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Oceanic Birds of the World (1 Viewer)

Mysticete

Mysticete

Well-known member
United States
Steve Howell and Kirk Zufelt's new book actually seems to be of interest in this forum, but I haven't seen much discussion here. It uses a VERY progressive taxonomy with a lot of splits not currently recognized.

Anyway, I was interested in seeing what the taxonomy is like, and I will post the new or often unrecognized splits here, in case folks want to keep track. There are a LOT so I will do this as a few different posts

First off:

Northern Rockhopper Penguin (Eudyptes moseleyi)
Southern Rockhopper Penguin (E. chrysocome)
Eastern Rockhopper Penguin (E. filholi)

Kuril Guillemot (Cepphus snowi)

South Georgia Diving-Petrel (P. georgicus)
Codfish Diving Petrel (P. whenuahouensis) = note authors reject proposed name of Whenua Hou Diving-Petrel as not being "English" enough. There are a few other cases here and there with common names different from more widely used ones

Common Diving-Petrel complex
Falkland Diving-Petrel (P. berard)
Subtropical Diving-Petrel (P. urinatrix)
Subantarctic Diving-Petrel (P. exsul)
 
Northern Fairy Prion (P. turtur)
Southern Fairy Prion (P. subantarctica)

Greater Fulmar Prion (P. crassirostris)
Lesser Fulmar Prion (P. flemingi)

MacGillivray's Prion (Pachyptila macgillivrayi)

Lesser Snow Petrel (Pagodroma nivea
Greater Snow Petrel (P. confusa)

Pacific Fulmar (Fulmarus rodgersii)
Atlantic Fulmar (F. glacialis)

Black-capped Petrel treated as two species, the undescribed Black-faced Petrel and White-faced Petrel (Pterodroma hasitata)
Vanuatu Petrel (P. occulta)
Gray-faced Petrel (P. gouldi)
Henderson Petrel (P. atrata)

"Tropical Shearwater complex"
Seychelles Shearwater (Puffinus nicolae)
Baillon's Shearwater (P. bailloni)
Melanesian Shearwater (P. gunax)
Micronesian Shearwater (P. dichrous)
Polynesian Shearwater (P. polynesiae)
 
Northern Buller's Albatross (Thalassarche platei)
Southern Buller's Albatross (Thalassarche bulleri)

Auckland Shy Albatross (T. steadi)
Tasman Shy Albatross (T. cauta)

European Storm-Petrel complex
British Storm-Petrel (Hydrobates pelagicus)
Mediterranean Storm-Petrel (Hydrobates melitensis)

Band-rumped Storm-Petrel Complex- beyond the well known North Atlantic splits, there are the following:
St. Helena Storm-Petrel (Thalobata helena)
Sao Tome Storm-Petrel (Thalobata castro)
Darwin's Storm-Petrel (undescribed cool season Galapagos form)
Spear's Storm-Petrel (undescribed hot season Galapagos form)
Hawaiian Storm-Petrel (T. cryptoleucura)
Japanese Storm-Petrel (T. kumagai)

Wedge-rumped Storm-Petrel complex
Galapagos Storm-Petrel (Halocyptena tethys)
Peruvian Storm-Petrel (H. kelsalli)

Wilson's Storm-Petrel complex
Lowe's Storm-Petrel (Oceanites galapagoensis)
Elliot's Storm-Petrel (O. gracilis)
Fuegian Storm-Petrel (O. chilensis)
Pincoya Storm-Petrel (O. pincoyae)

New Caledonian Storm-Petrel (undescribed Fregetta sp.)

