Bryan, almost everywhere Palm Warblers spend the winter there are palm
trees. Common names really are fun. How did the grouse get the name
"Spruce" but not any of the other many spruce-forest birds? Just one
example.

For the Canadians tuning in, you might be surprised at how often Canada has
been commemorated. Figure out all the birds that have "canadensis" as a
species name (not including the two mentioned by Alvaro Jaramillo as not
even occurring in Canada!). I have't figured out how many "americana"
there are, but I think it's fewer. And, as I wrote before, no
"unitedstatesensis" at all. We didn't choose the most picturesque or
usable name for our country. Latin Americans calls us "estadosunidosenses"
when they're not saying "norteamericanos" (which I guess includes
Canadians). This is only speculation, but I'll bet if the founding fathers
had chosen a shorter, more picturesque, name for the country, there'd be
plenty of common and scientific names commemorating it, because there are
many, many bird species originally described from the U.S.

Dennis Paulson phone: (206) 756-3798
Slater Museum of Natural History fax: (206) 756-3352
University of Puget Sound e-mail: dpaulson at ups.edu
Tacoma, WA 98416