• Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.

    Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
Where premium quality meets exceptional value. ZEISS Conquest HDX.

Recent content by MichaelRetter

  1. MichaelRetter

    AOU-NACC Proposals 2016

    Not necessarily: they only need to be monophyletic. But bring on Cloudforest Scrub-Jay (A. unicolor). ;-)
  2. MichaelRetter

    AOU-NACC Proposals 2016

    Amen to that. "Common" as a modifier is really a waste of space and breath which conveys no useful information, anyway, whether it's a raven or a redpoll.
  3. MichaelRetter

    AOU-NACC Proposals 2016

    Fortunately for me, NACC currently agrees with me on this and not you. ;-)
  4. MichaelRetter

    AOU-NACC Proposals 2016

    For what it's worth, Mexcian (Spanish-speaking) birders use English names, too. Their usage is not restricted to the English-speaking world.
  5. MichaelRetter

    AOU-NACC Proposals 2016

    I hope against hope that if this one-way split of Western Scrub-Jay happens, the name "Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay" is not used for the species comprising both the sumichrasti and woodhouseii groups. What will the two be called if it's split again? Will NACC break its own rule and still call...
  6. MichaelRetter

    Red-crowned Ant Tanager

    Not yet in the New World, I'm afraid. Here's hoping AOU catches up!
  7. MichaelRetter

    Red-crowned Ant Tanager

    Because they're not nightjars. ;-) Similarly, the field guide I'm writing will have Nightingale-Thrushes, Pygmy-Owls, Quail-Doves, and Magpie-Jays--but Whistling-ducks, Storm-petrels, Ant-tanagers, and Thush-tanagers.
  8. MichaelRetter

    Red-crowned Ant Tanager

    Don't you mean Emberizidae? For that very reason, I like "bush-sparrow".
  9. MichaelRetter

    North American splits

    I don't see how this is at all relevant. Myrtle Warbler is a common name for Setophaga coronata coronata. Myrtle doesn't appear anywhere in the scientific name. We're talking about a bird (Sitta carolinensis carolinenesis) without an established common name. You're trying to draw a parallel...
  10. MichaelRetter

    North American splits

    No, I don't believe this is accurate. Those more westerly populations of the nuthatch occur in fingers of Carolinian habitat along rivers (where other such Carolinian species, like bloodroot, American hop-hornbeam, and Red-bellied Woodpecker may be found) and in residential areas where typically...
  11. MichaelRetter

    North American splits

    Yes, just as "Canada" and "Panama" are used. That doesn't mean they're correct or preferable, though. Why are there "Costa Rican Pygmy-Owls", "Nicaraguan Grackles", "Guatemalan Screech-Owls", "Jamaican Orioles", and "Mexican Jays", but "Panama Flycatchers" and "Canada Warblers". There are...
  12. MichaelRetter

    North American splits

    See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carolinian_forest
  13. MichaelRetter

    North American splits

    Yes. Google "Carolinian Ecoregion". It gets over 100,000 hits.
  14. MichaelRetter

    North American splits

    FWIW, I would advocate Carolinian Nuthatch (referring, quite appropriately, to the entire eco-region-- not just two states), Mountain (or Cordilleran) Nuthatch, and Oak Nuthatch.
  15. MichaelRetter

    North American splits

    I hope so! :-)
See more
Back
Top