White-bellied Storm-Petrel complex
Black-bellied Storm-Petrel (Fregetta tropica)
Gough Storm-Petrel (F. melanoleuca)
Inaccessible Storm-Petrel (F. leucogaster)
Titan Storm-Petrel (F. titan)
Juan Fernandez Storm-Petrel (F. segethi)
Tasman Storm-Petrel (F. grallaria)

White-faced Storm-Petrel complex
Cramp's Storm-Petrel (Pelagodroma hypoleuca)
Latham's Storm-Petrel (P. marina)
Australian Storm-Petrel (P. dulciae)
Kermadec Storm-Petrel (P. albiclunis)
 
White-tailed Tropicbird complex
Catesby's Tropicbird (Phaethon catesbyi)
Yellow-billed Tropicbird (P. lepturus)

Arabian Tropicbird (P. indicus) - split from Red-billed Tropicbird

Trinidade Frigatebird (F. trinitatis) – split from Lesser Frigatebird

Brown Booby complex
Atlantic Brown Booby (Sula leucogaster)
Indo-Pacific Brown Booby (S. plotus)
Brewster's Brown Booby (S. brewsteri)

Brown Skua complex
Falkland Skua (Catharacta antarctica)
Subtropical Skua (C. hamiltoni)
Subantarctic Skua (C. lonnbergi)
Chatham Skua (C. undescribed)

Western Bridled Tern (Onychoprion melanoptera)
Eastern Bridled Tern (O. anaethetus)

Common Brown Noddy (Anous stolidus)
Galapagos Brown Noddy (A. galapagensis)

Black Noddy Complex
Atlantic Black Noddy (A. americanus)
Indian Black Noddy (A. tenuirostris)
Pacific Black Noddy (A. minutus)
Hawaiian Black Noddy (A. melanogenys)

Blue-gray Noddy complex
Blue Noddy (A. ceruleus)
Gray Noddy (A. albivittus)
Silver Noddy (A. saxatilus)

White Noddy Complex
Atlantic White Noddy (Gygis alba)
Indo-Pacific White Noddy (G. candida)
Little White Noddy (G. microrhyncha)
 
Thanks for this summary Mysticete, very good to have it; seems highly PSC based from what i can see, be interesting to see how many get accepted by checklist authorities.
 
Well apparently there are papers coming out dealing with Noddies soon, so we might get movement on them sooner than later.
 
Mysticete said:
White-tailed Tropicbird complex
Catesby's Tropicbird (Phaethon catesbyi)
Yellow-billed Tropicbird (P. lepturus)

Arabian Tropicbird (P. indicus) - split from Red-billed Tropicbird

Trinidade Frigatebird (F. trinitatis) – split from Lesser Frigatebird

Brown Booby complex
Atlantic Brown Booby (Sula leucogaster)
Indo-Pacific Brown Booby (S. plotus)
Brewster's Brown Booby (S. brewsteri)

Brown Skua complex
Falkland Skua (Catharacta antarctica)
Subtropical Skua (C. hamiltoni)
Subantarctic Skua (C. lonnbergi)
Chatham Skua (C. undescribed)

Western Bridled Tern (Onychoprion melanoptera)
Eastern Bridled Tern (O. anaethetus)

Common Brown Noddy (Anous stolidus)
Galapagos Brown Noddy (A. galapagensis)

Black Noddy Complex
Atlantic Black Noddy (A. americanus)
Indian Black Noddy (A. tenuirostris)
Pacific Black Noddy (A. minutus)
Hawaiian Black Noddy (A. melanogenys)

Blue-gray Noddy complex
Blue Noddy (A. ceruleus)
Gray Noddy (A. albivittus)
Silver Noddy (A. saxatilus)

White Noddy Complex
Atlantic White Noddy (Gygis alba)
Indo-Pacific White Noddy (G. candida)
Little White Noddy (G. microrhyncha)
Click to expand...

White-tailed Tropicbird, surprised that the highly distinctive, Chistmas Island endemic fulvus isn't on the list for splitting?
 
Mysticete said:
Codfish Diving Petrel (P. whenuahouensis) = note authors reject proposed name of Whenua Hou Diving-Petrel as not being "English" enough. There are a few other cases here and there with common names different from more widely used ones
Click to expand...

At the risk of sparking another debate on 'English' names, I wonder if they would stand by this decision in the current climate?

Wheua Hou is the ancestral home to Ngai Tahu & due to the island's cultural significance Ngai Tahu are involved with any management decisions on the island & were asked to name the Diving Petrel when it was described as a new species recently
 
andyadcock said:
White-tailed Tropicbird, surprised that the highly distinctive, Chistmas Island endemic fulvus isn't on the list for splitting?
Click to expand...

