This morning I came across a few interesting and relevant items in a newsletter from the Arizona Game and Fish Department.
For one, over the next week the Bureau of Reclamation will be running an experimental high-volume release from Glen Canyon Dam. The main purpose of this is to mimic natural flood events, and redeposit sediment from the river bottom to the banks, creating beaches and sandbars. This is possible this year because of heavy flood events during the monsoon season which deposited large amounts of sediments into the Colorado from its tributaries. The higher flow will mainly affect the Grand Canyon; after passing through that area, the water will be caught and stored in Lake Mead. Although it doesn't directly affect the lower Colorado River, it's worth reading up on this effort here.
Another exciting bit of news is that the AZGFD has created an interactive map of Arizona showing land ownership, game management units, access and easements. Check it out at azaccessmap.com.
Showing posts with label News. Show all posts
Showing posts with label News. Show all posts
Saturday, November 17, 2012
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
New AOU Checklist Supplement
It was about one year ago when the American Ornithologists' Union published their last supplement to the Check-List of North American Birds. If you need a refresher, you can read about that supplement here.
The AOU has just released this year's supplement. Here, I will summarize those changes most relevant to ABA-area birders. If you want to read the full supplement, download the PDF here or read the proposals in their entirety here.
Two of these changes stand out, at least to me. First is the split of Xantus's Murrelet, giving us Scripps's and Guadalupe Murrelets. More fascinating to me is the taxonomic reshuffling of Falcons, Parrots, and Passerines with the findings that the three orders are relatively closely related!
More on these and other important changes:
1. Species Added
Bryan's Shearwater has been added to the AOU list as this species has been newly described from an old specimen (other specimens have since been identified as this species). It is considered accidental in Hawaii and not recorded from the ABA area, but this one is too interesting to leave out.
2. Splits and Lumps
- Galapagos Shearwater has been split from Audubon's Shearwater (but has never been recorded in the ABA area).
- Gray Hawk has been split, but the break between Gray and Gray-lined Hawks is in Costa Rica, so the change doesn't affect the status of the birds in the U.S.
- Xantus's Murrelet has been split into Scripps's Murrelet and Guadalupe Murrelet. Scripps's is the more northerly-breeding and generally the more commonly seen off the U.S. Pacific states. Guadalupe is the more southerly-breeding, and though it does wander as far north as Washington (casually), it is found well offshore after breeding.
- Calliope Hummingbird is no longer in the monotypic genus Stellula, but is now included in Selasphorus. This is an obvious relationship and a welcome change!
- Sage Sparrow is no longer in the genus Amphispiza with Five-striped and Black-throated Sparrows, but in its own genus, Artemisospiza.
3. Name Changes
- The genus Caprimulgus has been split so that ABA-area nightjars are now in the genus Antrostomus
- House, Cassin's, and Purple Finches have been moved out of the Old World genus Carpodacus and into their very own Haemorhous. More fun to spell, not so fun to pronounce?
4. Taxonomic Reshuffling
- The linear sequence of hummingbirds and wrens are changed
- Research has shown that Falcons, Parrots and Passerines are sister groups, so the three orders (Falconiformes, Psittaciformes, and Passeriformes) are now grouped together in linear sequence.
The AOU has just released this year's supplement. Here, I will summarize those changes most relevant to ABA-area birders. If you want to read the full supplement, download the PDF here or read the proposals in their entirety here.
Two of these changes stand out, at least to me. First is the split of Xantus's Murrelet, giving us Scripps's and Guadalupe Murrelets. More fascinating to me is the taxonomic reshuffling of Falcons, Parrots, and Passerines with the findings that the three orders are relatively closely related!
More on these and other important changes:
1. Species Added
Bryan's Shearwater has been added to the AOU list as this species has been newly described from an old specimen (other specimens have since been identified as this species). It is considered accidental in Hawaii and not recorded from the ABA area, but this one is too interesting to leave out.
2. Splits and Lumps
- Galapagos Shearwater has been split from Audubon's Shearwater (but has never been recorded in the ABA area).
- Gray Hawk has been split, but the break between Gray and Gray-lined Hawks is in Costa Rica, so the change doesn't affect the status of the birds in the U.S.
- Xantus's Murrelet has been split into Scripps's Murrelet and Guadalupe Murrelet. Scripps's is the more northerly-breeding and generally the more commonly seen off the U.S. Pacific states. Guadalupe is the more southerly-breeding, and though it does wander as far north as Washington (casually), it is found well offshore after breeding.
- Calliope Hummingbird is no longer in the monotypic genus Stellula, but is now included in Selasphorus. This is an obvious relationship and a welcome change!
- Sage Sparrow is no longer in the genus Amphispiza with Five-striped and Black-throated Sparrows, but in its own genus, Artemisospiza.
3. Name Changes
- The genus Caprimulgus has been split so that ABA-area nightjars are now in the genus Antrostomus
- House, Cassin's, and Purple Finches have been moved out of the Old World genus Carpodacus and into their very own Haemorhous. More fun to spell, not so fun to pronounce?
