AOU-NACC Proposals 2021 (1 Viewer)

[Andy Adcock]

Andy, according to most yanks I’ve met British and English are interchangeable. In my view that means you can refer to USAians in whatever term you choose. I am British but I am certainly not English

Although this can be true, I find that when Americans say as much, it's because many of them don't understand our domestic arrangement.

Conversely, there are those who are from these shores who will say that they're British rather than English, for their own personal reasons e.g Brexit and some, will consider my declaration, that I am first and foremost, English, nationalistic with racist undertones so you can't win.

Like most people, I have no issue with Scots, Welsh or Irish, declaring themselves, primarily as such, rather than British when asked but somehow, when I do the same, it's often followed by claims of my having a 'little Englander' mentality (especially on sites such as this) and a self perceiveved, superiorty over all others............isn't that a racist stereotype?

I won't expand on my own thoughts on this any further for fear of annoying the Gods. ⚡⚡⚡

 

[Andy Adcock]

Well, I've spent a lot of time in Korea, and they have a lot of issues with calling widespread things Japanese. For example, what the world knows as the Sea of Japan, the Koreans call the East Sea. Phalacrocorax capillatus, which is known as Japanese Cormorant on the Clements Checklist, is called Temminck's Cormorant in the Korean field guides.

As to "oriental", I was told it's considered inappropriate since the designation "orient" is directionally relative to the colonial powers from Europe.

Did you read the article in my post 68 Jeff?

The article makes some very pertinent points and is, IMHO, a representation of what most people actually think. The people who have most issues with various terminologies, seem to be white folk of a particular type who are actually, very small in number though they tend to make a big noise.

I'm also not sure what 'directionally relative to' actually means? Following this rationale, as others have noted, we should also to stop using boreal, austral and occidental? I don't think the term 'oriental' actually implies any kind of conquest to the great majority of people, it has it's origins in Latin but it is, undoubtedly, 'Eurocentric'.

 

[Xenospiza]

I'm also not sure what 'directionally relative to' actually means? Following this rationale, as others have noted, we should also to stop using boreal, austral and occidental? I don't think the term 'oriental' actually implies any kind of conquest to the great majority of people, it has its origins in Latin but it is, undoubtedly, 'Eurocentric'.

Funnily "oriental" means the same as "Japanese" if you look at the etymology (oriens = the rising sun, Japan => Chinese pronunciation of nihon = the rising sun).

 

[Nutcracker]

I've actually seen one at the hawkwatch in Cape May.

Palm Warbler seems a much larger misnomer, IMO. They breed in the boreal forests.

I never realised Cape May 'Warbler' was a species of hawk 🤪 😂

But do Palm Warblers winter in palms?

 

[Xenospiza]

But do Palm Warblers winter in palms?

No: dry open forest and mangroves.

"Many Palm Warblers spend the winter in the southeastern United States, especially in Florida, where they may be seen near palm groves but not up in the palms themselves." (https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/palm-warbler)

 

[l_raty]

But do Palm Warblers winter in palms?

Latham's "Palm Warbler" https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/33730572 (1783); Gmelin's Motacilla palmarum https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/2656446 (1789). The source of both was Buffon's "Le bimbelé ou la fausse linotte" https://books.google.be/books?id=Sj__mBYZ3XsC&pg=PA330 . Buffon got his info from one "M. le chevalier Lefevre Deshayes", who also sent him a drawing of the bird, from Saint-Domingue. Buffon wrote about the bird:

[...] il se tient assez volontiers sur les palmistes, & fait son nid dans l'espèce de ruche que les oiseaux palmistes & autres forment sur ces arbres, à l'endroit d'où sort le pédicule qui soutient la grappe [...].

(it sits quite readily on palm trees, & makes its nest in the kind of hive which palmchats & other birds build on these trees, at the place from which the pedicle which supports the cluster emerges)

This was repeated by Latham in English

[...] keeps among the palm-trees, in which it makes the nest.

and by Gmelin in Latin

[...] inter palmas nidificans, [...]

but is obviously not correct...

 

[raymie]

Any thoughts for new names for Dartford Warbler & Sandwich Tern? 😂

Or (for Americans) Cape May Warbler (which I gather is a rarity at Cape May?)

Cape May Warbler was historically a rarity at Cape May but it is more normal there nowadays.

