Port Chester, New York. In 1955 he received a PHD from Cornell University. After a study of vertebra ...

. As research associate and later senior research fellow in the

National Museums of Kenya The National Museums of Kenya (NMK) is a state corporation that manages museums, sites and monuments in Kenya. It carries out heritage research, and has expertise in subjects ranging from palaeontology, archeology, ethnography and biodiversit ...

she and her husband took part in an ornithological project which lasted from 1985 to 1999. They studied the behaviour of the

honeyguide Honeyguides (family Indicatoridae) are near passerine birds in the order Piciformes. They are also known as indicator birds, or honey birds, although the latter term is also used more narrowly to refer to species of the genus '' Prodotiscus''. Th ...

s on the Ol Ari Nyiro estate in Laikipia, Kenya and compiled an ornithological list of all birds recorded on the Ol Ari Nyiro estate. She was also among the team who rediscovered the

Cuban Ivory-billed Woodpecker The Cuban ivory-billed woodpecker ( es, carpintero real, link=no) (''Campephilus principalis bairdii'') is a subspecies of the ivory-billed woodpecker native to Cuba. Originally classified as a separate species, recent research has indicated tha ...

for a short time in 1986/87 (since declared likely extinct). Jennifer Horne was a member of

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding ...

. Together with Lester L. Short she wrote the chapter of the toucans, barbets and honeyguides in the

Handbook of the Birds of the World The ''Handbook of the Birds of the World'' (HBW) is a multi-volume series produced by the Spanish publishing house Lynx Edicions in partnership with BirdLife International. It is the first handbook to cover every known living species of bird. T ...

(Volume 7) and the book ''Toucans, Barbets and Honeyguides: Ramphastidae, Capitonidae and Indicatoridae''.

Publications (selected)

*Groves C.P., R.J. Andrew & J.F.M. Horne (1974). Tana river colobus and mangabey. In: Oryx: 12(5): 565–575. *Short, L.L., J.F.M. Horne & C. Muringo-Gichuki (1990). Annotated Check-list of the Birds of East Africa. Proceedings of the Western Foundation of Vertebrate Zoology 4(3): 61–246. *Short, L.L. & J.F.M. Horne (2005). The avifauna of an upland seasonal woodland in central Kenya: ecology, behaviour, breeding. Bonner Zoologische Monographien 53: 1–80. *Horne, J.F.M. (1987). Vocalisations of the endemic land birds of the Mascarene Islands. In A.W. Diamond (ed.), Studies of Mascarene Island Birds. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK in 1987. Pp. 101–150. *Short, L.L., R. Schodde & J.F.M. Horne (1983). Five-way hybridization of Varied Sittellas ''Daphoenositta chrysoptera'' (Aves: Neosittidae) in Central Queensland. Australian Journal of Zoology 31: 499–516. *Short, L.L. & J.F.M. Horne (2002). Family Indicatoridae (Honeyguides) In J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott & J. Sargatal (eds), Handbook of birds of the World, Vol. 7. Jacamars to Woodpeckers. Lynx Editions, Barcelona. pp. 274–295.

References

*Kim Howell: Jenny Horne: In Appreciation of a Kenyan Mentor In: '' Journal of East African Natural History'' 98(1): 7–9 (2009
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