It is interesting that Peter has treated Lesser Sooty Owl and Paperbark
Flycatcher as distinct species. Both are very distinct in the field.
With Lesser Sooty Owl, the reason I heard/read that Sooty and Lesser
Sooty were lumped was because DNA was identical. However, there are
apparently other closely related Australian species which also have
identical DNA which have been retained as good species.
A lumping which I find irksome is that of Gould's and Little
Bronze-Cuckoo. Each are fairly easily identified in the field. In some
areas, they occur side by side, in very different habitats, using
different species of Gerygone as host parents. The so-called hybrid
between the two northern taxa seems to occur only within the habitat of
Gould's (I have never seen it within the drier habitat of Little) - the
possibility that it is an 'age stage' of Gould's has never been
considered. I have been told that DNA work has been done on these birds
and is waiting to be written up. I believe that the three taxa are
considered to be at the first stage of speciation. It will be
interesting to see what the final conclusion will be.
I am not knocking the taxonomists but I would think a little
consultation with some of us who spend a lot of time in the field would
probably help the situation. There are a few other examples here in
north Queensland which badly need attention.
I have not seen the new guide as yet - has Rusty-tailed Gerygone been
retained? Interesting that there have been a few sightings by different
people of a gerygone from mangroves up and down the Qld coast in the
last 8 years or so with a complete red-brown upper surface to the tail
despite the original specimens being shown by Schodde (Emu 85:49) to be
examples of Yellow-bellied Gerygones (New Guinea etc) faded by
preservative spirit.
Lloyd Nielsen
Mt Molloy, Nth Qld
www.birdingaustralia.com.au
===============================
www.birding-aus.org
birding-aus.blogspot.com
To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
send the message:
unsubscribe
(in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
to:
===============================
|
