Nutcracker
Stop Brexit!
Until someone from Guatemala or Honduras complains . . . 8-PMexican Treecreeper is ideal.
Until someone from Guatemala or Honduras complains . . . 8-PMexican Treecreeper is ideal.
Mexican Treecreeper is ideal. Northern Treecreeper, perhaps less so in a global context, though I could live with it! No hyphens. :t:
cheers, alan
Mexican Treecreeper is ideal. Northern Treecreeper, perhaps less so in a global context, though I could live with it! No hyphens. :t:
cheers, alan
The simplest solution is to rename Certhia familiaris the "Northernmost Treecreeper."
One other solution, though it probably won't be popular, is to name them all 'Creeper'; then:
Tree Creeper - C. familiaris
Short-toed Creeper - C. brachydactyla
Brown Creeper - C. americana
Mexican Creeper - C. albescens
And so on
The big advantage is that it does away with the need for a 'Eurasian' or whatever for C. familiaris.
(Tichodroma muraria would remain Wallcreeper, to keep it distinct)
A most elegant solution which certainly works for me. . .. I hate unnecessary changes in common names!
Also Bell's Vireo split, which I completely missed on my first read through
Retaining the name "Bell's Vireo" for part of what is currently known as Bell's Vireo violates the rule laid out in the 7th edition of the checklist that when a split occurs, new names will be giving to the two daughter species (with rare exceptions). This rule is there for a reason, but seems to be ignored more often than not, presumably in the interest of nomenclatural stability. But there is nothing stable about Bell's Vireo no longer meaning what it used to mean. Pity the poor eBird reviewer dealing with constant reports of Bell's Vireo in Southern California or Arizona having to determine which species the observer saw. Did the reporter know about this split, or did they really mean a vagrant Eastern Bells? A unique name for the Eastern bird solves this problem and leaves the name "Bell's Vireo" available for the combined species.
A most elegant solution which certainly works for me. . .. I hate unnecessary changes in common names!
IOC Updates Diary Apr 2 Post NACC species proposals on Updates/PS
Its odd that some of the more notable actions are not included: the creeper split, the crossbill split, the redpoll lump...
If memory serves me correctly, all they did with this update was add the Nashville Warbler split and the Thayer's/Iceland lump - everything else was already under consideration.
yeah and the flicker split was also added just now, IIRC
The problem here is that retaining Brown Creeper for one of the splits is likely to lead to confusion, since both forms occur within the USA (and I wouldn't be surprised if in winter the northern form didn't sometimes show up within the range of the southern form.
So a birder in Madera canyon reporting a Brown Creeper...Are they reporting a vagrant Bird? or are they just unaware of the split.
So I think this (and Bell's Vireo, which probably has an even bigger risk of confusion) are definite cases where the existing common name should not be retained.
How has Winter Wren been working out in this regard?
Both references in Barton to Certhia pinus and Pine Creeper are to Pine Warbler using Catesby's name. (The first to write about Brown Creeper is Bartram although he does not say much. Bartram called the bird Certhia rufa the Little Brown Variegated Creeper in his Travels (1790).) Bartram named the pine creeper Certhia pinus. Bartram is supposedly not binomial but I have seen Regulus Bartram in Barton 1799. Barton names a bird House Wren Certhia familiaris mihi. " one of the most useful birds with which I am acquainted, is the House-Wren, or Certhia familiaris? This little bird seems peculiarly fond of the society of man, and it must be confessed, that it is often protected by his interested care." " Certhia familiaris (mihi.) House-Wren, Sociable Wren" "Certhia familiaris (mihi). I now suspect, that this is no other than the Certhia familiaris of Linnaeus, the European Creeper of Pennant..." Next "Bonaparte (1836), in his formal comparison of New World and Old World birds, afforded the Brown Creeper species status, giving it the name Certhia americana. Bonaparte does say Certhia Americana Nob. and refers to Audubon's picture 415 although he cites 419.The first written account of the Brown Creeper came from Barton (1799). In this account of the birds of Pennsylvania, Barton first called the species Certhia pinus, but reconsidered his original name and concluded that the observed species must be Certhia familiaris, as originally described by Linnaeus (1758)
Another scan, with the plate (scroll two pages up; painted by Miss Anne Bartram): https://books.google.com/books?id=vk9JAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA1-PA103There is a picture but I cannot find it.