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New Zealand Morepork Ninox novaehollandiae ?

To: Michael Tarburton <>, Carl Clifford <>
Subject: New Zealand Morepork Ninox novaehollandiae ?
From: Nikolas Haass <>
Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2008 17:39:42 -0800 (PST)
Mike,

You wrote "The Gulls in NZ and Aus is another confused case"

I guess that is because the African Hartlaub's Gull, the Australian Silver Gull 
and the New Zealand Red-billed Gull used to be treated as a single species that 
has been split (or re-split) just recently.

Nikolas
 
----------------
Nikolas Haass

Sydney, NSW


----- Original Message ----
From: Michael Tarburton <>
To: Carl Clifford <>
Cc: Birding-Aus Aus <>
Sent: Tuesday, January 29, 2008 9:14:08 AM
Subject: New Zealand Morepork Ninox novaehollandiae ?

G'day Carl & Birding Aus Contributors

The name Ninox novaehollandiae goes back a long way, to Gmelin in  
fact in 1788 when he named the Boobook.  It was used by Buller in  
1888 in his Birds of New Zealand where he states
    "... ranges to New Guinea, Australia and  Norfolk and Lord Howe  
Islands.  There are various subspecies in
    Australia where it is known as the Boobook Owl and occasionally  
also as 'Mopoke', although the latter
    name is often applied through confusion of the birds' calls to  
another nocturnal species, the Tawny
    Frogmouth."

That name has continued to be used for the NZ birds. (fide Readers  
Digest Complete Book of New Zealand Birds1985, and Falla Sibson &  
Turbott (1979) The New Guide to the Birds of New Zealand).

The rest of the world has tended to call the bird Ninox  
novaeseelandiae (fide Howard & Moore 1980) for a long time.  Even my  
old Caley 1959 edition uses novae-zeelandiae.

Scientific names are not as stable or as consistent as some would  
have you believe.  The Gulls in NZ and Aus is another confused case  
and if you want to see more look at the file called Alternative bird  
names at birdsofmelanesia.net

List are just lists and names are just names reflecting individuals  
knowledge and biases, none are the ultimate truth.

Have fun


Mike



Michael Tarburton

====================================





On 27/01/2008, at 4:30 PM, Carl Clifford wrote:

> Dear all,
>
> I am reading the latest issue of the Oriental Bird Club's journal  
> BirdingASIA at the moment. In a letter to the editor by the authors  
> of an article from a previous edition there is a mention of a  
> species of Ninox, "New Zealand Morepork Ninox novaehollandiae".
>
> Is this a taxonomic change that missed Christidis & Boles 2007? I  
> have done a search on the net and trawled through my own references  
> and can find no mention. Can any Birding-Ausers shed any light?
>
> Cheers,
>
> Carl Clifford
> ===============================
> www.birding-aus.org
> birding-aus.blogspot.com
>
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