The English Names Committee is about to consider the ‘Myzomela issue’.
The question to members of this chatline is: do you prefer ‘Scarlet Honeyeater’ or ‘Scarlet Myzomela’ ?
The background is as follows. ‘Myzomela’ is the name of a genus of small honeyeaters. There are more than 30 species, most outside Australia. ‘Scarlet Honeyeater’ has been used in Australia, but ‘Scarlet Myzomela’ is used in global lists.
The main reason for choosing ‘Myzomela’ is the need for consistency across all members of the genus.
In eBird, under the option ‘English (Australia)’, both ‘Scarlet Honeyeater’ and ‘Scarlet Myzomela’ will work (at present). You will get similar results for the other 2 Australian myzomelas. However if you want to bring up, for example,
the Red Myzomela (a New Guinea species) you must use that name and not ‘Red Honeyeater’.
This is a serious attempt to sample birdwatcher opinion through this chatline. You may reply either to the chatline or to me directly. A minimum response will be in the form –
‘Honeyeater’
or
‘Myzomela’.
However, if you respond, I would also like to know whether you have ever reported an observation of a Myzomela species under any name and through any form of reporting.
At this stage, I shall not discuss the pronunciation of ‘myzomela’.
gd
