Hi Phil,
I must agree emphatically. Indeed, the IOC broke at least three of its own
guiding principles for English names when it adopted the confusing Rufous
Boobook, the ironic Powerful Boobook, and the absurd Barking Boobook, namely:
4) Established names should prevail;
10) Species in the same genus may have different group names;
And (given that these novel names have been adopted to replace the ONLY
established names [insert very long list of references]):
1) Each species should have one name only
What is more, six species of the genus Ninox retain group name Hawk-Owl,
including N. scutulata. This seems rather inconsistent.
Given their is only one Surnia and one Uroglaux, I don't think the name
Hawk-Owl causes very much confusion. Principle 10 indicates in the fine print
that "The same group name may be applied to two or more unrelated groups (e.g.,
Warbler [Parulidae, Sylviidae] and Robin [Turdidae, Petroicidae,
Erithacus])". In fact, it is a very common scenario and much too established to
change.
The primary goal of the IOC list is stated to be English name stability. No
doubt the project will make good progress in many areas, and is to be widely
applauded. However, the goal is not well served in this example. Personally, I
would not describe this example as "proactive".
Cheers,
David James
Sydney
From: Phil & Sue Gregory <>
To: Birding Aus <>
Sent: Saturday, 7 May 2011 7:08 PM
Subject: Boobook v Hawk-Owl
Interesting thread about Boobooks and Lesser Sooty Owls; I have been pushing
for the use of Boobook for the various small Ninox owls, instead of the widely
used essentially American alternative Hawk-Owl, which invites confusion with
both Hawk Owl (Surnia) and Papuan Hawk-Owl (Uroglaux).
Boobook is distinctive, commonly used the areas where the species occur and
hopefully makes things less confusing, so there has been some movement and we
have been seeing Brown Boobook appearing in lieu of Brown Hawk Owl for example.
However what do you then do with the other larger Ninox- Powerful, Rufous and
Barking owls? I'd say keep the prevailing usage and don't start calling them
boobooks as well, but the IOC have been proactive and gone for all the Ninox as
Boobooks, except of course for Morepork (which some lump with Southern Boobook
despite the very distinct vocalizations).
This has resulted in confusion with the lurida taxon of Southern Boobook too,
which Weick et al split- I don't have the book here with me at present so I
can't recall what they call it ( I do recall they unfortunately use Hawk-Owl
though), but Rufous Owl = Rufous Boobook is certainly very confusing and I'd
argue for the status quo with Powerful, Rufous and Barking Owl- if it ain't
broke don't fix it!
Phil Gregory
London
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