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From: deby@cs.utwente.nl (Rolf de By)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Re: European vs. American Bird Names
Message-ID: <1991Apr17.090417@cs.utwente.nl>
Date: 17 Apr 91 07:04:17 GMT
References: <1991Apr11.120249.8804@verdix.com> <1991Apr13.111608@cs.utwente.nl> <4529@gmdzi.gmd.de>
Sender: deby@cs (Rolf de By)
Organization: University of Twente, Dept. of Computer Science
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Originator: deby@utis98


Daan Sandee writes:

|> 
|> Yellow-legged Gull is occasional on N.Am. East Coast, but I haven't heard
|> what A.O.U. thinks.
|> 

This species seems hardly within the verdict of the A.O.U. They should simply
follow what someone in Eurasia decides. But obviously, it's their choice
whom to follow.

|> 
|> But the question remains, is the BOU making the decisions for the entire
|> Western Palaearctic? No doubt that's what they think themselves ...

Taxonomic decisions are never made with the consent of all. With respect to this
North America is in a much better position than Europe simply because it has
fewer formal bodies. For the twitchers/listers amongst us such bodies are always
too slow, lagging behind in years on the literature available. For listing purposes you just have to rely on a single checklist (Peters, Moore, or whatever)
and augment for yourself as new literature comes along. Obviously, it is an immense task to follow all of them, and some good contacts are very helpful in
identifying generally accepted (amongst field ornithologists, not amongst ?OU's) splits and lumps.

|> Checking Voous's list (he's not British, by the way, I know), I find that
|> he lumps the following Nearctic/Palaearctic species pairs :
|>  Great Egret      (Casmerodius albus)     - subsp of Common Egret, Egretta alba
|>  Black-vented Shearwater (Puffinus opistomelas) - subsp. of P.puffinus
|>  Black-necked Stilt (Himantopus mexicanus) - subsp of H. himantopus
|>  Least Tern (Sterna antillarum)           - subsp of Little Tern, S. albifrons
|>  Brown Creeper (Certhia americana)        - subsp of Treecreeper, C. familiaris

What I know of general acceptance of the taxonomic status of these species (and I have to since I've seen all pairs except for the Shearwater) is that egret (in Europe usually named Egretta alba), stilt and creeper are considered conspecific,
while the tern is a true split. I wouldn't be surprised about a split off for the
Shearwater as we have a similar split off from P. puffinus in Europe (and which
I forgot to mention in my last post):

Yelkouan Shearwater		Puffinus yelkouan
	(this is a Mediterranean shearwater occurring regularly off the coasts
	  of western Europe in early autumn, e.g., Holland has a couple of records
          each year)

|> 
|> So anyone birding both continents will have to decide which authority to
|> follow.
|> Voous also doesn't recognize recent North American splits, which is reasonable.
|> I've only listed Holarctic species, or species pairs.
|>
|> Daan Sandee                                          sandee@mimikri.gmd.de
|> Thinking Machines Corporation
|> Gesellschaft fuer Mathematik und Datenverarbeitung
|> D-5205 Sankt Augustin, Germany                       Phone: +49 2241 142410


Rolf
-- 
Rolf A. de By
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