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The
Latest
I just got back from speaking and
trip-leading at the ABA
Conference in Vancouver and Victoria, British Columbia. Seeing a
Short-tailed Shearwater and a couple Sooty Grouse was the highlight for
me.Soon I'll be headed to South Texas to lead trips at the Lower Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival in Harlingen. I'm still writing trip reports for the tours I led earlier this year (five in Mexico, one in Texas, and one in Illinois). The Oaxaca, Yucatán/Chiapas, Upper Texas Coast, and La Pesca reports are now on the web. I just finished two paintings for Meadowlark, a Sprague's Pipit and a Prairie Warbler. I'm writing and reviewing for ABA's Birding magazine, as well as creating species accounts for an upcoming field guide. MISCELLANEA Both the AOU and ABA checklist supplements are out, and they include seven changes that will impact birders in North America. 1. Greater Flamingo (Phoenicopterus roseus) split from American Flamingo (P. ruber). The lumped species was know as Greater Flamingo. Only American Flamingo occurs naturally in North America. In addition, the flamingo order, Phoenicopteriformes, has changed position. It now occurs after the grebes on the checklist, to show its relatedness with that group. 2. Spot-billed Duck was split into Indian Spot-billed Duck (Anas poecilorhyncha) and Eastern Spot-billed Duck (A. zonorhyncha). Only the latter has occurred naturally in North America. 3. There was an overhaul in gull taxonomy, with many old genera resurrected. The new scientific names and new checklist order are shown below. Species which underwent a changes in scientific name are denoted with an asterisk (*). Creagrus furcatus Swallow-tailed Gull Rissa tridactyla Black-legged Kittiwake Rissa brevirostris Red-legged Kittiwake Pagophila eburnea Ivory Gull Xema sabini Sabine’s Gull *Chroicocephalus philadelphia Bonaparte’s Gull *Chroicocephalus cirrocephalus Gray-hooded Gull *Chroicocephalus ridibundus Black-headed Gull *Hydrocoloeus minutus Little Gull Rhodostethia rosea Ross’s Gull *Leucophaeus modestus Gray Gull *Leucophaeus atricilla Laughing Gull *Leucophaeus pipixcan Franklin’s Gull Larus belcheri Belcher’s Gull Larus crassirostris Black-tailed Gull Larus heermanni Heermann’s Gull Larus canus Mew Gull Larus delawarensis Ring-billed Gull Larus occidentalis Western Gull Larus livens Yellow-footed Gull Larus californicus California Gull Larus argentatus Herring Gull Larus michahellis Yellow-legged Gull Larus thayeri Thayer’s Gull Larus glaucoides Iceland Gull Larus fuscus Lesser Black-backed Gull Larus schistisagus Slaty-backed Gull Larus glaucescens Glaucous-winged Gull Larus hyperboreus Glaucous Gull Larus marinus Great Black-backed Gull Larus dominicanus Kelp Gull 4. Green Violet-ear has been renamed Green Violetear, without the hyphen. 5. Many of the Turdus thrushes have had their common names changed from robin to thrush. For North Americans, this only affects “Mexican” species. So, White-throated Robin becomes White-throated Thrush and Clay-colored Robin becomes Clay-colored Thrush. American Robin is certainly never going to change names, and the retention of the name Rufous-backed Robin for its close relative may be due to that relatedness, though this was not explicitly stated. 6. A motion to split "American Herring Gull" (Larus argentatus smithsonianus) from Herring Gull was defeated. 7. The only ABA change that will likely affect many birders is the addition of the South Florida population of Common Myna to the list of countable exotics. ~There are also many 2008 AOU changes in Middle America, including . . . 1. Slender-billed Kite changes from (Rostrhamus hamatus) to (Helicolestes hamatus). 2. Mangrove Black-Hawk (Buteogallus subtilis) is lumped into Common Black-Hawk. (B. anthracinus). 3. The genus Pyrilia was split from the genus Pionopsitta. Consequently, Saffron-headed Parrot changes from Pionopsitta pyrilia to Pyrilia pyrilia, and Brown-hooded Parrot changes from Pionopsitta haematotis to Pyrilia haematotis. 4. All members of the genus Colibri lose the hyphen in their common names; thus, all violet-ears become violetears. 5. The common name of Goethalsia bella changes from Rufous-cheeked Hummingbird to Pirre Hummingbird. 6. Nonnula frontalis (Gray-cheeked Nunlet) split from N. ruficapilla (Rufous-capped Nunlet). 7. Some members of the genus Piculus are moved to Colaptes, including Golden-olive Woodpecker (Colaptes rubiginosus) and Gray-crowned Woodpecker (C. auricularis). 8. The enigmatic Sapayoa (Sapayoa aenigma) has been placed in the family Eurylaimidae, along with the Old World suboscines: pitas, asities, and broadbills. 9. Checker-throated Antwren changes from Myrmotherula fulviventris to Epinecrophylla fulviventris. 10. The family Formicariidae (“ground antbirds”) is split three ways. The antthrushes (Formicarius and Chamaeza) remain in Formicariidae. The true antpittas (Grallaria, Hylopezus, Grallaricula) get a new family, Grallariidae The “gnatpittas” of the genus Pittasoma are moved into the gnateater family, Conopophagidae. 11. The common name of Cnipodectes subbrunneus changes from Brownish Flycatcher to Brownish Twistwing. 12. Yellow-throated Flycatcher (Conopias parvus) and White-ringed Flycatcher (C. albovittatus) are split. 13. Most of the Turdus thrushes have had their common names changed from robin to thrush. Thus, we now have Sooty Thrush, Bare-eyed Thrush, Clay-colored Thrush, White-throated Thrush, Black Thrush, and Mountain Thrush. American Robin is certainly never going to change names, and the retention of the names Rufous-collared Robin and Rufous-backed Robin for its close relatives may be due to that relatedness, though this was not explicitly stated. 14. The common name of Chlorothraupis carmioli changes from Olive Tanager to Carimol’s Tanager. 15. Sooty-faced Finch (Lysurus) and Green-striped, Stripe-headed, and Chestnut-crowned Brushfinches (Buarremon) are merged into the genus Arremon. 16. Troupial is split into Venezuelan Troupial (Icterus icterus), Orange-backed Troupial (I. croconotus), and Campo Troupial (I. jamacaii). 17. ʻAnianiau gets its own genus, so it changes from Hemignathus parvus to Magumma parva. ~ Here's a run-down of the most noteworthy changes to appear in last year's 2007 Supplement of the AOU Checklist.
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| If you're looking for content
present on the old Xenospiza.com website, click here. All of the trip report
information is still accessible. If you can't find something
you're looking for, please let me know. I’d like to offer a big thank you to Jay Packer (of Ocellated), who was instrumental in the setup of this webspace. Without his many hours of help, this site would not exist. |
