Hello all,
The American Ornithologists' Union (AOU) has just published its' annual Supplement to the Checklist of North American Birds. A few splits of species have occurred that affect Colorado birders and the taxonomy of some has also changed. The complete citation of the paper is: Chesser, P.T., R.C. Banks, F. Keith Barker, C. Cicero, J.L. Dunn, A.W. Kratter, I.J. Lovette, P.C. Rasmussen, J.V. Remsen, Jr., J.D. Rising, D.F. Stotz, and K. Winkler. 2010. Fifty-First Supplement to the American Ornithologists' Union Checklist of North American Birds. Auk 127(3):726-244. The main changes include: The Old and New World "races" of Black Scoter have been split. The North American breeder and the one that occasionally is in Colorado (presumably) is now known as the American Scoter (Melanitta americana). The nominate (Caprimulgus vociferus) and Arizona race of Whip-poor-will (C. v. arizonae) have been split into two species, the Eastern Whip-poor-will (C. vociferus) and Mexican Whip-poor-will (C. arizonae). Colorado has records of both species. For those who had the bird at Fosset Gulch Road in Archuleta County in 1999, that bird was a Mexican Whip-poor-will. As predicted, the "Winter" Wren has also been split. Those in the Pacific Northwest, of which we know has shown up in Colorado, is now the Pacific Wren (Troglodytes pacificus) and the eastern "Winter" Wren remains as Winter Wren (Troglodytes hyemalis). The AOU also renamed scientific names for some species. They include: Blue-winged Warbler (now Vermivora cyanoptera, was V. pinus). All other Vermivoras (Tennessee, Orange-crowned, Nashville, Colima, Lucy's, Flame-throated, and Crescent-chested) have been placed in the genus Oreothlypis. Thus there are only two extant North American warblers that remain in the genus Vermivora (Blue- and Golden-winged). Bachman's Warbler, presumed extinct, also remains in Vermivora. Molecular studies now support the removal of the Parulids (Northern and Tropical) from the genus Parula and the AOU has now placed them in the Vermivora genus. Both Waterthrushes (Northern and Louisiana) have been removed from the genus Seirus and have been placed in their own genus Parkesia. Ovenbird remains in Serius by itself. The "brown" towhees (Canyon, California, Abert's, and White-throated (from Mexico) have been removed from the genus Pipilo and have been placed in the genus Melozone. Spotted, Eastern, and Green-tailed Towhees remain in Pipilo. Cassin's, Rufous-winged, Bachman's, and Botteri's Sparrows (and others in Mexico) have been removed from the Aimophila genus and placed in the genus Peucaea. Five-striped Sparrow, which was previously in Aimophila, is now in the genus Amphispiza with Sage and Black-throated Sparrows. McCown's Longspur has been removed from the genus Calcarius and has been placed in the genus Rhynchophanes, which was previously recognized as the proper genus for the species until 1957. Based on mitochondrial data, Calcarius is paraphyletic and McCown's Longspur is more closely related to Snow and McKay's Buntings than the other three species of longspur. Paraphyletic basically means a taxa that contains its last common ancestor but does not contain all the descendants of that ancestor. Finally, for those crazy enough to continue reading this thread, the Order of hawks (Falconiformes) has been split into Accipiteriformes and Falconiformes. Accipiteriformes includes Vultures, Osprey, all Buteoines, Accipiters, Harriers, Kites, and Eagles. Falconiformes now only includes Falcons and Caracaras. There are also changes in the taxonomic order of some species. The Colorado Field Ornithologists checklist of Colorado birds will be updated soon to reflect this new taxonomy. Sincerely, Larry Semo Chair, Colorado Bird Records Committee Westminster -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To post to this group, send email to cobi...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to cobirds+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cobirds?hl=en.
