[mou] 48th AOU Supplement

[Robert_Russell at fws.gov]

Here's a brief summary of the 48th Supplement to the American
Ornithologist's Union Check-List of North American Birds recently
published.  Most do not concern Minnesota species and some of those minor
changes I've left out of this note.  Comments mine unless in quotes and
then they're likely from 6 men in a museum basement.

The big news for all you bird book publishers is that the vultures have
been booted out of the Order Ciconiiformes (storks) and returned to the
Falconiformes (hawks, falcons).  Hmm maybe someone noticed that instead of
bringing babies to homes, they eat babies (calves that is).  "True
phylogenetic  position remains uncertain."

Bean Goose split with one species called Taiga Bean Goose.  Well that's a
little more colorful.  They get a point for that name.  The other species
is called Tundra Bean-Goose.  This one has been found as close as Quebec
while the Taiga Bean Goose has been found in Iowa and Nebraska so time to
study up and take a gander at these two.  Good luck getting one by the
records committee without photos.

Added to the North American List:

Ringed Storm-Petrel (found in CA).  Breeding grounds unknown (!), maybe
Atacama desert in Peru
Intermediate Egret (specimen from AK).  Also known as Yellow-billed Egret
and Plumed Egret but the 6 men in a basement liked "Intermediate" better

Cuban Black-Hawk is separated from the Common Black-Hawk as a separate
species.
Red-footed Falcon--added to the list (Mass. bird)
Yellow-legged Gull--add to list based on records from Quebec, D.C., MD, and
Newfoundland.  Just when you thought you never had to visit another dump
they do this to us.
Belted Kingfisher--new scientific name is Megaceryle alcyon.
Sacred Ibis--added to Appendix as an exotic undergoing establishment in
Florida.
One thing discussed but not acted upon was potentially splitting Black
Scoter and White-winged Scoter into two species each (Euro-Asian birds and
North American birds).  So not so bad this time but I still recommend they
hire a nomenclature/PR person to get rid of weighty, meaningless names like
Intermediate Egret and breathe some fresh air into those museum corridors..
Bob Russell, USFWS
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://moumn.org/pipermail/mou-net_moumn.org/attachments/20070814/3473ddfd/attachment.html