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A FOCUS ON NATURE TOURS FEATURE
August 2010 and updated July 2011 

"Some Bird Taxonomy Changes, including "once again a Gallinule,
 and Tanagers no longer so" 


This feature composed by Armas Hill, and the name changes have been incorporated in the bird-lists and photo galleries in the links below.  


As of July 2011, according the American Ornithologists Union (the AOU), it is the Common Gallinule throughout the Americas, Gallinula galeata, distinct from the Common Moorhen, Gallinula chloropus, of the Old World.
After all, it is GALLINULA galeata!

A juvenile Common Gallinule
(photo by Doris Potter)

And now the Snowy Plover of the Americas, Charadrius nivosus, is distinct from the Kentish Plover, Charadrius alexandrinus, of the Old World.

The Mexican Jay in the US has a new scientific name, Aphelocoma wollweberi, as a portion of its population in Mexico has been split into a new species, the Transvolcanic Jay, Aphelocoma ultramarina.  

Further to the south, if you've seen the Chestnut-mandibled Toucan in Costa Rica, you may be interested that it is now part of the more-southerly Black-mandibled Toucan, Ramphastos ambiguus.  

If in the West Indies or northern South America, you've seen what has been called the American Bare-eyed Thrush, it now has a new name, the Spectacled Thrush. It is still Turdus nudigenis.

Among the Wood Warblers, throughout the Americas, there has been a major taxonomic revision. In North America, no species have been "lost", and none have been "gained", but there have been some notable changes as to the genera.
"Parula" is still in the common English names for the Northern and Tropical Parulas, but the genus is now gone.
What has been a large genus, Dendroica, is now gone.
The birds that have been in it, as well as the two Parulas, are now in the genus where, until now, there has only been one bird, the American Redstart. That now large genus is Setophaga.    

The genus Wilsonia no longer exists. From it, the Hooded Warbler is now in Setophaga, while the Canada Warbler and the Wilson's Warbler are now in Cardellina, where previously there was only the Red-faced Warbler that only reaches the US in Arizona.
Also now in the expanded Cardellina genus is the Red Warbler in Mexico, and if you've never seen the dainty Pink-headed Warbler in Guatemala, you might like to know that it is in Cardellina as well. The Red and the Pink-headed Warblers were in the now defunct genus, Ergaticus.  

The Connecticut Warbler is now the only member of the Oporornis genus. The similar Mourning and MacGillivray's Warblers, along with the Kentucky Warbler, have now gone to Geothlypis, the genus of the Yellowthroats.     

If you've seen the Barbuda Warbler or the Saint Lucia Warbler on those respective Caribbean islands, or the Adelaide's or Elfin Woods Warbler in Puerto Rico, the Arrowhead Warbler in Jamaica, the Vitelline Warbler in the Cayman Islands, or the Plumbeous Warbler on Dominica or Guadeloupe, they are all now in the genus Setophaga, rather than Dendroica.

In Mexico and Guatemala, the Fan-tailed Warbler, formerly the sole member of Euthlypis, is now in the genus Basileuterus, along with, among others, the warbler that has the largest range of any in the Americas, the Golden-crowned Warbler, that has also now been called the Stripe-crowned Warbler.  

In the Bahamas, there is now a new species. The Bahama Warbler, Setophaga flavescens, is now distinct from the Yellow-throated Warbler, formerly Dendroica, now Setophaga dominica.   

According to the July 2011 AOU List, the Yellow-breasted Chat is still a "problematic" warbler, and the Mountain Chickadee remains as it has been, one species.   

The Flame-colored Tanager (above)
and the Summer Tanager (below)
and others in the genus Piranga
are in the Cardinal family (Cardinalidae),
having left the family of Tanagers (Thraupidae)
during the AOU changes in July 2011. 
(upper photo by Ruben Campos,
lower photo by Howard Eskin) 



  

BELOW THE LINKS, THERE  THIS NARRATIVE CONTINUES WITH PHOTOS REGARDING THE RECENT TAXONOMIC CHANGES.   


