Hi tweeters,

Is anyone up on the Latin names of bird species? or know where we can
look, or who to ask?

We just got back from New Zealand and are trying to add the New Zealand
birds to our life lists. We thought all we would need to do would be to
check the Latin names. But it isn't working.
For example, there is the bird they call the White Heron (Egretta alba)
(Collins Birds of New Zealand, ca1981). Is it the same species as our
Great Egret (Casmerodious albus in Peterson's Western Birds 1990, and in
Birds of BC Vol. I 1990, and in The Birder's Handbook by Ehrlich et.al.
1988).
Howell & Webb (1995) in Guide to the Birds of Mexico and Northern
Central America give the Latin name for Great Egret as Egretta alba egretta.



Sandra Kinsey
ae457 at pgfn.bc.ca
Prince George, BC