Following some communication with Frank Gill and adoption of the ‘Painted-snipe’ format by IOC at the beginning of this year, I recommended ‘Australian Painted-snipe’ to the BLA English Names Committee, and this had unanimous support at the time. However such things in BLA seem to be moving very slowly these days. I might have mentioned all this in my Painted-snipe talk to COG earlier this year.
From: Bill & Raelene Graham [
Sent: Wednesday, 3 October 2012 9:47 PM
To:
Subject: [canberrabirds] snipe naming 2
Martin, Paul, Malcolm & Philip,
Thankyou for your ideas. Some English names for flora and fauna have a charm and special place in our imagination: foxglove, larkspur, maidenhair, forget-me-not, nightingale, skylark, magpie and barn owl etc. I accept the anomaly that names were given to birds in Australia that had something in common with those the observers were familiar with in the UK. I have no problem with Willy Wagtail and Yellow, Grey & White Wagtails, or the robins or wrens. Give me Bush and Stone Curlew any day over Thick Knees. I think I saw a Painted Snipe many years ago and if I saw it again I’d probably still think of it as a “snipe” so I’ll just settle for things to stay as they are.
Bill