Links:

Bird-Lists & Photo Galleries of Birds of:

Brazil, part #1:  Tinamous to Doves     Brazil, part #2:  Macaws to Flycatchers

Brazil, part #3:   Antshrikes to Grosbeaks

Caribbean, part #1:  Guineafowl to Hummingbirds     Caribbean, part #2:  Trogons to Buntings 

Central America, part #1:  Tinamous to Doves     Central America, part #2:  Macaws to Woodpeckers

Central America, part #3:  Manakins to Thrushes     Central America, part #4:  Thrushes to Buntings

Europe, part #1:  Grouse to Puffin     Europe, part #2:  Sandgrouse to Buntings

Japan, part #1:  Pheasants to Pittas     Japan, part #2:  Minivets to Buntings

Mexico, part #1:  Tinamous to Shorebirds     Mexico, part #2:  Jaegers to Flycatchers

Mexico, part #3:  Manakins to Buntings

North America, part #1:  Grouse to Anhinga     North America, part #2: Condor to Shorebirds 

North America, part #3:  Jaegers to Flycatchers     North America, part #4:  Owls to Flycatchers

North America, part #5:  Shrikes to Pipits     North America, part #6: Olive Warbler to Buntings

Upcoming FONT Birding & Nature Tours      FONT Past Tour Highlights 

 

Usually, when people travel with us on tours, they add "new birds to their list", seeing what they have not seen previously.
Sometimes, however, such "new birds" can be added later in the comfort, maybe, of an armchair at home, or at work.
The new 51st Supplement of the AOU (American Ornithologists Union) Bird Checklist came out in 2010, and among the changes were these:

If you've seen what has been the Winter Wren in parts of Alaska and elsewhere in western North America, you can now mark it down as the Pacific Wren, Troglodytes pacificus.
The Winter Wren continues in eastern North America, but now with the scientific name, Troglodytes hiemalis.
What we've called the Winter Wren in North America, has been "the Wren", in the Old World, Troglodytes troglodytes. Now that bird is the Eurasian Wren. It is the only wren outside the New World. In the Americas, there are about 75 species of wrens.
The Eurasian Wren, however, with a range in places as far flung as Iceland and Taiwan, has about 30 subspecies, and there may yet be more splits relating to it. Subspecies of the Eurasian Wren occur as far east in Siberia as the Kuril and Commander Islands, and the wren that is endemic to the Pribilof Islands in the Bering Sea, off Alaska, may also be one.

If you've seen or heard a whip-poor-will in the American Southwest, or in Mexico or Guatemala, you can now mark it down as the Mexican Whip-poor-will, Caprimulgus arizonae, distinct from the Eastern Whip-poor-will, Caprimulgus vociferus.

Also notable in the 2010 AOU adjustments is that what we have called "tanagers" in North America, are no longer in the "tanager" family, Thraupidae.  They were moved to the "cardinal" family, Cardinalidae.

In addition to the 4 species of "tanagers" normally residing (at least during part of the year) in North America, some others in the Piranga genus in Central & South America are also making the move. Their family ties notwithstanding, they are all still keeping "tanager" as their common names.
The "real tanagers" are now inhabitants of just Central & South America, and some Caribbean islands. 

Before more about the story of tanagers becoming cardinals, the following here is from a narrative written earlier this year by Armas Hill, relating to the FONT May 2010 Japan Tour, and referring to yet more taxonomic changes. What is in burgundy print is from that narrative, and then, after that, more again relating to the AOU updates.  

In the new book, "Birds of East Asia", by Mark Brazil, some notable taxonomic "splits" of bird species include the following. A number of these are also reflected in the latest (51st) Supplement to the AOU (American Ornithologists Union) Checklist.
   

