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Coming! a New Official Checklist of North American Birds -A Revolution

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Coming! a New Official Checklist of North American Birds -A Revolution CLASSIFICATION, NOMENCLATURE Coming: A new official checklist of North American Birds --a revolution in avian nomenclature Be prepared to re-learn many names and a new sequence in our list of birds Paul A. DeBenedictis --Educational Communicationsand Studies,Upstate Medical Center,766 Irving Avenue,Syracuse, NY 13210. lMPORTANTNEW checklist of The Supplement was produced in re- With this introduction, let me sum- orth American birds was pub- sponse to numerous requests for an marize the significant changes in the lishedin an abridged,preview versionin official preview of the classificationof order which I think most readers of 1982 Many readers of American Birds North American Birds, in advance of these pages will want to know: first the may be disturbedby whatfollows, since publication of the Sixth Edition. The changes in species status, then other the new list changesthe classificationof Supplement comprisesthree introduc- changesto English names; and last the North American birds even more than tory paragraphsand a skeletallist of the revision of the systematic arrangement the two prior supplements to the "English" and scientific names of the of specieswithin the Check-list and the A.O.U. Check-list I of North American birds known from the area covered by changes in scientific nomenclature. Birds (Fifth Edition), and it also the Fifth Edition, less Greenland, Ber- changesthe "English" (= vernacular) muda, and Baja California, Mexico, but Changesadopted in the Thirty-second namesof many species,including some including Hawaii. The Supplement Supplementto the A.O.U. Check-hst whose taxonomic status went unal- omits speciesknown from this area only (1973)already have been summarized in tered Further, this list may not be ig- from sight records, but these will be thesepages (Tare and Kibbe, 1974).The nored, since it represents in reduced included in an appendix to the Sixth changes to species status (involving form the namesand sequenceof listing Edition. The Supplement owes some of Brant, Green Heron, [Hawaiian] Stfit that will be publishedlater this year as its new "English" namesto the input of and Tufted Titmouse) and to English the official Sixth Edition of the Check- amateurs and a committee of the Ameri- names adopted in the 33rd Supplement hst of North American Birds, of the can Birding Association, which has (1976) are followed in this journal, but American Ornithologists' Union. publishedits own Checklist(1982). This the changesto scientificnomenclature list does not differ greatly, at least in made in that Supplementhave not been The 34th Supplement,as the preview nomenclature, from the official list. So summarized here. They are included •n version was called, arrived as an unex- the shock has been somewhat amelio- the following summary. pected additionto the July, 1982Auk. rated. CHANGES IN SPECIES STATUS 3) Bewick's Swan is merged with Whistling Swan; the enlarged species is called Tundra Swan, Cygnus co- HESPECIFIC STATUS of over two dozen forms is altered lumbianus. m the Supplement. In about half of these, only one of 4) Pink-footed Goose, Anser brachyrhynchus, is split the forms affected by the change occurs within the geo- from Bean Goose, Anserfabalis, following the present graphicregion covered by American Birds. fashion in Europe. 1) Black-vented Shearwater, Puffinus opisthomelas, is 5) Mexican Duck, Anas diazi, which probably no longer split from Manx Shearwater,Puffinus puffinus; all sub- occurs north of Mexico in pure form, is merged into stantiated Pacific Coast records of "Manx Shearwater" Mallard, Anas platyrhynchos. refer to the former species,although some sightingsof 6) White-winged Scoter is merged with the European the latter now are claimed. Velvet Scoter; the enlarged species is called White- 2) Newell's Shearwater of Hawaii is treated as a race of winged Scoter, Melanitta fusca. Townsend's Shearwater, Puffinus auricularis, rather 7) White-tailed Kite is merged with its Old World rela- than of Manx Shearwater. tives; the enlarged species is called Black-shouldered Kite, Elanus caeruleus. lever since the First Edition in 1886, the word has been hy- 8) Caracara is merged into the Crested Caracara of South phenated, and will so remain in the title, although current America; the enlarged species is called Crested Cara- usage favors checklist or check list. cara, Polyborus plancus. Volume 37, Number 1 3 9) South Polar Skua, Catharacta maccormtckt, IS recog- previously allocated to M tyrannulus or M stohdus, nized as a species distinct from the Great Skua, form the species Mytarchus obert; and Mytarchus Catharacta skua. nugatorfrom St. Vincentto Grenadais splitfrom M 10) Yellow-footed Gull, LaruX livens, is split from the tyrannulus. We will have to await the Sixth Edition of Western Gull, Larus occidentalis. Hand (1981) has the Check-listto learn their official "English"-names publisheda study of vocal and non-vocaldifferences 19) Couch's Kingbird, Tyrannuscouchii, is split from the in the two gulls which, however, is not a convenient Tropical Kingbird, Tyrannus melancholicus. Only field guide. vocalizations are established as field characteristics of 11) Least Tern, Sterna antillarum, is split from the Little the two species. Tern, Sterna albifrons, which is confined to the Old 20) SouthernMartin, Progne elegans, is split from the ex- World. tralimitalGalapagos Martin, Prognemodesta. 