birding-aus

Ornithological Hansonism ?

To: Carl Clifford <>
Subject: Ornithological Hansonism ?
From: Dave Torr <>
Date: Sun, 31 Oct 2010 13:29:56 +1100
I think that is what many of us would like Carl (Hansonism is clearly the
new in phrase). http://www.worldbirdnames.org/ seems to be publishing and
updating the Gill and Wright list on behalf of the IOU. Can anyone explain
to me why Australia should not simply accept this as the definitive list and
move away from C&B which has been used as input to this site but is not
updated anywhere as often?


On 31 October 2010 13:19, Carl Clifford <> wrote:

> Dear All,
>
> I am amazed by the constant outbreaks of ornithological Hansonism that pops
> up in B-Aus when it comes to bird names. The International Ornithological
> Union (IOU) is an international body of prominent professional
> ornithologists ( some 200) who, among many other things, arbitrate on the
> common names of birds. The membership of the IOU can be seen at
> http://int-ornith-union.org/IOUmembers.html  Among the members of the IOU
> are Dr. Richard Schodde and Dr. Walter Boles, both of who seem to know a
> thing or two about birds.
>
> The publication "Birds of the World : Recommended English Names" by Gill &
> Wright is published on behalf of the IOU and is "a volunteer project with
> worldwide participation by birders and professional ornithologists". The
> goal of this publication is "to facilitate worldwide communication in
> ornithology and conservation through the consistent use of English names
> linked to current species taxonomy. The English names  follow explicit
> guidelines for spelling and construction that increase clarity of
> application", so it it is not an ivory tower publicaton, but a collaboration
> between amateur and professional ornithologists. On those grounds I think it
> is reasonable to regard BOTW as the standard list of common English language
> names world wide. If anyone can come up with a rational argument as to why
> this should not be so, I would be very interested in hearing it.
>
> As for Scientific names and species status, the Index of Organism Names
> (ION), see http://www.organismnames.com/  , which ION contains the
> organism names related data gathered from the scientific literature for
> Thomson Reuters' Zoological Record® database. Viruses, bacteria and plant
> names will be added from other Thomson Reuters databases such as BIOSIS
> Previews® and Biological Abstracts® " is the repository for all currently
> accepted species of everything. If it lives and has been named, it is in
> ION.
>
> There is a well established mechanism for the common names of birds and
> whether a species is a species, so why not stick to it, as it seems to work
> well.
>
> All we need to do now is to try and get a single Avian taxonomy up and
> accepted, but I don't think any of us will see that in our lifetimes.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Carl Clifford
>
>
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