Eastern Spot-billed Duck, Anas zonorhyncha
from Spot-billed Duck, Anas poecilorhyncha

Eastern Cattle Egret, Bubulcus coromandus
from Western Cattle Egret, Bubulcus ibis

Eastern Water Rail, Rallus indicus
from Water Rail, Rallus aquaticus

Eastern Buzzard, Buteo japonicus
from Common Buzzard, Buteo buteo

Eastern Black-tailed Godwit, Limosa melanuroides
from Black-tailed Godwit, Limosa limosa

Eastern Grass Owl, Tyto longimembris
from Grass Owl, Tyto capensis

Eastern Great Tit, Parus minor
from the now Northern Great Tit, Parus major

Eastern Yellow Wagtail, Motacilla tschutschensis
from the Western Yellow Wagtail, Motacilla flava

Also:

Black-eared Kite, Milvus lineatus
from Black Kite, Milvus migrans

Northern Harrier, Circus hudsonius (of North America)
from Hen Harrier, Circus cyaneus

Siberian Stonechat, Saxicola maurus
from Eurasian Stonechat, Saxicola torquatus.

For those of us in North America, it's notable that some of the birds just listed have occurred on our continent, especially in Alaska: the Eastern Spot-billed Duck, the Eastern Black-tailed Godwit, the more-regular Eastern Yellow Wagtail, and the Siberian Stonechat.

Eastern Spot-billed Ducks photographed during a FONT tour in Japan

As to others having occurred in Alaska, I do not know but maybe the Eastern Cattle Egret has. Maybe someone else knows as to that.

Regarding the Eastern Cattle Egret, it is larger than the Western Cattle Egret, with a longer bill, neck and legs. The breeding plumage of the Western Cattle Egret is never as orange as that of the Eastern Cattle Egret. The legs of the Western Cattle Egret are yellowish or grayish-olive, and never black as those of the Eastern Cattle Egret can be.

A Western Cattle Egret.
This species is believed to have come 
to the Americas on its own from Africa.
(photo by Howard Eskin) 

Also in the "Birds of East Asia", by Mark Brazil, the Black Scoter, Melanitta americana, is split from the Common Scoter, Melanitta nigra. It is the Black Scoter that occurs in North America, while the Common Scoter is in Europe. Along the Japanese coast in the winter, and breeding in Siberia, it is the Black Scoter, the otherwise "American bird".   

Just as the terns have recently been placed into more genera, so have, in Brazil's book, the gulls:
Into Chroicocephas from Larus: Black-headed Gull, Bonaparte's Gull.
Into Leucophaeus from Larus: Laughing Gull, Franklin's Gull.
Into Hydrocoloeus from Larus: Little Gull.

The genus Chroicocephas also applies now to the Gray-hooded Gull of South America & Africa. and Leucophaeus applies to the Gray Gull of South America.

Gray-hooded Gulls on a beach, 
photographed during a FONT tour in southern Brazil  
(photo by Marie Gardner)

For another species that has occurred on occasion in North America, mostly in Alaska, the genus has been changed:
The Red-flanked Bluetail is now in Luscinia rather than Tarsiger. The Luscinia genus is also that of the Bluethroat and the Siberian Rubythroat.

A Red-flanked Bluetail photographed during a FONT tour in Japan
  

The 2 species of Jackdaws (the Western and the Daurian) are now in the genus Coloeus, instead of Corvus.

Western Jackdaw
(photo by Andy Ednie)

The Snow & McKay's Buntings are now in the genus Calcarius (with the Longspurs), instead of Plectrophenax.

Snow Bunting 
(photo by Howard Eskin)

The McCown's Longspur, of North America, now has its own genus, Rhynchophanes, as it is said to be more closely related to the Snow Bunting than to the other longspurs. 

McCown's Longspur

The longspurs & the Snow Bunting now have a family of their own, the CALCARIIDAE, which is placed in proper order after the Olive Warbler and before the New World Warblers.  

