Hi Jeff,
Yes, Frilled Monarch is in C&B but what Phil said was that Frilled-necked
Monarch was not in C&B and he is right. Those two taxons were split as
species by Schodde and both included by him in the Directory of Australian
Birds 1999 following a report of the New Guinea form on Boigu in Carter et
al. 1997, a paper in the Australian Bird Watcher. Schodde called the NG bird
Frilled Monarch and its Australian relative Frill-necked Monarch. The split
was to be followed by HANZAB but was dropped just prior to publication. So
if I followed Slater, I'd have another Australian tick! And that wouldn't be
the only one!
Trindade Petrel may be the current preferred name but that doesn't mean that
the species was named after the island in the Indian Ocean, in fact it
wasn't. The species used to be called Trinidad Petrel known from islands of
that name in both the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, see Alexanders' Birds Of
the Ocean 1955 but first published in 1928. My old atlas's call those
islands Trinidad but modern ones call them Trindade. Why the bird's name
should also change seems silly to me. We haven't changed New Holland
Honeyeater to Australian Honeyeater have we? And according to Robert Cushman
Murphy in Oceanic Birds of South America 1936, 'South Trinidad Petrel',
Pterodroma arminjoniana, was named after the island in the Atlantic because
it bred there (and the neighbouring Martin Vas Rocks).
Trindade Petrel does not belong on the Australian list. When Herald and
Trinidad Petrels were split CSIRO and DEH assumed that because the Cocos
Islands are in the Indian Ocean, Herald Petrels reported there had to be
Trinidad. However, the photographs clearly show that they were Herald
Petrels as are all records of those Petrels from WA.
Trinidad flows off the tongue but someone is going to have to teach me how
to say Trindade, a clumsy word.
Thanks Phil for that summary of the changes in the new Slater guide.
Mike Carter
30 Canadian Bay Road
Mount Eliza VIC 3930
Tel (03) 9787 7136
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