With apologies to Ogden Nash:
I've never seen a Thayer's Gull
And now I'll never see one
And even if that weren't the case
I doubt I could ID one
Andrew Melnykovych
Louisville KY
On Thu, Jul 6, 2017 at 11:11 AM, <brainard@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Just perused the 58th Supplement to the AO*S* (yes, no longer AOU)
checklist ... several families have been shuffled again ... maybe I'm just
getting old and cranky, but it just seems like someone should be able to
get this stuff settled, but maybe new research just continues to contradict
(apparently correcting) older [but not *that* old] DNA research) ... will
they ever get it perfect; I doubt in my lifetime????
We've finally "lost" Yellow-breasted Chat as a warbler ... now assigned to
it's own *FAMILY*, the Icteriidae, one "i" off from the blackbirds and now
separated from the warblers by that group.
No one will ever be able to convince me that Willet correctly lies
genetically *in between* the two yellowlegs (this has been the case for the
past couple of iterations of the checklist, actually) ... one has to wonder
if when they split out the Eastern Willet, whether or not it will be next
to the Western ....
When I began birding in the 1970s, the checklist went from Common Loon to
Snow Bunting ... now loons fall right in the middle of the checklist
sequence and the lucky caboose is Dickcissel (at least for our regional
checklists without Grassquits, Seedeaters, and Saltators), at least for now.
And someone finally decided to slice and dice the genus Anas ... splitting
the dabbling ducks into four genera.
Oh ... and the "Marsh Hawk" now finally has its own Latin name ... Circus
hudsonius.
There's more, including the sinking (finally) of Thayer's Gull for all to
enjoy.
Who's ready to print new checklists? ... oh, that's right, nobody fills
out hard copy checklists anymore ... well then it's learn the new eBird
checklist sequence ... which *OF COURSE* follows Clements order, not the
AOS so maybe it won't change for awhile ... *#>@&$^&<?!
BPB, Louisville
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