Subject: Re: towhees
Date: Apr 27 18:36:53 1997
From: Don Baccus - donb at rational.com


J. Heywood wrote:
>
> I would like to know why this name change, since to me they
> obviously have rufous sides, but I have yet to appreciate spots, except on
> the pictures of immatures in our birdbook. Also, our birdbooks, not
> ancient, still name them 'rufous.'

> This has been "bugging" my birdbrain for two months!

The eastern and western populations of rufous-sided towhee were recently
split into separate species. Our taxonomic system changes as research
advances our knowledge of the ecology of birds, with species sometimes
being "lumped" or subspecies being "split" appropriately based on
current
knowledge.

Compared to the eastern version, ours actually is spotted, though it's
not
the bird's most prominent feature. I think it got called this as part
of
the long-standing tradition of naming birds after their least-noticable
field mark, ala the ring-necked duck :)

--
- Don Baccus, Portland OR <donb at rational.com>
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