[Terry O'Nolley]

It seems, to me, that "named" bird species are harder to find then other birds.

By "named" I mean bird's whose common name is named after their discoverer or named by their discoverer for another person. Like "Cassin's Kingbird" or "Le Conte's Sparrow" etc.

I've created this entire reason for why this is (but I recognize that it is all probably wrong and that it only appears to me that named birds are harder to find).

I think that the most common birds were noticed by anyone that lived in the area and so were given very common names - like Bluebird or Mockingbird.

After all the common birds were noticed and named, the naturalists that knew what to look for found and seperated out the remaining birds and also got to name them.

Is this possible or is my birding experience a fluke and named birds are just as easy to find?

[deflore]

hey. you know i have to agree with you. thinking of all the birds on my life list, i don't have any "named" birds. they're all common.

[buckskin hawk]

They may be common in a smaller geographic area. I have on my year list, Wilson's snipe, and a Wilson's Plover, Franklin's Gull, Steller's Jay, Bewick's Wren, Swainson's Thrush, Wilson's warbler, Lucy's warbler, Vesper's sparrow, Lincoln's sparrow, Brewer's sparrow, Harris sparrow, Henslow sparrow, Brewer's blackbird and Cassin's finch.

It seems that the further west you travel, the more "named" birds you can find. Steller's jays are very common in the right habitate.

Who was Wilson and Brewer anyway?

[Harry Hussey]

Hi all,
There are also higher proportions of 'named' birds outside of the European countries, as many familiar European birds would have already gained their names before ornithology took off. Mind you, some of the more 'subtle' European species were only named relatively recently (Cetti's Warbler, Bewick's Swan, Montagu's Harrier etc).
Here in Ireland, 'named' species are hard to come by for anyone unprepared to twitch rarities or look for their own, with only Bewick's Swan being in any way common.
Harry

[Edward woodwood]

harder to find?

Roborovski's Rosefinch
Kozlov's Bunting
Przevalski's Rosefinch/Bunting
Gurney's Pitta
White's Thrush
Cabot's Tragopan
Blyth's Tragopan

you betcha

but much more enigmatic for it...

[david kelly]

Who was Wilson and Brewer anyway?[/quote]

Alexander Wilson b Paisley, Renfrewshire 7 July 1766 and was baptized by the Reverend John Witherspoon (who emigrated to American and was a signatory of the Declaration of Independence). Wilson emigrated from Scotland to the United States in 1786 and eventually wrote "American Ornithology". He died of dysentry on 23rd August 1813 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Wilson's Warbler, Canada Warbler and Hooded Warbler are all in the genus Wilsonia. He also has Wilson's Storm-Petrel, Wilson's Snipe and Wilson's Phalarope named after him.

For Brewer see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Mayo_Brewer

David

[buckskin hawk]

Originally Posted by david kelly

Who was Wilson and Brewer anyway?

Alexander Wilson b Paisley, Renfrewshire 7 July 1766 and was baptized by the Reverend John Witherspoon (who emigrated to American and was a signatory of the Declaration of Independence). Wilson emigrated from Scotland to the United States in 1786 and eventually wrote "American Ornithology". He died of dysentry on 23rd August 1813 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Wilson's Warbler, Canada Warbler and Hooded Warbler are all in the genus Wilsonia. He also has Wilson's Storm-Petrel, Wilson's Snipe and Wilson's Phalarope named after him.

For Brewer see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Mayo_Brewer

David[/quote]

Thanks David, I found this site on Wilson. http://www.ummz.lsa.umich.edu/birds/AWilsoninfo.html

Great history!

[Terry O'Nolley]

Originally Posted by buckskin hawk

It seems that the further west you travel, the more "named" birds you can find. Steller's jays are very common in the right habitate.

That would make some sense too - if we think about how North America was settled mainly east to west. My first named lifers happened when I travelled to California last month (Steller's Jay, Say's Phoebe, Bewick's Wren, Anna's Hummingbird, Clark's Nutcracker and Brewer's Blackbird).

So maybe by the time western expansion was in full swing, the naturalists got there with the first settlers and got to name even the common birds?

[Phalarope]

Wilson is often referred to as "the father of American ornithology." His work pre-dates Audubon, although they were roughly contemporaries. Much is made of a rivalry with a story of their meeting in the wilderness and Wilson realizing that Audubon was the better artist.

The naming of western North American species is a fascinating topic. There are many aspects and they are interwoven, as the collecting community was small and most knew one another. There are many stories of a dynamic era.

At the top of the list was a consumate maker of lists: Spencer Fullerton Baird. From his position as Asst. Secretary in the Smithsonian Institution, he recruited US Army physicians who accompanied military exploration and mapping expeditions in the west to send him specimens.

Even (then) Capt. George B. McClellan sent him specimens from Texas. Many of the names we associate with western species: Xantus, Hammond, Bendire, Cassin, for example, were associates, friends, and/or suppliers of specimens to Baird.

Yes, species bearing names of people (including the ladies, Anna, Lucy and Virginia) are often missing from lists made in the East--the fellows who went west named species they found in out-of-the-way areas to honor their sponsors and mentors.

Good birding,
Phalarope

[buckskin hawk]

Originally Posted by Phalarope

Wilson is often referred to as "the father of American ornithology." His work pre-dates Audubon, although they were roughly contemporaries. Much is made of a rivalry with a story of their meeting in the wilderness and Wilson realizing that Audubon was the better artist.

The naming of western North American species is a fascinating topic. There are many aspects and they are interwoven, as the collecting community was small and most knew one another. There are many stories of a dynamic era.

At the top of the list was a consumate maker of lists: Spencer Fullerton Baird. From his position as Asst. Secretary in the Smithsonian Institution, he recruited US Army physicians who accompanied military exploration and mapping expeditions in the west to send him specimens.

Even (then) Capt. George B. McClellan sent him specimens from Texas. Many of the names we associate with western species: Xantus, Hammond, Bendire, Cassin, for example, were associates, friends, and/or suppliers of specimens to Baird.

Yes, species bearing names of people (including the ladies, Anna, Lucy and Virginia) are often missing from lists made in the East--the fellows who went west named species they found in out-of-the-way areas to honor their sponsors and mentors.

Good birding,
Phalarope

Thanks-This is fascinating. I looked up a site on Baird, if anyone is interested in reading more. http://chronicles.dickinson.edu/ency...d_bairdSF.html

He had a daughter named Lucy.

[Phalarope]

I followed up on the online reference. Sparse reading, there--and dry, "just the facts, ma'am."

For an entertainment as well as the facts, try:

A WORLD OF WATCHERS, An Informal History of the American Passion for Birds, by Joseph Kastner, Sierra Club Paperback Library, San Francisco, 1986, 241 pp.

One back cover blurb states, "A World of Watchers is filled with all kinds of characters as colorful and displaying behavior patterns as interesting as the creatures they seek and spot and watch." Boston Globe

Cover price: $10.95. Great Christmas wish list item.

Phalarope