>From Russell Rogers, Seattle WA, rrogers at halcyon.com

I am one of those people that Dennis spoke of that never used the name
Green-backed Heron. I do fell a little bit of a victory on that one, but
it is over shadowed by the heckling that I get when I use the name Common
Teal for the same reason that I used Green Heron.

Green-backed Heron was not even the name of the species that Green Heron
was lumped with. That species was called Striated Heron. Green-backed
Heron was a subspecies of the Striated Heron. Why the AOU picked
Green-backed Heron to use for the whole complex is a mystery to me.

Now, the Green-winged teal was lumped with the Eurasian Green-winged Teal
or Common Teal. Dose it not make sense to call the whole complex "Common
Teal" and refer to the subspecies as "Eurasian Green-winged Teal" and
"American Green-winged Teal"?

Why is it so easy to change the name of a heron and not a teal? By the
way I still call it a Common Gallinule for no good reason other than I
like the way it sounds.

Russell