4. Taxonomic Reshuffling
- The linear sequence of hummingbirds and wrens are changed
- Research has shown that Falcons, Parrots and Passerines are sister groups, so the three orders (Falconiformes, Psittaciformes, and Passeriformes) are now grouped together in linear sequence.
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Important Bird Areas in eBird
If you visit ebird.org today, you may notice a new article on Important Bird Areas (IBAs) now being a part of eBird's output tools. Is it really that big a deal? What does this mean for birding in western Arizona?
Well, if you ever use eBird's output tools to learn about the status and distribution of birds in the area, this is big news! I often use the bar charts to look at seasonal status of birds. Formerly, eBird offered the options of data over the entire state, entire county (or counties), or for a specific hotspot (or multiple hotspots). If I wanted to look at bar charts for the Bill Williams River NWR, I could look at a bar chart for Mohave and La Paz counties, or I could select all the Bill Williams hotspots from a list. Now, this new IBA feature defines the IBA by a polygon, and incorporates all locations within that area into the output tools. This means it is now simple to look at bar charts (or other output tools) for IBAs such as the Bill Williams that incorporate all checklists within that area, whether they were entered into hotspots or as personal locations.
Go see for yourself!
Bill Williams River NWR
Cibola NWR
Havasu NWR
Imperial NWR
Well, if you ever use eBird's output tools to learn about the status and distribution of birds in the area, this is big news! I often use the bar charts to look at seasonal status of birds. Formerly, eBird offered the options of data over the entire state, entire county (or counties), or for a specific hotspot (or multiple hotspots). If I wanted to look at bar charts for the Bill Williams River NWR, I could look at a bar chart for Mohave and La Paz counties, or I could select all the Bill Williams hotspots from a list. Now, this new IBA feature defines the IBA by a polygon, and incorporates all locations within that area into the output tools. This means it is now simple to look at bar charts (or other output tools) for IBAs such as the Bill Williams that incorporate all checklists within that area, whether they were entered into hotspots or as personal locations.
Go see for yourself!
Bill Williams River NWR
Cibola NWR
Havasu NWR
Imperial NWR
Saturday, March 31, 2012
Have You Seen BirdCast?
At first I started using eBird because I liked the idea of my everyday sightings being useful for science. I quickly grew to love how simply it organized all my sightings and lists. Eventually, I learned how to use the data myself, by looking at bar charts and maps. More recently, I've been amazed by the animated occurrence maps made from eBird data.
Now the folks at eBird have teamed up with NOAA and others to create BirdCast. Using predicted weather patterns along with records of past weather patterns and eBird data from past years, Cornell is now posting a weekly report of predicted migration patterns, as well as a followup summarizing what actually occurred.
Check out this week's BirdCast report. Reading over the section for the West, I learned to keep an eye out for the first Vaux's Swifts this week. Also, the Lawrence's Goldfinches we have been seeing in recent weeks may begin to head west toward the core of their breeding range; hopefully, some of them will stick around to breed here!
Now the folks at eBird have teamed up with NOAA and others to create BirdCast. Using predicted weather patterns along with records of past weather patterns and eBird data from past years, Cornell is now posting a weekly report of predicted migration patterns, as well as a followup summarizing what actually occurred.
Check out this week's BirdCast report. Reading over the section for the West, I learned to keep an eye out for the first Vaux's Swifts this week. Also, the Lawrence's Goldfinches we have been seeing in recent weeks may begin to head west toward the core of their breeding range; hopefully, some of them will stick around to breed here!
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
New AOU Checklist Supplement!
It's that time of year again, when the American Ornithologists' Union North American checklist committee has gotten together and made some changes to the "official" checklist of North American birds - adding new species, recognizing splits, reorganizing families, changing names, and all that good stuff. They don't always make good decisions, but it's always interesting to see where recent research in taxonomy has taken us.
The new supplement to the checklist is available in its entirety here, and you can even read the specific proposals here. Or you can read this blog post to see what's been changed! Be sure to stick around until the end, because the thorough reshuffling of the wood-warblers has got to be the most interesting thing to come out of this one.
I'm only outlining the more major points here (especially - but not entirely - the ones relevant to ABA-area birders), so if you're really interested in the nitty-gritty, be sure to check out the published proposal.
1. Species Added
Species are added when a new vagrant occurs in the AOU area, when existing species are split, or when the AOU recognizes an exotic as having a self-sustaining, established population. These birds have been newly recorded in North America:
- Tahiti Petrel
- White-chinned Petrel
- Long-winged Harrier
- Gray-bellied Hawk
- Solitary Snipe
- Large-billed Seed-Finch
2. Name Changes
Sometimes what we see as name changes are really the results of splits, for example, with old-world birds. Other times they're just...name changes. The name change from our beloved Common Moorhen to Common Gallinule is the result of a split with the old world Common Moorhen (neither of which, incidentally, are actually found on moors).
