Since Maryland has a plethora of summer (Hart-Miller Island) and winter Lesser Black-backed Gulls and a plethora of gull watchers ... I thought some might be interested in this. I picked it up from BIRDWG01 ("Frontiers of Bird Identification"). Phil >X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.04 [en]C-MOENE (Win95; U) >Date: Thu, 30 Apr 1998 22:25:55 -0400 >Reply-To: redwing1986@mediaone.net >Sender: NBHC ID-FRONTIERS Frontiers of Field Identification > <BIRDWG01@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU> >From: "James H. Barton" <redwing1986@mediaone.net> >Subject: Re: [BIRDWG01] Larus fuscus split?? >Comments: To: Alvaro Jaramillo <alvaro@SIRIUS.COM> >To: BIRDWG01@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU > > Alvaro and friends--Under the heading "More and more splits," //Birding >World// Vol. 11 No. 3 (April 1998), citing //Dutch Birding// (20:22-32) >reports on page 81 that "the following Western Palearctic taxonomic splits have >been adopted in the Netherlands (based on the phylogenetic species concept): > > "(Snip Snip Snip) > > "Baltic Gull /Larus fuscus/ split from > "Lesser Black-backed Gull /L. graellsii/" > > (Snip Snip on to the end of a long list including Heuglin's Gull, Armenian >Gull, Pontic Gull, Yellow-legged Gull, Vega Gull, American Herring Gull /L. >smithsonianus/ and Herring Gull /L. argentatus/, with British Herring Gull >/argenteus/ "retained in /L. argentatus/"). > > I'll be happy to post the whole list privately to interested parties, or to >fax page 81 in its entirety. The list does include other splits of interest >to observers on the New World side of the Atlantic, e.g., Lesser Canada Goose >/Branta hutchinsii/ from Canada Goose /B. canadensis/. > > BW describes DB 20 as containing "the second report from the CSNA, the >Dutch committee for systematics." BW says that the committee's first report, >appeared in DB (19:21-28) and was reported in BW 10: 120 & 162. > > Yours, > > Jim Barton > redwing1986@mediaone.net > Cambridge, MA. > >Alvaro Jaramillo wrote: > >> An Argentine friend of mine asked the following question on the Neotropical >> Ornithology list: >> > >> >jelou, >> > >> >Is anybody aware of a proper publication splitting Larus fuscus? >> > >> >A recent Birding World listed a list of "Recent Splits" (or something like >> >that), and fuscus was there, but no ref was included. >> > >> >I'd appreciate the info. >> > >> >Thanks, >> >Juan Mazar Barnett >> >> First of all, I realize that this is not directly related to ID but to a >> certain extent taxonomic changes do kick start the research into the ID of >> the taxa being described or split. >> >> I must admit that I have been quite lax in following the recent taxonomic >> changes adopted by the BOU, Birding World, the Dutch, and many other >> European bodies. I am eager to catch up on some of this stuff. Is there a >> web page or resource where one can get this information on the net? >> Otherwise, does any European have some extra time (yeah right!) to >> summarize some of the changes that may affect us New World birders. In >> particular I have heard of Brant, Velvet (or was it Common) Scoter, gulls >> galore and others as official, semi-official, or rumoured splits in Europe. >> On a related topic, how radical have the unofficial splits made by Birding >> World folks been compared to those which the BOU has made? Is is just a >> case of BW publishing the exact same things earlier or is is a case of them >> using a slightly different concept of what a species is? >> >> Which part of Larus fuscus was split by the way? I will pass on the info to >> Juan. They have had reports or records of Lesser Black-backed Gulls in >> Argentina so he may be interested in figuring out which one has gotten down >> there. >> >> Cheers, >> >> Al >> >> Alvaro Jaramillo "It was almost a pity, to see the sun >> Half Moon Bay, shining constantly over so useless a country" >> California Darwin, regarding the Atacama desert. >> >> alvaro@sirius.com >> >> Helm guide to the New World Blackbirds, Birding in Chile and more, at: >> >> http://www.sirius.com/~alvaro > ================================================ Phil Davis home: PDavis@ix.netcom.com Davidsonville, Maryland USA work: PDavis@OAO.com Greenbelt, Maryland USA ================================================