Subject: [Tweeters] Pacific Wren / American Scoter - AOU checklist changes
Date: Jul 27 13:58:51 2010
From: Adam Sedgley - sedge.thrasher at gmail.com


Hi Tweets,

Forget Winter Wrens or Black Scoters 'round these parts, the AOU changes are
now official: these species are now referred to as *Pacific Wren* (in the
PNW) and *American Scoter* (in the New World).

An interesting summary from http://earbirding.com/blog/
Species split

1. Winter Wren is split into three species: *Pacific Wren (Troglodytes
pacificus)* in northwestern North America; *Winter Wren (Troglodytes
hiemalis)*in eastern North America; and *Eurasian Wren (Troglodytes
troglodytes)* in the Old World. Vocal differences were important in this
split; see my older posts on how to separate Pacific from Winter Wrens by
song <http://earbirding.com/blog/archives/826> and
call<http://earbirding.com/blog/archives/774>
.
2. Whip-poor-will is split into *Mexican Whip-poor-will (Caprimulgus
arizonae)* and *Eastern Whip-poor-will (Caprimulgus vociferus)*. Vocal
differences were important here as well; see my earlier
post<http://earbirding.com/blog/archives/2003> on
this topic.
3. Black Scoter is split into *American Scoter (Melanitta americana)* in
the New World and *Black Scoter (Melanitta nigra)* in the Old World.
Once again vocal differences were key, and once again you can hear them in
an earlier post <http://earbirding.com/blog/archives/1472>.

A couple of Latin American trogon species, the Greater Antillean Oriole, and
the Elepaio of the Hawaiian islands were also split.


I am also curious, what old names persist for other Tweets? I have been
known to resurrect - especially in times of excitement - *Solitary Vireo*.
Others? Rock Dove? Western Flycatcher? Blue Grouse? Oldsquaw? Long-billed
Marsh Wren?


--
Adam Sedgley
S e a t t l e, WA
sedge.thrasher [at] gmail [dot] com
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman1.u.washington.edu/pipermail/tweeters/attachments/20100727/51bad45b/attachment.htm