Hi All,
I will attempt an explanation of Ben's insistent misinformed birding
companion. For most of the time that I have been aware of British vernacular
nomenclature, the bird we call Greater Scaup has been called simply Scaup
(just as Barn Swallow was simply Swallow, and Winter Wren just Wren). Lesser
Scaup is a North American bird that occurs in Western Europe as a rarity.
For a long time the British were comfortable with combinations such as Scaup
and Lesser Scaup (or Redpoll and Arctic Redpoll) because the second species,
with its modifier, was rare. In recent years the British arbitrators of bird
names have decided this unmodified/modified combination is as awkward as it
appears to us Americans - so now we have Greater and Lesser Scaup, etc. on
their official list. The gentleman who insisted that all Scaup are now
Greater is correct, sort of. He was wrong to subsume Lesser into the name
change. Then again, maybe the gentleman is utterly confused.
Good Birding,
Walter Ellison
23460 Clarissa Road
Chestertown, MD 21620
phone: 410-778-9568
e-mail:
"A person who is looking for something doesn't travel very fast" - E. B.
White (in "Stuart Little")
----- Original Message -----
From: "Phil Davis" <>
To: <>
Sent: Monday, November 15, 2004 3:15 AM
Subject: Re: [MDOSPREY] Scaup
> Hi Ben:
>
> I have never heard of this ... and I subscribe to all of the UK birding
> magazines and follow the Western Palearctic taxonomic news fairly closely.
> I just double checked and both scaup remain firmly embossed on the The
> British List ...
>
> http://www.bou.org.uk/recbrlst.html
>
> Of course, both scaup are on the AOU checklist, our official source for
> North American taxonomy ...
>
> http://www.aou.org/checklist/index.php3
>
> Hope this helps ...
>
> Phil
>
>
> At 20:13 11/14/2004 -0500, Ben Poscover wrote:
>
> >Perhaps you can help me. I just returned from a five day birding trip
with
> >the Brooks Bird Club of W.Va. We birded DelMarVa. Last evening we were
> >getting a final tally of birds when the leader came to Greater/Lesser
> >Scaup. I mentioned Lesser Scaup and a man with a loud, authoritarian
voice
> >said in a rather belligerent manner that there were no more Lesser Scaup
> >but they were now known only as Greater Scaup. What ever characteristic
> >one used in the past as an identifying factor (head shape, wing
> >discoloration, side color, it mattered not) none of these were definitive
> >and thus it was decided that there would be only Greater Scaup. He said,
> >"They are doing this in Britain." I had never heard of this nor had
anyone
> >at my table. Can you shed any light on this for me please?
>
> ==================================
> Phil Davis Davidsonville, Maryland USA
> mailto:[log in to unmask]
> ==================================
> |