thanks for the ID
I am trying to find who the bird is named after but could not find it (google).
Can someone help? RIDGWAY
Agree, both Ridgway’s.
I dislike the name of this recently split species, I must say, with its odd spelling. Surely, they could have come up with something better than that!
One or the greats of American Ornithology. Wrote the first detailed identification criteria for almost all North American birds. Museums still use his multivolume works today for identifying tricky taxa (particularly subspecies). Although the lumping era of the 1930-1980 lumped many of what Ridgway considered species, the latest splitting fiesta has come to recognize much of Ridway's taxonomy as legit. And the spelling - well, that is the way his name is spelled.
Nice photos of this near-threatened species. Consensus around here is that they are "tricky" to spot.
I say "tricky" because my partner has gotten good at it (by going against common spotting advice) and we are lucky enough to live near a sanctuary where they are going out of their way to protect them.
When I lived in the Bay Area decades ago, the old Palo Alto Yacht Harbor was a sure spot for them (even at low tide. At high tide (along with Virginia Rails, Soras and, at the very highest tides, Black Rails) they were all over the place! Don’t know. what the current state of affairs might be.
What organization split and named Ridgway's Rail?
These decisions are made by the Committee on Classification and Nomenclature NACC of the American Ornithologists Society, experts who evaluate the evidence and whose recommendations most ornithologists in North America follow.
Yes, I’m aware of who Ridgway was and of the importance of his magnum opus. My objection to naming the rail after him is mostly esthetic—“Ridgway’s Rail” to my eyes just looks ugly on the page.
... Ridgeway's ...
... Ridway's ...
I find "Ridgway's Rail" hard to pronounce, if only because I am rarely in its range so it's not an everyday phrase for me.
Good question!
Is it "Rid-Gway" with a hard G sound, or "Rij-Way" with a J sound?