Hi -
I have looked through these, and it looks like this year's deliberations will
mean less to the ABA - area list than we have seen in decades. The very great
majority of proposals are for changes in neotropical birds that do not reach
the US border. A few do involve neotropical birds that do reach the border
(Golden-fronted Woodpecker, Golden-crowned Warbler, Hepatic Tanager) but the
proposed splits will not add new ABA-area species. Possibility of an English
name change or two, but no species added or lost.
One proposal is to split our Northern Goshawks from Eurasian Northern Goshawks,
and I think there are a couple of reports of stray Eurasian Goshawks being
evaluated (NW Alaska or Aleutians?).
Another proposal is to split Eurasian House Martin into 2 species, both of
which have strayed to North America.
From: "dmarc-noreply" <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "obol" <obol@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, March 18, 2023 1:23:30 AM
Subject: [obol] 2023 AOS Proposals Online
For those who like keep up with the latest taxonomy, the American
Ornithological Society has published the 2023 proposals. We won't know if these
proposals will be accepted until July, but if all proposals get accepted,
here's what will affect the Oregon list. Feel free to correct me on anything. [
https://americanornithology.org/about/committees/nacc/current-prior-proposals/2023-proposals/
| 2023 Proposals - American Ornithological Society (americanornithology.org) ]
2023-A-11: Splitting Fuertes's Oriole ( Icterus fuertesi ) from Orchard Oriole
( Icterus spurius ) -- If accepted, I would say all Oregon records will remain
simply Orchard Oriole, so no need to worry. After reading the proposal, it
doesn't sound like this split will happen either.
2023-B-6a: Treating the Black-necked Stilt ( Himantopus mexicanus ssp.
mexicanus ) as a subspecies of the Black-winged Stilt ( Himantopus himantopus
). I sure hope this one doesn't happen; it will be a hard habit to break to
refer to our stilts as "Black- winged " instead of Black-necked. Not to mention
2023-B-6b seems to be counterintuitive of what this proposal is trying to get
done.
2023-B-6b: Elevate all the "Black-necked" Stilt subspecies, except nominate, to
species status; Hawaiian Stilt ( H. knudseni ) and White-backed Stilt ( H.
melanurus ). Oregon has no records of either of these.
2023-B-11: Splitting the Northern Goshawk ( Accipiter gentilis ) into the
Eurasian Goshawk and American Goshawk ( A. atricapillus ). All Oregon records
will be American Goshawks. This one is the only one I'm looking forward to,
please split!
2023-B-12: Splitting the Woodhouses's Scrub-Jay ( Aphelocoma woodhouseii ) into
the Western Scrub-Jay and Oaxaca Scrub-Jay ( A. sumichrasti ). The single
Oregon record will be the Western Scrub-Jay. I don't really approve of the name
choice; I think reverting to Western Scrub-Jay for woodhouseii will only cause
confusion with pre-California/Woodhouse's terminology.
2023-C-3: Lumping the American Three-toed Woodpecker ( Picoides doralis ) with
Eurasian Three-toed Woodpecker ( P. tridactylus ) and bringing back the simple
Three-toed Woodpecker.
2023-C-8: Split Socorro Towhee ( Pipilo socorrensis ) from Spotted Towhee ( P.
maculatus ). This one won't affect the Oregon list.
