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HBW Alive - Key to Scientific Names in Ornithology
Björn, in response to your enquiries and valuable suggestions about citation (#17, #18) Ferran Gil of Lynx Edicions has created an automatic cite block at the end of each definition page. You will see that the recommended citation is almost identical to the one suggested in your #18. Your input is much appreciated.
Readers should also remember that my Key is not just for HBW Alive members only; everybody can view the etymologies, as they can also browse trimmed versions of the HBW Alive texts. To provide a worthwhile and accurate site readers may post comments, updates and new information for my Key under this thread or independently on the Etymology Subforum.
 
Accessibility

James Jobling said:
Not wishing to blow my own trumpet, but you could also have found the answer to your query on the free site HBWAlive Key to Scientific Names in Ornithology.
James
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Incidentally, although it's great that Lynx Edicions has provided free access to the Key to Scientific Names in Ornithology, it's a pity that the facility remains rather hidden and poorly publicised. HBW Alive subscribers will of course be aware of it via the email Newsletters and the relevant New features news items (30 May 2014, 7 Apr 2015), but for a non-subscriber, there's no indication on the HBW Alive Home page of the availability/accessibility of the key. And even for non-subscribers who have heard about it, there's no obvious means (other than Google) of navigating to the Key search page.
 
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BIRDS Alive 22 (Apr 2016)...
Key to Scientific Names in Ornithology

As we explained in previous news, James A. Jobling, author of the well-known and acclaimed Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names (1991) and the Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names (2010), is generously participating in HBW Alive by incorporating an enormous amount of information related to the etymology of scientific bird names.

James has continued his tremendous work and recently completed a major round of editing, reviewing numerous entries and adding more titles to the list of References. Right now the Key to Scientific Names in Ornithology has 28,195 entries with explanations of more than 34,700 names! With over 3378 pages and 695,500 words, if printed it would be heftier than War and Peace, Les Misérables or the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Now imagine all of that at your finger-tips... Just roll your cursor over any word in a scientific name on any page of HBW Alive and discover a new and interesting subject which will enhance your knowledge of the world of birds!
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Much appreciated, James. :t:
 
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Richard and Björn,
Thank you very much for your encouragement. As you know this is a labour of love for me, but without you, and all those other regular contributors who support the HBWAlive Key and open new avenues of investigation, it would take much longer to provide the detail and information contained in it. So, a hearty thanks to you all, and carry on the good work.
James
 
Richard Klim said:
Incidentally, although it's great that Lynx Edicions has provided free access to the Key to Scientific Names in Ornithology, it's a pity that the facility remains rather hidden and poorly publicised. HBW Alive subscribers will of course be aware of it via the email Newsletters and the relevant New features news items (30 May 2014, 7 Apr 2015), but for a non-subscriber, there's no indication on the HBW Alive Home page of the availability/accessibility of the key. And even for non-subscribers who have heard about it, there's no obvious means (other than Google) of navigating to the Key search page.
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Agree a thoroughly useful resource. On the iPhone/iPad, one can add the search page to the home screen and get instant access to the key that way without having to sign-in to HBW Alive or resort to googling. Works like a charm on my 2 devices.
 
Hello all

Just stumbled across this thread... Yes, it does seem as if free access to this wonderful key has gone largely unnoticed, since HBW Alive is not always good at promoting itself. Twitter users can keep up with developments via @HBWAlive (a Tweet on the "Key to Scientific Names in Ornithology" went out yesterday) and there is a Facebook group. Please do send these links to friends and colleagues so that they can enjoy this fabulous resource!

Oh, James Jobling's "Bird Names" has been a treasured and much-thumbed possession ever since I was given it years ago by Mark Sokol - I suspect it cost a pretty penny!

Best wishes, Chris
 
But why so many unneccessary name changes e.g Common Squirrel Cuckoo which came to light in another thread this week?

The addition of 'Common' is absolutely pointless is it not? It does seem odd that when so many are asking for the standardisation of bird names, HBWA just adds another confusing name change?

Andy
 
andyadcock said:
But why so many unneccessary name changes e.g Common Squirrel Cuckoo which came to light in another thread this week?
The addition of 'Common' is absolutely pointless is it not? It does seem odd that when so many are asking for the standardisation of bird names, HBWA just adds another confusing name change?
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(Andy, this Bird Name Etymology thread is about James Jobling's HBW Alive Key to Scientific Names in Ornithology.)

HBW/BirdLife added the qualifier 'Common' to differentiate widely-distributed Piaya [c] cayana from newly-split Mexican Squirrel-cuckoo P [c] mexicana.
 
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HBW Alive is currently adding assessments on newly described birds (including Passerines):

Latest updates include:

Orthotomus chaktomuk
Strix hadorami
Formicivora paludicola
Muscicapa sodhii
 
Melanie said:
... The other question is whether he was born in Elwood, Melbourne (here) or in Brighton, Melbourne (here). ...
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Melanie, Elwood and Brighton (Victoria, Australia), are both neighbouring suburbs of Melbourne. Elwood is part of the Brighton (Electoral) District, Brighton Road runs through Elwood, so I guess it boils down to semantics.
 
Readers may be interested to learn that I have just completed (another) re-edit of the HBWAlive Key to Scientific Names in Ornithology. This has mainly involved housekeeping, but I have taken the opportunity to list under each currently recognised genus heading (based on HBW & BLI Illustrated Checklist, vols. 1-2) the generic synonyms included in that name (see Synon. under the Standard Abbreviations). There are also some generic names not yet seen or verified (227 at the last count), and I hope to resolve these during a planned visit to Tring later this year.

For those interested in statistics the genera with the highest number of synonyms include Ploceus (42), Falco (40), Acrocephalus, Calidris and Vanellus (33 each), Emberiza (31), and Larus, Sylvia and Amazilia (29 each).
 
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My list of "Diagnoses not yet seen/verified" is now down to 178. That figure includes twelve unverified generic names (i.e. names I have come across over the years, but not yet found in the standard nomenclators/references). These are ALLASMA, ANNAMORNUS, CARDEOS, CHIONOGASTER, DIAPHORASMA, ENENDROZDOVOMA, HYPSIPHORNIS, MESOSERICORNIS, NANDOU, NYCTIPORNIS, SANTAPLONIS and SYLVATICUS. I suspect that Chionogaster and Sylvaticus, and perhaps Nandou, are errors for specific names. Cardeos is in my pre-1985 MS but unhappily I did not note the citation! Can a reader provide a citation, indeed any information, for any of these names?

PS/Update: I have located (but not yet seen):
Cardeos Verheyen, 1956, Bulletin de l'Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique, 32 (55), 1-54.
Allasma Davis, 1978, Pan American Studies, 1 (2), 52.
Annamornus (but not yet convinced about this spelling) Davis, 1978, Pan American Studies, 1 (2), 22+
Diaphorasma Davis, 1978, Pan American Studies, 1 (2), 22+
Enendrozdovoma Kashin, 1978, [Comments on Peters's Checklist of Birds of the World] in Sudilovskaya & Flint (eds.), Research of the Fauna of the Soviet Union. Birds and Reptiles, 164-176
 
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