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  1. Reuven_M

    AOS to discard patronyms in English names

    I don't like this idea - both Black-throated Green and Blackburnian Warbler are very strongly associated with hemlocks in much of their range. To the point where you can locate hemlock groves from several hundred metres away just by listening for these two species while walking through hardwood...
  2. Reuven_M

    AOS to discard patronyms in English names

    Swainson's Hawk to Grasshopper Hawk seems like a no-brainer. Not sure if there's any other species that already have a colloquial alternate name. Other than Jackpine Warbler for Kirtland's Warbler, but not sure if they'll choose that out of confusion with Pine Warbler. Worth noting that the...
  3. Reuven_M

    AOS to discard patronyms in English names

    The AOS checklist does not include subspecies or provide English names for them.
  4. Reuven_M

    AOS to discard patronyms in English names

    I am curious about where they will eventually draw the line - presumably the AOS is not going to try to change the name of Blyth's Reed Warbler, Pallas's Bunting and other rare vagrants.
  5. Reuven_M

    AOS to discard patronyms in English names

    Another note on the list above - Strickland's Woodpecker is endemic to Mexico so wouldn't be covered (at least right away?), and there are a number of other species which don't meet the qualification of being primarily in the US or Canada (at first glance Morelet's Seedeater, many of the...
  6. Reuven_M

    Jones Beach State Park, Long Island NY

    #4 is a Black-bellied Plover, otherwise you're correct.
  7. Reuven_M

    Swamphen or Gallinule (Very bad photos)

    A bit more complicated than that, and depending on what checklist you're using. This species has been called Purple Swamphen for as long as they've been present in Florida (and Porphyrula martinica is just Purple Gallinule according to AOU, IOC and eBird/Clements, not American Purple Gallinule)...
  8. Reuven_M

    Grebe Help - Long Island, NY - 1/10/2017

    Second bird is a Red-necked Grebe with that long bill and neck
  9. Reuven_M

    South Florida - January 2017

    Prairie and Orange-crowned for me
  10. Reuven_M

    Plover in New York

    Black-bellied - the black armpits are diagnostic
  11. Reuven_M

    Flycatcher Toronto

    Willow/Alder. These two species aren't reliably separated except by voice.
  12. Reuven_M

    2 birds to id - South Florida, USA

    Great Crested Flycatcher and Pine Warbler
  13. Reuven_M

    Biggest Year in Central America Birding

    And see this previous thread, which comes up with a total of about 1200 species in Central America not including Mexico. http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=214243
  14. Reuven_M

    Biggest Year in Central America Birding

    Central America, including Mexico, has about 1500 species: http://avibase.bsc-eoc.org/checklist.jsp?region=CAM&list=howardmoore
  15. Reuven_M

    Possible Thayer's Gull - Owen Sound, Ontario

    I don't think you can necessarily eliminate Thayer's here, but there no reason to think it isn't a Herring Gull which is far more likely. I've seen ones with hoods like this although it's by no means common.
  16. Reuven_M

    What makes a bird "rare"?

    Reviewers for eBird (I'm one) are basically just using their personal knowledge combined with eBird data to set filters. If neither of those things exist, then yes the filters may be pretty much guesses or set overly broadly. If you think you know better, then email the reviewer, as I'm sure...
  17. Reuven_M

    Winter trip RFI

    Getting to Hudson Bay is NOT straightforward (Churchill and Moosonee would be the only remote possibilities), basically nobody goes in the winter, facilities for food/lodging are rare and even if you did get there you'd have little ability to go anywhere to look for the very few birds that stick...
  18. Reuven_M

    Anybody bored with near-identical B-species?

    Very interesting, and sensible. I see nothing wrong with using BSC where possible, and using other methods when it is difficult to apply.
  19. Reuven_M

    Anybody bored with near-identical B-species?

    There is an interesting idea here in how birders will treat species that are truly impossible to identify in the field. I don't know of any cases like this off the top of my head (Swinhoe's and Pin-tailed Snipe off the breeding grounds come close?, and juvenile Plegadis ibis in North America are...
  20. Reuven_M

    Anybody bored with near-identical B-species?

    The key sentence is that article is this: Which is a sentiment that I think many would disagree with. I don't have much current knowledge of the current thinking in taxonomy of birds or otherwise, but has the BSC really been abandoned for the most part outside of ornithology?
  21. Reuven_M

    Goose sp. (1 Mile High)(EastTN)

    I think it is impossible to tell if this is Snow or Ross's with any confidence from this picture.
  22. Reuven_M

    Scaup in Washington, DC

    Definitely Lessers
  23. Reuven_M

    Sandpiper St Marys Rapids SSM Ontario CANADA

    Yes, and this is a very late record. Consider posting this to eBird (www.ebird.ca). There are no records in eBird this far north in November for either Michigan or Ontario.
  24. Reuven_M

    Warblers? Ottawa ON

    I'm quite sure that is a scruffy Nashville Warbler. Clearly not a Palm, and the bill shape should eliminate Yellow (and I don't think such a yellow Yellow would ever show completely grey feathers on the crown. There is no hint of an eye-line which Orange-crowned and Tennessee should show, and...
  25. Reuven_M

    Unknown Bird, Northern Ontario, Canada

    There is no authority for common names of plants on a worldwide or even a North American basis (I don't know the situation in the UK). It is pretty arrogant to say that the names you learned are correct, and everyone else is wrong.
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