AOU-NACC Proposals 2021 (1 Viewer)

[MJB]

Re 'Proposal 2021-C-5: Treat Eurasian Blackbird Turdus merula as four species', presumably tibetanus, simillimus & mandarinus would attain full species status? Are the allotted subspecies specified?
MJB

 

[Andy Adcock]

Don't have full access to my files at the moment but I think this is long since adopted by the IOC?

 

[TomDerutter]

Common Blackbird	Turdus merula	merula/azorensis/cabrerae/mauritanicus/aterrimus/syriacus/intermedius
Chinese Blackbird	Turdus mandarinus	sowerbyi/mandarinus	Chinese Blackbird T. mandarinus including sowerbyi, but not intermedius, is split from Common/Eurasian Blackbird (Rasmussen & Anderton 2005; Collar 2005; Robson 2008; Nylander et al. 2008; H&M 4).
Tibetan Blackbird	Turdus maximus		Turdus maximus is split from T. merula (Rasmussen & Anderton 2005; Collar 2005; Nylander et al. 2008).
Indian Blackbird	Turdus simillimus	nigropileus/simillimus/bourdilloni/kinnisii	Turdus simillimus is split from T. merula (Rasmussen & Anderton 2005; Collar 2005; Nylander et al. 2008).

This is from IOC - Looks like a catching up proposal

I don't think there's a tibetanus?

 

[l_raty]

"Wolters used Nesoctitinae on p. 156"

Thanks Mark. No description of any kind: this being published after 1960, there is no way that a name was formally established here.

 

[Andy Adcock]

Common Blackbird	Turdus merula	merula/azorensis/cabrerae/mauritanicus/aterrimus/syriacus/intermedius
Chinese Blackbird	Turdus mandarinus	sowerbyi/mandarinus	Chinese Blackbird T. mandarinus including sowerbyi, but not intermedius, is split from Common/Eurasian Blackbird (Rasmussen & Anderton 2005; Collar 2005; Robson 2008; Nylander et al. 2008; H&M 4).
Tibetan Blackbird	Turdus maximus		Turdus maximus is split from T. merula (Rasmussen & Anderton 2005; Collar 2005; Nylander et al. 2008).
Indian Blackbird	Turdus simillimus	nigropileus/simillimus/bourdilloni/kinnisii	Turdus simillimus is split from T. merula (Rasmussen & Anderton 2005; Collar 2005; Nylander et al. 2008).

This is from IOC - Looks like a catching up proposal

I don't think there's a tibetanus?

Tibetan is maximus

 

[Mysticete]

Is there a "no" missing in the first sentence of this post?
Niels

yes I meant to say no records

 

[MJB]

Tibetan is maximus

My bad, Andy. Thanks!
MJB

 

[raymie]

How do they know it was not a falconry bird flown by its owner? Legs are not clearly visible. This would explain why such a huge bird appeared and disappeared again without trace.

Falconers in the US use native species almost exclusively, and there are records of every bird kept by all falconers anyway.

There is a Steller's Sea Eagle at the Fort Worth Texas Zoo.
https://zooinstitutes.com/animals/black-sea-eagle-826/ .

At a big name AZA zoo like that, a bird of prey escapes would have made the news. I'm not sure they still have the bird, anyway, that photo is from 2016. I think there is no way that this sea eagle, if real, was anything but a natural vagrant.

 

[Jeff Hopkins]

Don't have full access to my files at the moment but I think this is long since adopted by the IOC?

Clements has accepted it, too.

 

[mb1848]

2021-C-19: Treat Catharus swainsoni as a separate species from C. ustulatus.
I wonder if this proposal would benefit from the March 9, 2021 published article:
https://bioone.org/journals/bulleti...tus-Nuttall/10.25226/bboc.v141i1.2021.a9.full .
"Neotypification of Catharus ustulatus (Nuttall)?
Proof Baird 1864 treated T. swainsoni and T. ustulatus as species.
https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/47632#page/34/mode/1up .

 

[mb1848]

2021-C-15 Add Common Wood-Pigeon Columba palumbus to the Main List.
Pyle et al. (2020) mentioned a May 1935 record by Alan Brooks off Newfoundland on board a ship crossing the Atlantic in a westerly direction (Gosselin 1992). The position of the ship when the bird was recorded is not known. "...tomorrow at noon we will be within sight of Cape Race."
https://collections.mun.ca/digital/collection/osprey/id/4435 .

 

[Mysticete]

FYI, I have heard a rumor on the grapevine that AOS accepted the Short-billed Gull/Common Gull split.

 

[mb1848]

2021-A-3: Split Mew Gull Larus canus brachyrhynchus and rename as Short-billed Gull

(Speaking of Mew Gulls, it might be a good
time to get used to the idea of calling it a Short-billed Gull, as there
may be a future split of Old World vs. New World Mew Gulls, in which
case our bird would likely be renamed Short-billed Gull, its original name.)

--Paul Lehman, San Diego
May 13 SDbirding
"I have heard a rumor on the grapevine that AOS accepted the Short-billed Gull/Common Gull split."

Mysticete

 

[Mysticete]

Going to make a Newfoundland winter trip just that more enticing, given that Common Gull is a wintering bird most winters IIRC.

 

[Jeff Hopkins]

Going to make a Newfoundland winter trip just that more enticing, given that Common Gull is a wintering bird most winters IIRC.

Fortunately I got one in Massachusetts a few years ago. Still froze my butt off.

 

[Larry Sweetland]

I think Mew Gull is a lovely name and it would be a shame to lose it. I prefer Mew Gull for the Nearctic birds and Common Gull for the Palaearctic birds.

 

[Jim LeNomenclatoriste]

I think Mew Gull is a lovely name and it would be a shame to lose it. I prefer Mew Gull for the Nearctic birds and Common Gull for the Palaearctic birds.

What does Mew mean ? Mew sounds like a Pokémon 🤨

 

[jts1882]

I assume it is related to the sound they make.


mewing

high-pitched cries characteristic of a cat or some kinds of bird.​

 

[Edward]

What does Mew mean ? Mew sounds like a Pokémon 🤨

It's a Germanic word for gull, cf. German Möwe, Icelandic máfur, Dutch meeuw etc. So it means Gull Gull

 

[l_raty]

It's a Germanic word for gull, cf. German Möwe, Icelandic máfur, Dutch meeuw etc.

"Mouette" in French.
(We also used to have "mauve" for the bigger ones, but this word is completely deprecated.)