I've seen the tropicbirds on Christmas Island and they seem to vary from almost pure white, to a hint of yellow to a deep golden colour. Mixed pairs seem common.

I'm sure they are just a colour morph.
 
Last edited:
Ian Lewis said:
I've seen the tropicbirds on Christmas Island and they seem to vary from almost pure white, to a hint of yellow but deep golden colour. Mixed pairs seem common.

I'm sure they are just a colour morph.
Click to expand...

Thanks Ian,
do I recall a race of Red-tailed in Indonesia or Australasia that gets referred to as Apricot-tailed or is that my failing memory again?
 
Looking forward to all these extralimital records. ;) For example wrong-ocean Brown Boobies in Central America.
 
There are some potential interesting studies that could emerge from this, for sure.

Apparently Hawaiian and Pacific Black Noddies have different nesting strategies. Both also inhabit the Hawaiian archipelago, with the Pacific Black nesting in the northwest chain of islands, and the Hawaiian on the main island. Obviously there is a potential there for both forms to overlap...I wonder if there is any evidence of interbreeding in Hawaii, or any place where both species nest in close proximity?
 
Dave Boyle said:
At the risk of sparking another debate on 'English' names, I wonder if they would stand by this decision in the current climate?

Wheua Hou is the ancestral home to Ngai Tahu & due to the island's cultural significance Ngai Tahu are involved with any management decisions on the island & were asked to name the Diving Petrel when it was described as a new species recently
Click to expand...

There were a couple of other cases where they chose a less-used name over an existing one. IIRC, their favored name for Short-tailed Albatross is Steller's Albatross. It would be interesting to hear what there opinion is, although my gut sense is I doubt it has changed.
 
I should also note that there were many other species which the text mentions "probably" actually containing multiple cryptic species, but since nothing was delimited, I didn't list them. There are also a few forms they namecheck but the text reads as them not feeling comfortable yet that those splits are valid (references to Tasman Booby and the Little Blue Penguin splits seem to fall in this category).
 
Mysticete said:
There were a couple of other cases where they chose a less-used name over an existing one. IIRC, their favored name for Short-tailed Albatross is Steller's Albatross. It would be interesting to hear what there opinion is, although my gut sense is I doubt it has changed.
Click to expand...

Well given that eponyms, seem to have been out of fashion for some time and have been slowly disappearing, I don't see how it could stand?
 
Dave Boyle said:
At the risk of sparking another debate on 'English' names, I wonder if they would stand by this decision in the current climate?

Wheua Hou is the ancestral home to Ngai Tahu & due to the island's cultural significance Ngai Tahu are involved with any management decisions on the island & were asked to name the Diving Petrel when it was described as a new species recently
Click to expand...

Many field guides will use the English name in the main text and list local names, where applicable, in a seperate list in the index.

I see no reason for this to be any different?
 
andyadcock said:
Thanks Ian,
do I recall a race of Red-tailed in Indonesia or Australasia that gets referred to as Apricot-tailed or is that my failing memory again?
Click to expand...

Although IOC includes an east Indian Ocean race westralis there is no mention in the Ocean Birds book.
 
Last edited:
andyadcock said:
Many field guides will use the English name in the main text and list local names, where applicable, in a seperate list in the index.

I see no reason for this to be any different?
Click to expand...

Its not a local name though, its the only common name, before the split it was thought to be a South Georgia Diving Petrel - Ngai Tahu were specifically asked to name the bird, for the first time, & this is the name they wanted, its not for oversees birders to re-name it because they don't like it
 
Dave Boyle said:
Its not a local name though, its the only common name, before the split it was thought to be a South Georgia Diving Petrel - Ngai Tahu were specifically asked to name the bird, for the first time, & this is the name they wanted, its not for oversees birders to re-name it because they don't like it
Click to expand...

Is 'Codfish' a literal translation of the name given by the Islanders? I have no issue in this case with Whenua Hou Diving-Petrel, it's not a completely foreign name, I wonder what the committee had agaisnst it? Was that their reason 'not English enough'?

What do you mean by 'the current climate', you mean pressure being applied from certain quarters?
 
Last edited:
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