Courtesy of Will Cook
Biology Dept. Duke University
The 47th supplement to the AOU Check-list of North American Birds is
just out: http://www.aou.org/checklist/Suppl47.pdf
(The full check-list is at: http://www.aou.org/checklist/)
A big highlight is the addition of two new species that were first
documented for North America on Brian Patteson's pelagic trips off
the North Carolina coast in 2004:
Cape Verde Shearwater (Calonectris edwardsii)
Black-bellied Storm-Petrel (Fregetta tropica)
(Fea's Petrel still hasn't made the list, though...)
Some other changes that affect Carolina birds:
The shorebird tribe Tringini is rearranged and there's a scientific
name change for Willet: Catoptrophorus semipalmatus --> Tringa
semipalmata
The terns are reordered and a number of them are split from Sterna
into several other genera:
Sooty Tern, Sterna fuscata --> Onychoprion fuscatus
Bridled Tern, Sterna anaethetus --> Onychoprion anaethetus
Least Tern, Sterna antillarum --> Sternula antillarum
Gull-billed Tern, Sterna nilotica --> Gelochelidon nilotica
Caspian Tern, Sterna caspia --> Hydroprogne caspia
Roseate Tern, Sterna dougallii - no change
Common Tern, Sterna hirundo - no change
Arctic Tern, Sterna paradisaea - no change
Forster's Tern, Sterna forsteri - no change
Royal Tern, Sterna maxima --> Thalasseus maximus
Sandwich Tern, Sterna sandvicensis --> Thalasseus sandvicensis
The domesticated/feral Ringed Turtle-Dove (Streptopelia risoria) now
goes by the name of the wild species: African Collared-Dove
(Streptopelia roseogrisea). These have been seen in NC, but they're
not established, unlike the Eurasian Collared-Dove.
The skuas/jaegers are elevated to family Stercorariidae, moved out of
the Laridae. The family is placed between the Laridae and Alcidae,
just after Black Skimmer.
Biology Dept. Duke University
The 47th supplement to the AOU Check-list of North American Birds is
just out: http://www.aou.org/checklist/Suppl47.pdf
(The full check-list is at: http://www.aou.org/checklist/)
A big highlight is the addition of two new species that were first
documented for North America on Brian Patteson's pelagic trips off
the North Carolina coast in 2004:
Cape Verde Shearwater (Calonectris edwardsii)
Black-bellied Storm-Petrel (Fregetta tropica)
(Fea's Petrel still hasn't made the list, though...)
Some other changes that affect Carolina birds:
The shorebird tribe Tringini is rearranged and there's a scientific
name change for Willet: Catoptrophorus semipalmatus --> Tringa
semipalmata
The terns are reordered and a number of them are split from Sterna
into several other genera:
Sooty Tern, Sterna fuscata --> Onychoprion fuscatus
Bridled Tern, Sterna anaethetus --> Onychoprion anaethetus
Least Tern, Sterna antillarum --> Sternula antillarum
Gull-billed Tern, Sterna nilotica --> Gelochelidon nilotica
Caspian Tern, Sterna caspia --> Hydroprogne caspia
Roseate Tern, Sterna dougallii - no change
Common Tern, Sterna hirundo - no change
Arctic Tern, Sterna paradisaea - no change
Forster's Tern, Sterna forsteri - no change
Royal Tern, Sterna maxima --> Thalasseus maximus
Sandwich Tern, Sterna sandvicensis --> Thalasseus sandvicensis
The domesticated/feral Ringed Turtle-Dove (Streptopelia risoria) now
goes by the name of the wild species: African Collared-Dove
(Streptopelia roseogrisea). These have been seen in NC, but they're
not established, unlike the Eurasian Collared-Dove.
The skuas/jaegers are elevated to family Stercorariidae, moved out of
the Laridae. The family is placed between the Laridae and Alcidae,
just after Black Skimmer.