Morning all,
Bob Inglis has queried a couple of species on Michael
Hunter's birdlist for his trip report and with it
asked a few curlier questions that are somewhat harder
to answer.
Bob, the Buff-sided Robin Poecilodryas (superciliosa)
cerviniventris is the distinctive north-western
representative of White-browed Robin while the
Paperbark Flycatcher Myiagra (inquieta) nana is the
not-so-distinctive northern form of Restless
Flycatcher. You are right in saying that these
represent new "splits" by Richard Schodde in his
Directory of Australian Birds.
So, neither species is new to Australia and they are
not subject to appraisal by BARC, although I believe
that Buff-sided Robin is classified as Vulnerable or
Near-Threatened, I'm not sure which (someone else may
be able to clear that one up).
As for what list you choose to go by, that is really
up to you. You are right in saying that some of the
work in the Directory is considered controversial and
opinion is far from unanimous in birding and
scientific circles about the relative merits of some
of the splittings and lumpings. Paperbark Flycatcher
is indeed one of the contentious splits and many
people, myself included, disagree vehemently with the
re-lumping of Black-eared Miner with Yellow-throated
Miner.
For that reason I personally am sticking with the 1994
Birds Australia list for now even though I would, in
twitching terms, benefit from the list, picking up
Northern Shrike-tit (a real prize!) as well as
Silver-backed Butcherbird and the two "species" you
mentioned. I would also lose a couple: Spotted Catbird
and Tropical Scrubwren (lumped with Large-billed
Scrubwren). These last two are quite distinct in
appearance - far more so than Paperbark Flycatcher -
but I am not a scientist and cannot comment on the
reasoning that underpins the work.
Similarly, I am not applying the interim taxonomy
relating to albatrosses to my list although I would
dearly love to put Chatham Albatross down there! It is
important to remember that taxonomy is always a vexed
issue for scientists and birders alike and for that
reason I am waiting for an update of the official 1994
list you mentioned. I was not always this hard-nosed
about it, however: prior to the 1994 list I included
birds like Chestnut-breasted Quail-thrush, largely
because by then the official list dated back to 1977
(I think) and was starting to look a bit silly.
My suggestion is go for all of these birds yourself
anyway, whichever list you apply to yourself. Many
hardened twitchers have already gone after the "new"
grasswrens, Short-tailed Grasswren (Flinders Ranges
form of Striated) and Kalkadoon Grasswren (Queensland
form of Dusky). There is no doubt there will be
changes when the next "official" list comes out and
much of Schodde's work is likely to be accepted, if
not all of it. It just gives you a few more birds to
look for, which is all part of the fun really.
Cheers
AS
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