Some corrections & a question (1 Viewer)

First the question: is there a database FAQ? Something to explain where the lists come from and stuff like that? It would be really useful.

An apparently missing species: the Western Yellow Robin (Eopsaltria griseogularis). (Look in my gallery for pictures of it.)

The Eastern Yellow Robin (Eopsaltria australis) is listed as "Yellow Robin" which is certainly incorrect.

According to to the official HANZAB list, the Western Shrike Tit (listed here as Falcunculus leucogaster) is a subspecies of the Crested Shrike-tit (Falcunculus frontatus). I understand that there is good evidence in favour of a 3-way split of the species and that it will likely go ahead, but this taxon at present seems to be properly termed Falcunculus frontatus leucogaster. Given that, I do have a nice picture of one if anyone wants me to upload it.

Finally, is this the right place to post this stuff and ask these questions, and are these kind of details helpful?

Tony

There is a sticky on this area but I can't really remember what it says - shame on me. The best place to bring up any queries is here. Will put this to the Mods about the FAQ.

They are done from the Sibley Monroe list (I think that is right) -which is updated by Cuckooroller- when he has some spare time.

It might be me but I couldn't find your picture of the Western Yellow in your gallery can you put a link to it on this thread please. If you have any pictures that we don't have in the database put them in here and they will be picked up by one of us that do the uploading.

I can't comment on the species you are naming above as none of them are known to me. I will see if Cuckooroller or Rasmus can make any comments on these.

Hi Tony,
For the Eopsaltria, they probably couldn't figure out which birds they were. The Database, as you probably know, and I was the one that updated it a few months ago, uses the Sibley-Monroe. The only reason for using that list is that one list had to be decided on and so the regional lists (of which there are myriad) were pretty much left out for obvious reasons.

This is the right place for these questions.

You are right for the HANZAB list, which I imagine is pretty much superimposable to the official list used by Bird Australia (the Boles & Cristidis). However, for the Sibley-Monroe, Yellow Robin = Eopsaltria australis, and Grey-breasted Robin = Eopsaltria griseogularis.

In regards the Falcunculus, the Sibley-Monroe has the species split. I would love to see your photo of leucogaster as I think I have only one in my personal database. For the Sibley-Monroe (and to help the Database editors), it should be renamed Western Shrike-tit (Falcunculus leucogaster).

Steve pretty much answered the question. The database obviously has to rely on a single World list - following more than one or even trying to compile various local lists would cause nothing but confusion. Not at least because the species concepts followed differ between various lists, as does the evidence required for accepting e.g. splits (for example, HANZAB has been rather conservative). Anyway, the Australian Yellow Robins:

Eopsaltria australis = Yellow Robin = Eastern Yellow Robin.
Eopsaltria griseogularis = Grey-breasted Robin = Western Yellow Robin.

English ("Common") names differ. To take an even more confusing example that recently caused a slight confusion in a post here on BF:

Oriolus flavocinctus is often known as the Yellow Oriole in Australia. However, the English name "Yellow Oriole" is - on a World bases - reserved for a South American species, Icterus nigrogularis. Hence, the Australian Oriolus flavocinctus becomes the Green Oriole in World checklists.

I guess the thing to learn from this is that the second we're "moving over the border" and speak about birds on a Worldwide basis (as in the database), scientific names are the way forward - rather than English names which may differ from country to country.

BTW, as Steve said; it would be very nice if you uploaded your photo Falcunculus (frontatus) leucogaster; I for one would certainly like to see it.

Ahh, S&M. Thankyou gentlemen, I should have realised.

I had forgotten the weird stuff S&M does with some of the robins and honeyeaters. (And I tend to forget about different regional lists too - so many of our birds are endemic that sometime I forget that some of them ain't! One day I'm going to start explaining all about Milvus migrans to a visiting birder and then feel really stupid.)

Could somebody make a sticky containing this stuff? It would save you having to answer this type of question from other dummies like me over and over.

Even better would be to have a direct link to a static page on the database pages themselves. (There is plenty of room for that there.)

I'll make some tea, and then upload and/or provide links to the pictures I mentioned.

Thankyou all.

OK, done. All three in my gallery: http://www.birdforum.net/pp_gallery/showgallery.php/cat/500/ppuser/2018

One, the Shrike-tit. Two, to my great surprise, for some reason I had not uploaded any Western Yellow Robin pictures. I have no idea why, as I took them almost a year ago and love them. (Sorry about the wild goose chase I sent you on, Marmot.) Three? I noticed that the Shy Heathwren didn't have a picture either.

I don't suppose, by any chance, there is a list of just those birds that don't have pictures yet? Maybe I have some more gap-fillers on my hard drive.

Tony,
I think Tom Tarrant asked Ollie (Green Fields) of the admin if it was possible to generate an output file from the Database for the missing. I do not know what he responded.

I think the trouble would be there is over 10,000 possible species on the database and at the moment we have just short of 4,000. So it would still be a big list.

Every now and then I will either pick a bird guide book and put a species name in the database and see if we have anything for it or just do a random one by picking a letter of the alphabet. Another thing I am doing is slowly working my way through the Birds of Europe and checking if we have pictures and also that the links work to other pictures.