 

[Jeff Hopkins]

Did you read the article in my post 68 Jeff?

The article makes some very pertinent points and is, IMHO, a representation of what most people actually think. The people who have most issues with various terminologies, seem to be white folk of a particular type who are actually, very small in number though they tend to make a big noise.

I'm also not sure what 'directionally relative to' actually means? Following this rationale, as others have noted, we should also to stop using boreal, austral and occidental? I don't think the term 'oriental' actually implies any kind of conquest to the great majority of people, it has it's origins in Latin but it is, undoubtedly, 'Eurocentric'.

Sorry, Andy. I didn't read the article.

And FWIW, I'm not a big fan of PC culture either, but living in the US, it's hard to avoid it.

 

[Jim LeNomenclatoriste]

It's astonishing that they continue to place the Aegithalidae near to the Paridae

 

[Mike Earp]

Excellent choice - the Amur River drainage is huge (looked up: at 1,855,000 km², 5 x the size of Japan!) and covers a good chunk of the species' core breeding range. And for UK birders, has a wonderfully remote feel to it - you see one, you know it's come from incredibly far away.

I think I'll start using it

Proposal 2021-A-11 was revised on 28 December 2020. There is no reference that I can see in the revised proposal to this forum but the English name Amur Stonechat is the one now proposed for S. stejnegeri.

 

[Peter Kovalik]

Proposals 2021-B​

2021-B-1: Change the type locality of Black-throated Bobwhite Colinus nigrogularis

2021-B-2: Treat Crested Caracara Caracara cheriway as conspecific with C. plancus

2021-B-3: Recognize extralimital Thamnistes rufescens as a separate species from Russet Antshrike T. anabatinus

2021-B-4: Recognize extralimital Forpus spengeli as a separate species from Green-rumped Parrotlet F. Passerinus

2021-B-5: Recognize extralimital Anthus peruvianus as a separate species from Yellowish Pipit A. lutescens

2021-B-6a: Recognize extralimital Catharus maculatus as a separate species from Spotted Nightingale-Thrush C. dryas

2021-B-6b: Establish English names for daughter species C. maculatus and C. dryas sensu stricto

2021-B-7: Revise the linear sequence of passerine families

2021-B-8: Recognize Basileuterus delattrii as a separate species from Rufous-capped Warbler B. rufifrons

2021-B-9: Change the spelling of Porphyrio martinicus to P. martinica

2021-B-10: Treat Andean Duck Oxyura ferruginea as conspecific with Ruddy Duck O. jamaicensis

 

[Jim LeNomenclatoriste]

2021-B-7: Revise the linear sequence of passerine families

Finally, let's hope for a change in the French name in their website of the only American species of family Aegithalidae, Psaltriparus minimus, from "Mésange" to Orite. It's the only thing that matters to me

 

[Mysticete]

Ahh...the always exciting "SACC alignment" round of proposals

 

[Peter Kovalik]

Proposals 2021-C​

2021-C-1: Revise the classification of the Antillean Piculet Nesoctites micromegas

2021-C-2: Transfer Flammulated Flycatcher Deltarhynchus flammulatus to Ramphotrigon

2021-C-3: Treat Cistothorus stellaris as a separate species from C. platensis

2021-C-4: Elevate Turdus rufopalliatus graysoni to species rank

2021-C-5: Treat Eurasian Blackbird Turdus merula as four species

2021-C-6: Revise the taxonomy of the Estrildidae

2021-C-7: Add Amazilia Hummingbird Amazilis amazilia to the Main List

2021-C-8: Treat Cinereous Owl Strix sartorii as a separate species from Barred Owl S. varia

2021-C-9: Treat Euphonia godmani as a separate species from Scrub Euphonia E. affinis

2021-C-10: Subsume Pseudoscops into Asio, transferring Jamaican Owl P. grammicus and Striped Owl P. clamator

2021-C-11: Transfer Spruce Grouse Falcipennis canadensis to Canachites

2021-C-12: Transfer Five-striped Sparrow Amphispiza quinquestriata to Amphispizopsis

2021-C-13: Elevate Melopyrrha portoricensis grandis to species status

2021-C-14: Treat Bahama Nuthatch Sitta insularis as a separate species from Brown-headed Nuthatch S. pusilla

