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Nashville Warbler split (1 Viewer)

Mysticete

Well-known member
United States
This was new to me, but was cited in the recent Brown Creeper paper:

http://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/~jweir/publications/reprints/Weir_&_Schluter_2004_PRSLB.pdf

Apparently the Eastern Nashville Warbler is sister to a clade composed of Western Nashville and Virginia's.

Makes sense biogeographically (the populations are allopatric to one another).

Does anyone know if their are older common names associated with each population? If this gets split, a "Western Nashville Warbler" which has never actually occurred in Nashville seems to be kind of a bad name
 
Vernacular names

Does anyone know if their are older common names associated with each population? If this gets split, a "Western Nashville Warbler" which has never actually occurred in Nashville seems to be kind of a bad name
Oreothlypis (ruficapilla) ruficapilla - Nashville Warbler
Oreothlypis (ruficapilla) ridgwayi - Calaveras Warbler

Ref: holarcticlisting.webs.com/checklist.htm ;)

Richard
 
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Does anyone know if their are older common names associated with each population? If this gets split, a "Western Nashville Warbler" which has never actually occurred in Nashville seems to be kind of a bad name

Actually, “Nashville” (IMO) is the most acceptable part of the name. What I don’t like is the “Western”. In other words, quirky good, clunky bad!;)
 
Just to be consistent, what might the eastern population be renamed so as to avoid confusion between 'Nashville Warbler' in the old sense (applied to both populations) & 'Nashville Warbler' in a new sense (eastern population only)?
 
Just to be consistent, what might the eastern population be renamed so as to avoid confusion between 'Nashville Warbler' in the old sense (applied to both populations) & 'Nashville Warbler' in a new sense (eastern population only)?

Memphis Warbler?
;)
 
If it happens, would be a great opportunity to get rid of the pointless Nashville Warbler name once and for all (hope they can come up with an excuse to change all the other inappropriate geographic warbler names as well--Connecticutt, Tennessee, Kentucky).

Best,
Jim
 
Doesn't Kentucky though at least breed in Kentucky? I never saw that name as being odd?

Yes, they do, so probably the least odd, but it's still odd in my view to name a bird after a narrow political region when it's much more widespread. Looking on eBird, for example, they seem to have densest population in Missouri, Arkansas, W. Tennessee, and Lousiana, and occur in lesser numbers throughout almost all of the eastern U.S.

http://ebird.org/ebird/GuideMe?cmd=...continue.x=29&continue.y=14&continue=Continue

Best,
Jim
 
If we just start renaming birds because their names "don't make sense" most of NA birds will have to be renamed. After all, Ring-necked Ducks don't have an obvious ringed neck, ovenbirds are not in Furnariidae, and how useful are names honoring ornithologists?
 
how useful are names honoring ornithologists?

More useful then names providing geographic references that are wrong ...

Or names that are the 15th one that provides the information that there is some shade of grey on the neck of a bird ...

Niels
 
More useful then names providing geographic references that are wrong ...

Or names that are the 15th one that provides the information that there is some shade of grey on the neck of a bird ...

Niels

Since when do bird names have to be “useful”? They’re just labels, after all. I personally like the locality names--they (sometimes) sound nice & they often have interesting histories. But all this has been debated before in this forum & as far as I know nobody in any camp has ever changed his mind.
 
Since when do bird names have to be “useful”? They’re just labels, after all. I personally like the locality names--they (sometimes) sound nice & they often have interesting histories. But all this has been debated before in this forum & as far as I know nobody in any camp has ever changed his mind.

Agree, sorry to jump on this one B :)

Niels
 
Yes, they do, so probably the least odd, but it's still odd in my view to name a bird after a narrow political region when it's much more widespread. Looking on eBird, for example, they seem to have densest population in Missouri, Arkansas, W. Tennessee, and Lousiana, and occur in lesser numbers throughout almost all of the eastern U.S

Best,
Jim

So let's name it Eastern Warbler.
;)
 
'Nobody' exclusively male?

Since when do bird names have to be “useful”? They’re just labels, after all. I personally like the locality names--they (sometimes) sound nice & they often have interesting histories. But all this has been debated before in this forum & as far as I know nobody in any camp has ever changed his mind.

Or, 'changed her mind', unless you intend to suggest that females always do the opposite?
MJB
 
Since when do bird names have to be “useful”? They’re just labels, after all. I personally like the locality names--they (sometimes) sound nice & they often have interesting histories. But all this has been debated before in this forum & as far as I know nobody in any camp has ever changed his mind.

I agree with this concept. A name is a label. It doesn't have to be 100% accurate or 100% indicative, to the exclusion of all other names. The Kentucky Warbler is found in Kentucky, and also many other places, while many other warblers are found in Kentucky. The Nashville Warbler was evidently first described from a specimen coming from that town, though it has a wider distribution, and other warblers visit Nashville. The Bran-colored Flycatcher is rather dull looking, as are many other flycatchers.
 
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