Hi all -
Thanks to Ryan's post, I just lost some time perusing the latest AOU
decisionmaking about the List.
Here are a couple more changes, for those who enjoy such tidbits -
This is all just my understanding based on a brief reading, so be
sure to check out the actual report if you want actual details....

Basically, the Blue Grouse split is the news as far as species goes,
but lots of other changes are included.

In several places, the order of the list has been reorganized.
*Within shorebirds, several genera are moved into Tringa, with a
resulting shuffling of the order of the shorebird listings.
*Jaegers & Skuas are moved out of Laridae and into their own family,
just before Alcids on the list.
*Lots of shifting & genus renaming within the Terns [in general,
Sterna gets split up into many old genera names]
*I think our cuckoos get swapped in their ordering on the list, too

*Finally, we can now look forward to non-countable records of African
Collared-Dove instead of Ringed Turtle-Dove [I bet Ned didn't realize
he was reporting an African Collared-Dove at Marymoor last week!]

What's a person who tries to keep an orderly list to do? I think I'll
leave these shuffles for the fall round of the WA Birder checklist,
since the Summer checklist is ready to be distributed.... Beyond
that, soon the new books will be re-arranged.....

Best,

Matt Bartels
Seattle, WA

PS - If anyone has the urge to dismiss all this info as just a
'listers' game, I encourage you to take a look at the reports to see
some of the interesting references to the research that has informed
all these 'minor' shifts....

>Looks like Washington gains a species through a split. Blue Grouse
>has been split into Sooty Grouse - Dendragapus fuliginosus, and
>Dusky Grouse - Dendragapus obscurus.
>
>Sooty Grouse would be the Coastal to the Cascades species, where the
>Dusky Grouse would be SE Washington, ie Blue Mts, and I believe
>North Central-NE part of the state..
>
>Check out the following link for more information. Sibley has both
>illustrated in his field guide as separate races of Blue Grouse.
>
>http://www.aou.org/checklist/Suppl47.pdf
>
>Ryan Shaw
>Lakewood WA
>rtshaw80 at hotmail.com
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