Among the New World Warblers, some now belong to a new genus, Oreothlypis. In it are: Tennessee, Orange-crowned, Nashville, Virginia's, Colima, Lucy's, and the Crescent-chested (of Mexico & northern Central America) and the Flame-throated (of southern central America). 

Nashville Warbler

The two waterthrushes are now in a genus of their own, Parkesia. And, so, now, the Ovenbird is the sole member of its genus, Seiurus.

Ovenbird
(photo by Marie Gardner)

The genus for at least some of the Eurasian Wren may become Nannus, from Troglodytes. Some changes may yet happen with that widespread species, which has been until now in both the Old World & the New World, beyond these that have just been approved by the AOU:

It is now the Winter Wren, Troglodytes hiemalis, in eastern North America. and the Pacific Wren, Troglodytes pacificus, in western North America. 
Pacificus, which as been a subspecies of the Winter Wren, was first described by Spencer Baird in 1864. There are 9 subspecies of the Pacific Wren, with a number of them restricted to Alaskan islands in the Pacific.  

Winter Wren
(photo by Howard Eskin)

The Eurasian Wren, Troglodytes troglodytes, of the Old World, has as many as 29 subspecies, with a number of them on as far-ranging islands as the Faroes, Iceland, Japan, Taiwan. In eastern Asia, there are subspecies on the northern & southern Kuril islands and the Commander Islands. The subspecies on the Pribilof Islands of Alaska, T. t. alascensis, decribed by Baird in 1869, may be of the Eurasian Wren.      

What has been the Whip-poor-will has been split into the Eastern Whip-poor-will, Caprimulgus vociferus, which breeds in eastern North America, and the Mexican Whip-poor-will, Caprimulgus arizonae, of the montane pine forests of the southwest US, and Mexico, Guatemala, and Honduras.     

Now, to the "Tanagers", or "not-Tanagers", yet still to be called "Tanagers":

The birds in the genus Piranga, including the Scarlet, Summer, Western, Hepatic, Tooth-billed (of southern Central America), Red (of South America), Flame-colored, Rose-throated, White-winged, Red-headed, and Red-hooded have been moved from the Tanager family, THRAUPIDAE to the Cardinal family, CARDINALIDAE.
Others that made the move to CARDINALIDAE are the ant-tanagers, in the genus Habia, and those tanagers in the genus Chlorothraupis (the Carimol's, Olive, Lemon-spectacled, and Ochre-breasted).     
Moving from CARDINALIDAE are the saltators, in the genus Saltator, to a "place unknown".    

Some New World Sparrows are now in a new genus, but they remain in the same family. Sparrows in the new genus Peucaea are: Rufous-winged, Cassin's, Botteri's, and Bachman's, along with these in Mexico and Central America: Cinnamon-tailed, Black-chested, Bridled, and Stripe-headed.
The Five-striped Sparrow is now in the genus Amphispiza, along with the Sage and Black-throated Sparrows. 

The Brown Jay now has its own genus, Psilorhinus. It was, with others, in Cyanocorax.      

The "brown towhees", the Canyon, California, Abert's, and the White-throated of Mexico, have been transferred from the genus Pipilo to Melozone, the genus of the ground sparrows of Mexico and Central America. 

Canyon Towhee
(photo by Howard Eskin)

No longer in the genus Carduelis, the siskins and goldfinches are in the genus Spinus. Also from Carduelis, the redpolls are in the genus Acanthis, and the greenfinches, mostly in Eurasia, are in Chloris. 

American Goldfinch
(photo by Howard Eskin)

Lastly, the AOU has now determined that Puffinus gravis should now have the common name of Great Shearwater, as it has been elsewhere. We've known it as the Greater Shearwater.

Great Shearwater
(photo by Alan Brady)

All of these changes that have been noted here, and some others, are now noted in the relevant bird-lists elsewhere in this web-site, for Asia, Europe, and North, Central, and South America, and the Caribbean. (Links at the top of this file) 

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