Tweets,
I wanted to take a moment to respond to the issue of capitalizing bird
names, especially in regard to journals. While it is true that the larger
journals do follow the rule to capitalize names, it should be noted that not
all journals do. Two journals geared to northwestern biology, and do contain
ornithological articles, Northwest Science and Northwestern Naturalist, DO
NOT believe in capitalization always. To quote from the author instructions
for Northwest Science:
" Common names for species should not be capitalized except when derived
from a proper name. Thus, "mountain hemlock" or "white-crowned sparrow," but
"Douglas-fir" or "Clark's nutcracker." " Northwestern Science follows a
similar protocol. This isn't a commentary to which convention is proper,
merely an observation that despite what has been posted not ALL journals
subscribe to "always capitalize all organism names".

Scott Downes
downess at charter.net
Yakima WA