birding-aus

Oz and World Checklists

To:
Subject: Oz and World Checklists
From: Glenn Ehmke <>
Date: Wed, 5 Jan 2011 17:08:37 -0800 (PST)
I can understand the appeal of the simplicity of the C & B list as a 
birdwatcher, but it’s worth remembering that from a conservation standpoint, 
while “species” are sometimes relevant, populations are what we are ultimately 
trying to save.


The recent review of the Action Plan for Aust Birds has recommended that 6 more 
birds be officially listed as extinct, only 1 of those 6 was a “species” (I 
think?). The fact is we need data at a sub-species level for conservation 
research a) because that’s the relevant demographic unit b) because as others 
have pointed our species definitions change and c) that’s what our national 
legislation is based on.


An Aust. taxonomic sub-committee might be a good thing, but I have my doubts. 
The Birdlife Taxonomic Working Group which has always struck me as very 
sensible certainly is good - i.e. it’s transparent and pragmatic, however they 
have a clear set of principals and they know what they are there for (see 
http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/info/taxonomy).


I’m not sure Australia even has adopted a species concept?...
Glenn
--- On Thu, 6/1/11, Phil & Sue Gregory <> wrote:

From: Phil & Sue Gregory <>
Subject: Oz and World Checklists
To: 
Received: Thursday, 6 January, 2011, 1:15 AM

Some useful discussions of late on the vexatious topic of checklists, and good 
news indeed if Birds Australia ( or the new merged entity...) are setting up a 
taxonomic sub-committee, as the pace of change these days is making it really 
hard to keep up with all the changes. Most European countries have their own 
often excellent checklist committees which keep custody of the national list. 
I'd sure like to see a broader based Australian committee making taxonomic 
decisions on the available evidence, which can then be adopted or not as the 
compilers of the three main World Checklists see fit ( these being the IOC, 
Clements and the Dickinson/Howard and Moore 2003 one which is rumoured to be 
updated this year).

The IOC are very responsive to local decisions if the evidence is convincing, 
and they update every 3 months or so, so they are my own personal choice of 
world checklist, and I do make suggestions about names and forward taxonomic 
info to them; Clements gets annual updates but seems somewhat erratic in what 
it accepts, with several of the C & B splits ignored, (and it's still awful for 
Africa and Asia!); Dickinson was great in 2003 but has not been updated so it 
is currently languishing.

Back in 2008 I got so frustrated by the slow pace of the Australian checklist 
changes that I made my own based on the best evidence I was aware of, which 
turned out to be pretty congruent with C & B but differed with Western 
Grasswren, the rosellas and ringnecks, quail-thrushes and shrike-tits. It was 
compiled really just so I could see what was potentially going on. I also 
stripped out all the peripheral island species to a separate appendix, (call me 
old fashioned but I do like to have my Oz birds within the same faunal zone, so 
Cocos-Christmas Is are in a distinct section not clogging up the mainland list! 
 This and my New Guinea Checklist are now in their third or fourth incarnations 
and in IOC order, and will be available from our website very shortly, all I 
would ask is for a small donation to be made to Birds Australia.

Fascinating times, and as I tell my clients of the tours, what you do with your 
checklist in the privacy of your own home is up to you!

Phil Gregory
www.cassowary-house.com.au==============================
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