2021-C-15: Add Common Wood-Pigeon Columba palumbus to the Main List

2021-C-16: Add Great Black-headed Gull Ichthyaetus ichthyaetus to the Main List

2021-C-17: Add Pallas’s Grasshopper-Warbler Helopsaltes certhiola to the Main List

2021-C-18: Add Tricolored Munia Lonchura malacca to the U.S. List

2021-C-19: Treat Catharus swainsoni as a separate species from C. ustulatus

 

[mb1848]

2021-C-1: Revise the classification of the Antillean Piculet Nesoctites micromegas .
I do not disagree but have questions.
This bird should not be called N. micromegas.
Cory: https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/69165#page/145/mode/1up .
Bryant: https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/33728#page/110/mode/1up .
Salle: https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/100996#page/246/mode/1up .
Sundvall: https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/51790#page/117/mode/1up .
Sundvall bird collected by Freyreisse in Brazil, Temminck called him Treyreis?
"...who worked chiefly in the vicinity of Colonia Leopoldina, near Caravellas, southern Bahia (cf. Freyreiss, Beitrage zur naheren
Kenntnis des Kaiserthums Brasilien, 1, Frankfurt am Main, 1824), which we may, therefore, accept as type locality. " N. lawrencii probably right name.
Cory on Bucco cayennensis.
https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/48594#page/130/mode/1up .
Nevermind Canon Tristram says Sundvall bird must have come from Hayti.
https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/34897#page/206/mode/1up .

 

[l_raty]

Nevermind Canon Tristram says Sundvall bird must have come from Hayti.
https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/34897#page/206/mode/1up .

Tristram's:

Now all that Sundevall says is, that the bird was in a very rich collection acquired in Brazil by the Swedish consul Westin, and made by Freyreiss.

...is not really correct, though. Sundevall wrote:

Specimen unicum, mihi cognitum, aderat in collectione avium ditissima, in Brasilia, a cl. Freyreiss facta ; quae a Consule suecano Westin in Rio Janeiro, circa annum 1817 acquisita, patriis musaeis dono data est.

...which means that the bird was in a very rich collection made by Freyreiss, in Brazil ; which, acquired around 1817 by the Swedish consul Westin in Rio de Janeiro, was offered to the national museums.
Brazil is clearly presented here as the place where the collection was made, not the place where it was acquired.

Sundevall's description seems to match the species, however, although I'm a bit surprised by the length of the tail.

 

[Peter Boesman]

For the proposed split in Swainson's Thrush, it is a pity that my fairly detailed vocal analysis was not picked up.
It shows that there is a small but consistent continent-wide difference in the song, and a major difference in alarm call.
It was initially received with some scepticism by American birders, but after some checks it has been generally accepted and it even led Pieplow in his book on voices of Western North American birds (2019) to highlight the vocal differences by treating them on two different pages. Also this published reference was not included in the proposal.

Given that in another proposal in the same batch (on the graysoni taxon), Van Remsen states that in Thrushes 'vocalizations are the standard by which allotaxa are evaluated', this seems like an important omission...

 

[Björn Bergenholtz]

...

Sundevall's description seems to match the species, however, although I'm a bit surprised by the length of the tail.

Laurent, compare the Measurements in Sundevall's OD, with what's told below (my blue bold):

NRM 569782
Picumnus micromegas
Sundevall, 1866

Picumnus micromegas Sundevall, Conspectus Avium Picinarum, 1866, p. 95.
= Nesoctites micromegas micromegas Sundevall, 1866

Holotype ? : Male ad., »Haiti». 1817. Westin leg. No. 5226. - Measurements of type : wing : 74 mm.; tail : 45 mm.; culmen : 16 mm.; tarsus : 18 mm.

[ from here]​

If of any use/help?

/B

 

[l_raty]

Laurent, compare the Measurements in Sundevall's OD, with what's told below (my blue bold):

Thanks Björn. Yes, obviously this is one.
And if this specimen was indeed acquired from Westin, then it is presumably the bird Sundevall had in hand.

But 45 mm is quite shorter than Sundevall's figure (55 mm)...

 

[Björn Bergenholtz]

Maybe, 55 vs 45, was, or at least it might/could plausibly, possibly, simply be ... just another typo (or Printers error)?

That very observation was the single reason why I posted #98 ...

It sure doesn't look like 55 mm, when compared to the ruler, on those Photos of the/this (Type) specimen.