Fwd: Re: [BIRDWG01] Larus fuscus split??

Phil Davis (pdavis@ix.netcom.com)
Fri, 01 May 1998 14:16:42 -0400


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
================================================