Parulidae (1 Viewer)

[blackburnian2000]

An opportunity for the birds to get a way better name for Nashville Warbler...?

Also how do you differentiate between those two taxa? I assume they have range overlap.

Western ssp. of Nashville Warbler was previously called Calaveras Warbler. If split it would be great to return to it and preserve "Nashville" for the eastern population

 

[raymie]

Western ssp. of Nashville Warbler was previously called Calaveras Warbler. If split it would be great to return to it and preserve "Nashville" for the eastern population

It would not be great to preserve "Nashville". It ends up with a situation like what happened to Winter Wren that' still causing confusion to this day. If this split happens, I am begging the AOS (or whoever else) to come up with a new name for the eastern taxa.

 

[Kirk Roth]

It would not be great to preserve "Nashville". It ends up with a situation like what happened to Winter Wren that' still causing confusion to this day. If this split happens, I am begging the AOS (or whoever else) to come up with a new name for the eastern taxa.

It would certainly be similar in this regard - even down to the geography. But not nearly as bad as "Canada Goose."

Personally, I cut Winter Wren a bit of slack because the name is at least descriptive. The taxon sensu stricto is the one that would "appear" in a great portion of its range in winter. That descriptor never really made sense for the Pacific Wren populations before or after the split, so I could argue that the "true" winter wrens retained their mantle. But to your point, that does not alleviate the pre- and post-split naming confusion and I'll concede that.

And obviously, there is nearly nothing "Nashvillian" about a Nashville Warbler other than where Alexander Wilson first saw one (and Tennessee Warbler was already taken!). The only really valid argument for this name is tradition, or what some call "stability" - but you and I just pointed out examples where that argument seems to take precedent over others.

 

[Kirk Roth]

And obviously, there is nearly nothing "Nashvillian" about a Nashville Warbler other than where Alexander Wilson first saw one (and Tennessee Warbler was already taken!). The only really valid argument for this name is tradition, or what some call "stability" - but you and I just pointed out examples where that argument seems to take precedent over others.

And just to acknowledge - yes, Calaveras Warbler is not that much better of a name - referring to the county in California from where it was (I believe) first described. That county being named for a river which itself was named after the Spanish word for "skulls" due to the evidence of terrible tragedy the Spanish explorers found there.

 

[raymie]

It would certainly be similar in this regard - even down to the geography. But not nearly as bad as "Canada Goose."

Personally, I cut Winter Wren a bit of slack because the name is at least descriptive. The taxon sensu stricto is the one that would "appear" in a great portion of its range in winter. That descriptor never really made sense for the Pacific Wren populations before or after the split, so I could argue that the "true" winter wrens retained their mantle. But to your point, that does not alleviate the pre- and post-split naming confusion and I'll concede that.

And obviously, there is nearly nothing "Nashvillian" about a Nashville Warbler other than where Alexander Wilson first saw one (and Tennessee Warbler was already taken!). The only really valid argument for this name is tradition, or what some call "stability" - but you and I just pointed out examples where that argument seems to take precedent over others.

I would argue keeping the name actually disrupts stability - while a post-split Leiothlypis ruficapilla would retain the same scientific name, in practice it doesn't actually refer to the same taxon. Thus, you are essentially applying the name of a now defunct taxon to a new one. IMO keeping the old name in a split is something that should happen only very rarely, when the newly-split out taxa is heavily range-restricted (ex. keeping Red Crossbill when Cassia Crossbill was split out).

Winter Wren and Brown Booby are obvious examples to me when the old name should have been scrapped in recent years. Maybe Eastern Meadowlark, too. Canada Goose feels a bit too iconic to change but it wouldn't have been a bad idea, either.

 

[Kirk Roth]

I would argue keeping the name actually disrupts stability - while a post-split Leiothlypis ruficapilla would retain the same scientific name, in practice it doesn't actually refer to the same taxon. Thus, you are essentially applying the name of a now defunct taxon to a new one. IMO keeping the old name in a split is something that should happen only very rarely, when the newly-split out taxa is heavily range-restricted (ex. keeping Red Crossbill when Cassia Crossbill was split out).

Personally, I feel the same - while also recognizing that the term "stability" is a multi-meaning concept. A name change can simultaneously increase and decrease stability depending on whether the focus is on the historical record or taxonomic precision or communication with laypersons of various levels of information currency or so on.

I like "appropriate" names - but that definition, as applied to taxonomy and nomenclature, is also easily debated. In conclusion, we will be arguing about bird names until we die, and probably still until sometime after.

 

[albertonykus]

Calderón, A.M., A.W. Wood, Z.A. Szpiech, and D.P.L. Toews (2024)
Recently delisted songbird harbors extensive genomic evidence of inbreeding, potentially complicating future recovery
Evolutionary Applications 17: e70052
doi: 10.1111/eva.70052

The Kirtland's warbler (Setophaga kirtlandii) is a rare migratory passerine species and habitat specialist of the North American Jack Pine Forests. Their near extinction in the 1970s classified them as endangered and protected under the Endangered Species Act of 1973. After decades of intense conservation management, their population size recovered, and they were delisted from federal protection in 2019. We explore the genomic consequences of this harsh bottleneck and recovery by comparing the genomic architecture of two closely related species whose population sizes have remained large and stable, Hooded Warblers (Setophaga citrina) and American Redstarts (Setophaga ruticilla). We used whole-genome sequencing to characterize the distribution of runs of homozygosity and deleterious genetic variation. We find evidence that Kirtland's warblers exhibit genetic patterns consistent with recent inbreeding. Our results also show that Kirtland's warblers carry an excess proportion of deleterious variation, which could complicate management for this conservation-reliant species. This analysis provides a genetically informed perspective that should be thoroughly considered when delisting other species from federal protections. Through the increasing accessibility of genome sequencing technology, it will be more feasible to monitor the genetic landscape of recovering populations to ensure their long-term survival independent of conservation intervention.

 

[Peter Kovalik]

Proposal (1033) to SACC

Treat Basileuterus delattrii as (A) a separate species from Rufous-capped Warbler B. rufifrons, and (B) having the English name Chestnut-capped Warbler

PASSED (30 March 2025)