hi Mike and Carl,
I am following the IOC World Checklist, which adopts a more flexible
approach to taxonomy than Clements or the quite conservative
Christidis and Boles. I have been working with them on English names
for Australian and New Guinea birds, basically trying to get the
Clements impositions reversed and the C & B Aussie names established
in their checklist. i am happy to report good progress here, the new
list version 2.2 is available as a free download at worldbirdnames.org.
Clements is hopeless for the Old World, being way out of date, whereas
this IOC list is updated regularly according to new data. They invite
submissions and contributions for the Checklist, which are reviewed by
a committee for each area, it's a wikipedia style of approach, with
appropriate moderators, and is a breath of fresh air in an often
ponderous subject.
I believe the long-overdue Rainbow Lorikeet break up was suggested by
Schodde way back, ditto the Tawny vs Papuan Grassbird, which makes
perfect sense as they are vocally quite distinct. I would expect a
Coconut Lorikeet to be seen in the Torres Strait , I have always been
struck by how different the Port Moresby birds are to the Cairns ones,
with extensive dark bars on the red of the chest.
Eastern Cattle Egret has been mooted for some time on the basis of the
distinct breeding dress, it seems as good as Eastern Great Egret to
me, and could be followed by some reallocation amongst Little and
Intermediate Egrets, we shall see. Bubulcus (i.) coromandus is the
eastern Asian form, from India and Pakistan through Japan to the
Philippines and New Guinea/Australia.
Be interested to see your predictions for the next 10 new birds for
Oz, I'd have Blue-tailed Bee-eater and Coconut Lorikeet as being very
likely, also Orange-fronted Fruit-Dove.
Regards
Phil
On 28/09/2009, at 11:35 AM, Carl Clifford wrote:
Mike,
It is listed in the latest Howard and Moore, Monroe and Sibley and
Clements as a sub-species of Bubulcus ibis, Bubulcus ibis
coromandus. It seems that all Cattle Egrets in Australia are B. ibis
coromanus.
Cheers,
Carl Clifford
On 28/09/2009, at 10:12 AM, Mike Carter wrote:
Thanks Phil, very interesting to folk like me that visit those NW
islands of Torres Strait.
Many [20] years ago, ten of us had a competition (published in
Wingspan) to see who could most accurately predict the 10 next new
birds for Australia. Blue-tailed Bee-eater was the most popular
choice by far. Some [50] new birds later it still hasn't been seen,
so how wrong we were!!
What is this Eastern Cattle Egret. When was that split and what is
its range?
Where does one get info on Coconut Lorikeet? The Rainbow's in
northern Torres Strait have turned heads at times.
Mike Carter
30 Canadian Bay Road
Mount Eliza VIC 3930
Tel (03) 9787 7136
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