12) Black Noddy, Anous minutus, is split from the Lesser 21) Northerfi Rough-wingedSwallow, Stelgidopteryxser- Noddy, Anous tenuirostris, which is confined to the ripennis [just try saying that before the bird flies out of Indian Ocean. sight!] is split from the extralimital SouthernRough- 13) Oriental Scops-Owl, Otus sunia, is split from the ex- winged Swallow, Stelgidopteryxruficollis. tralimital Common Scops-Owl, Otus scops. 22) Brown Creeper, Certhia americana, is split from the 14) ScreechOwl is dividedinto two species,Eastern extralimital Treecreeper, Certhia familiaris. Screech-Owl, Otus asio, and Western Screech-Owl, 23) Brown~throatedWren is merged with House Wren, Otus kennico}tii,best distinguishedby their vocaliza- Troglodytesaedon. tions. 24) Black-backedWagtail, Motacilla lugens, is split from 15) Antillean Nighthawk, Chordeiles gundlachii, is split White Wagtail, Motacilla alba. The two may not be from the Common Nighthawk, Chordeiles minor. The separablein the field when in immature plumages,for two overlap throughout the Florida range of the for- a discussionsee Morlan, 1981. mer, and are best identified by their vocalizations. 25) Yellow-green Vireo is merged into Red-eyed Vireo, 16) Red-breasted Sapsucker, Sphyrapicus ruber, is split Vireo olivaceus. from Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Sphyrapicus varius. 26) Gray-headed Junco is merged into Dark-eyed Junco, The race daggetti is included in ruber and the race Junco hyemalis. nuchalis(Red-naped Sapsucker) in varius. 27) Gray-crowned Rosy Finch, Black Rosy Finch and 17) Arizona ("Brown-backed") Woodpecker is merged into Brown Rosy Finch are merged with a similar Asian Stfickland'sWoodpecker, Picoides stricklandi,of form; the combined species is called Rosy Finch, Mexico, and it gets the latter's name. Leucosticte arctoa. 18) La Sagra's Flycatcher, Myiarchus sagrae, is split from 28) The arrangement of Hawaiian Honeycreepers is Stolid Flycatcher, Myiarchus stolidus. This change modified from that in A Field Guide to Western Birds signals the adoption of the classification of the genus (1961). Nihoa Finch, Telespyza ultima, is split from Myiarchus as advocated by Wesley Lanyon and Laysan Finch, Telespyzacantans. Creeper is split into adopted by Traylor (1979). The Middle American five species divided among two genera: Kaual forms are correctly classified in A Field Guide to the Creeper, Oreomystis bairdi, Hawaii Creeper, Birds of Mexico (1973), and A Guide to the Birds of Oreomystismaria, Maui Creeper, Paroreomyza mon- Panama (1976). The form on Puerto Rico becomes a tana, Molokai Creeper, Paroreomyza fiammea, and species Myiarchus antillarum, separate from M. Oahu Creeper, Paroreomyza maculata.t stolidus; the forms from the northern Lesser Antilles The net effect of thesechanges is that ANY "ENGLISH"NAMES were America since the Fifth Edition and the number of species in the Supple- changed in an effort to provide a which differ from the namecommonly ment is increased by two (omitting the unique common name for each species used in American Birds and popular changesto Hawaiian species)owing to of bird rather than becauseof changein field guides. changes in species status. There are a systematic status. Some of the new few more forms on the Supplement names have been widely used by bird- Although I like the adoption of whose systematic status is not yet re- ers, but only now are made "official." 'foreign' "English" namesfor birds like solved, but most changes which one As will be noted below, I am not com- Shy Albatrosswhich are marginalmem- might have anticipated now have been pletely sympathetic with this effort. bersof our avifaunaand which appearin made. We will have to await the Sixth the ornithological literature primarily Edition of the Check-list to see what underthe Englishname now adaptedby changes in the status of Middle Ameri- Names marked with a dagger(t) also the A.O.U., I am unenthusiasticwhen can and Caribbean species have been may reflect a taxonomic change which the change involves a form that is an adopted. would not otherwise have affected the integral member of the North American form in the Supplement.Names marked avifauna, and
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