Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uwm.edu!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!brutus.cs.uiuc.edu!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!tank!ncar!unmvax!nmtsun!john From: john@nmtsun.nmt.edu (John Shipman) Newsgroups: rec.birds Subject: Re: Latin names (was: Birding Magazines) Message-ID: <3736@nmtsun.nmt.edu> Date: 10 Jan 90 21:34:21 GMT References: <2359@leah.Albany.Edu> <425@fsu.scri.fsu.edu> <428@fsu.scri.fsu.edu> Reply-To: john@nmtsun.nmt.edu (John Shipman) Organization: Zoological Data Processing Lines: 56 I, for one, have greatly enjoyed the exchange between Daan Sandee (sandee@sun6.scri.fsu.edu) and Annika Forsten (misan@ra.abo.fi). Please don't move to e-mail; this exchange has been a glimpse into another world that we don't see much here. This group has pretty low volume, and for me, this discussion is highly preferable to topics like ``Biting Conures.'' Annika had a good point about how Latin names can help you learn the relationships of birds. However, be advised that the DNA-DNA hybridization work of Sibley and Alquist is currently turning this world upside down. A fascinating article in _Birding_, Volume XX, #6 (Dec. 1988) by Paul de Benedictis shows their current thinking on the beta taxonomy (arrangement of higher categories) of the checklist. Ducks and chickens have been placed together at the beginning of the list. Goatsuckers and owls are together in Order Strigiformes. Order Ciconiiformes now includes not only the herons, but also shorebirds, hawks, grebes, boobies, cormorants, pelicans, vultures, frigatebirds, loons, and tubenoses. Olive Warbler (_Peucedramus taeniatus_) is in a monotypic subfamily of Fringillidae. This is only a small fraction of the major changes Sibley and Alquist have proposed. De Benedictis finishes his article with this statement: ``As long as ornithologists want classifications to reflect phylogeny, then it will be very difficult to reject this arrangement of the birds of the world. You need not rush to change the sequence of checklists today, but don't be surprised if something very much like it is used in the Seventh Edition of the AOU Check-list.'' Daan writes: +--- | After birding all over this country for four years, I have | yet to meet one true Hispanic (meaning Spanish-speaking) | birder. If you read AB, you will see many contributors with | Spanish names: I'm sure all those have English as their | mother tongue. The millions of Spanish-speaking Americans don't | bird, apparently. Although the areas they live in are among | the most interesting in this country, birdwise. +--- I certainly agree with you about the Southwest! The birding is terrific down here. The town I live in has a population of about 8,000, of whom somewhat over half are Hispanic. I hear a lot of Spanish spoken here and quite a bit of Spanglish, too. I agree that Hispanic birders are rare, although I have met a few. I don't know why there aren't more. -- John Shipman/Zoological Data Processing/Socorro, New Mexico USENET: ucbvax!unmvax!nmtsun!john CSNET: john@nmtsun.nmt.edu ``Let's go outside and commiserate with nature.'' --Dave Farber