[obol] The Sisters "Carpodacus" that was....
- From: Tom McNamara <tmcmac67@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: obol <obol@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 18 Jun 2014 07:58:25 -0700
was indeed a Purple (more in a tad). But the folks at AOU switched up on
genus name in 2012---it's now Haemorhous (see below from ABA blog)
Anyway the OBOL explicator (Irons) has not yet weighed in on why the jiz
Lars cites is indeed going Purple and Brandon and Jack cover some but not
all good characters for ID.
Jack mentioned the culmen being straight but actually it looks slightly
decurved unlike the More straight bill of Cassin's
The plumage color: this Purple finch does indeed show "wine-colored" or
"raspberry" tones unlike the bright scarlet-y red of Cassin's (especially
the conspicuous fore crown).
Structurally, the head is more rounded and not as peaked toward the front
as Cassin's often shows
The underparts plumage is dingy brown/dirty red --good for Purple, not so
for Cassin's where the belly and flanks are more whitish and rosy pink.
Cassin's undertail coverts are streaked. This particular Purple doesn't
appear to show streaking.
Primary projection: (well shown on this bird) extends only to about the
same as the undertail coverts, good for Purple. On a Cassin's the primary
projection is Really long (extending about 1/2 way down the tail).
good birding, Tom
From ABA
"Our three "red finches" (i.e., House Finch, Purple Finch, and Cassin's
Finch) were transferred out of the genus *Carpodacus* and into a new genus
all their own: *Haemorhous*. Genetic data have shown that these three
species are not that closely related to *Carpodacus*, which is represented
in the ABA Area by the vagrant Common Rosefinch. In fact, the *Carpodacus*
rosefinches <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosefinch> seem to be more
closely related to the incredibly diverse Hawaiian Honeycreepers
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawaiian_Honeycreepers> than they are to
other members of the finch family!
How exactly does one pronounce *Haemorhous*? Well, there's no 100% correct
way, of course, but the word's origin can give us some clues. *Haemo*-
comes from the same Greek word (meaning "blood") as hemophilia and
hemoglobin. So "HEE-moh" is probably a good bet. As for -*rhous*, I've seen
two different explanations. One is that *orrhos *(meaning "rump") is the
root. Indeed, "blood rump" seems a good description of these birds. The
adult males of all species have reddish rumps. The other explanation is that
* rhous* means "sumac <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumac>", a plant which
has reddish berries. In that case, the meaning would be "red (like) sumac".
So, I'm not sure if "HEE-moh-roos" or "HEE-mohr-os" is the better call. But
in the end, you can really pronounce it however you want!
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