Peter Woodall wrote:
....>
> Bird taxonomists work to a natural system where they try to group the
> most
> closely related species together, first
> into genera, then families and then orders. As far as possible this
> is
> intended to reflect the evolution of the species.
>
> Then come the process of putting these groups (usually the orders at
> this stage) into a sequence for a book. The sequence usually followed is to
> have the least specialised ("primitive") at the start, ending with the most
> specialised.
> A major problem is that the sequence in a book is linear while the actual
> situation is a much more complex, branching arrangement that can't be
> adequately presented in a field guide.
>
> Adding to your/our problems is that scientists continually discover more
> information which may influence what they consider is the relationships
> between the groups.
>
> So getting back to the field guides. They usually start with the
> ratites (flightless) birds like the emu, ostrich, etc which are
> considered closest to the ancestral condition, and end with the Order
> Passeriformes - the most specialised. Within the
> Passeriformes, the first families are those like the pittas and
> lyrebirds which for reasons of anatomy are considered least
> changed from an ancestral condition, and end with families like the
> finches and crows which are most specialised.
>
> As I mentioned above, the sequence does change, so the Galliformes
> (gamebirds - fowl, quail, etc) which used to be near
> the birds of prey, have been moved earlier, near the beginning,
> because they are now considered less specialised.
>
> Finally you ask why field guides don't follow a more intuitive/logical
> sequence. Some have tried it - for example Lloyd Nielsen's
> book on North Queensland birds does group them according to colours,
> and patterns and size, etc. but I don't think that
> it is wholly satisfactory. To give an example, with experience you
> get a feeling for the natural affinities of a bird. Take a
> bower bird for example, even when looking at a new species you realise
> that its call, behaviour, shape, etc etc (jizz) all make
> it a bower bird and so you would look at that section of the field
> guide. With an artificial classification, bowerbirds would be
> in many different parts of the guide - that may not matter until you
> get a partly adult-plumaged male.
>
> Finally I DO share your frustration in trying to find the location of
> some species, especially where their position in the sequence has
> recently changed. I like to be able to flip through a field guide and
> rapidly get to the correct position and I am FRUSTRATED when
> I have to resort to the index after minutes of unsuccessful searching.
>
> So, like you, I would be interested if anyone has any simple way of
> remembering the sequence.
-----------------------------------------
Dear Myles and Peter,
> There has been a lot of re-arrangement in the Orders/families sequences
> lately, because of the results of DNA analysis - the most startling was the
> placing of the Magpie-Lark among the Monarch-Flycatchers.
Before DNA, taxonomy was largely a matter of opinion. Informed opinion
based on anatomic detail, but opinion just the same.
As far as Field Guides go, I have found the 'visual index' at the
beginning of Simpson and Day very helpful for beginners, to know which
Family is which.
For a crib - Get hold of a 'modern order' all-Australia tick-list -
either the Little Blue Birdlist from the Bird Observers Club, or the
Yellow List (larger size) from Birds Australia, and use this as a base
list, every day, to write a list in your note-book or diary of what you
saw. After a while it will stick in your mind. Both are inexpensive.
Our local Council kindly issued a Fauna List for our area - very
helpful but unfortunately it is in alphabetical order, so that, for
instance, Ducks, Swans and Tael are all widely separated; also Gulls and
Terns, Cockatoos, Lorikeets, Rosellas and Parrots. I find this
maddening!
Best of luck,
Anthea Fleming
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