3. Just Splits and Lumps
If there is no name change resulting from a split or lump (say, with an old world species), it's likely to go unnoticed. In other cases, North American birders may gain or lose a species on their life lists.
- Snowy Plover is split from the widespread old world Kentish Plover
- Chestnut-mandibled Toucan is considered a subspecies of Black-mandibled Toucan
- Mexican Jay has been split. The birds in Arizona are still called Mexican Jay, while the birds farther south in Mexico have gained the awesome name Transvolcanic Jay
4. Taxonomic Reshuffling
Splits and lumps don't just happen at the species level! Ornithologists learn new things all the time about the familial affinities of certain birds, where they belong in the grand scheme of things. Based on some of this research, the AOU recognizes:
- Sandgrouse get their own order, Pteroclidiformes
- Sapayoa gets its own family, Sapayoidae
- Tityras, Becards, Schiffornis, and some Mourners are placed in the a new family, Tityridae (wait, we already knew that)
- Bluethroat, rubythroats, bluetails, wheatears, and Stonechat are moved from Turdidae (thrushes) to Muscicapidae (Old World Flycatchers)
- Bush-tanagers are moved from Thraupidae (tanagers) to Emberizidae (sparrows)
5. Wood-Warblers Rearrange
It's difficult to give a decent overview of this reshuffling of Parulidae without images, so I recommend checking out the proposal on this one. There's a lot to get used to here...
First of all, forget about the genera Parula, Dendroica, and Wilsonia. They've all been moved into other genera!
1. Formerly of Parula, Crescent-chested and Flame-throated Warblers have been moved into Oreothlypis. You remember Oreothlypis, all those warblers that used to be called Vermivora? But what about the parulas, you ask? Newly christened Setophaga (see below).
2. American Redstart is no longer lonely in its own genus (Setophaga). It's been lumped with all the (formerly known as) Dendroica warblers, a move which makes sense. But since Setophaga has priority, that's what they will all be called, including Northern and Tropical Parula, which are now included in this group.
3. The warblers formerly known as Wilsonia have been scattered around to new genera. Hooded Warbler joins the party in Setophaga. Wilson's and Canada Warblers, along with Red and Pink-headed Warblers (formerly of Ergaticus), have been merged with Red-faced Warbler and its genus, Cardellina.
Another big change is the near-extermination of Oporornis. It turns out that Kentucky, Mourning, and MacGillivray's Warblers are more closely related to yellowthroats (genus Geothlypis). Connecticut Warbler, that strange creature that walks rather than hops, stays cozy in Oporornis.
The tropical-minded will be interested in the splitting of the genus Basileuterus. The majority of North American species were split off as Myiothlypis, although none of these occur in the ABA-area. Rufous-capped and Golden-crowned Warblers remain Basileuterus, and Fan-tailed Warbler was merged into it as well.
How about an overview of North American Parulid genera!
- Several monotypic genera remain unchanged, including Black-and White, Prothonotary, and Swainson's Warblers and Ovenbird.
- Parkesia includes the two waterthrushes
- Vermivora includes Bachman's, Blue-winged and Golden-winged Warblers
- Oreothlypis includes all the former Vermivora, along with Crescent-chested and Flame-throated Warblers
- Geothlypis includes the yellowthroats along with Kentucky, Mourning and MacGillivray's Warblers
- Setophaga includes all former Dendroica, American Redstart, and Hooded Warbler
- Myiothlypis includes a bunch of the former Basileuterus
- Basileuterus, much reduced, now includes Fan-tailed Warbler
- Cardellina includes Red-faced, Red, Pink-headed, Wilson's, and Canada Warblers
- Myioborus remains unchanged. Good ol' whitestarts.
Whew, that was exciting. The biggest changes for me will be the name change for Common Gallinule and the warbler reshuffling. I'll have to catch myself when I write "COMO" in my notes (COGA now) and when I start talking about Dendroica chip notes.
Folks may be interested in hearing about some proposals that didn't pass. Some of these may well be valid changes that come up again after further research.
- Split Mountain Chickadee
- Split Yellow-rumped Warbler
- Change the names of Winter and Pacific Wrens to Western and Eastern Winter Wren
- Recognize Mexican Duck as a full species
The new supplement to the checklist is available in its entirety here, and you can even read the specific proposals here. Or you can read this blog post to see what's been changed! Be sure to stick around until the end, because the thorough reshuffling of the wood-warblers has got to be the most interesting thing to come out of this one.
I'm only outlining the more major points here (especially - but not entirely - the ones relevant to ABA-area birders), so if you're really interested in the nitty-gritty, be sure to check out the published proposal.
1. Species Added
Species are added when a new vagrant occurs in the AOU area, when existing species are split, or when the AOU recognizes an exotic as having a self-sustaining, established population. These birds have been newly recorded in North America:
- Tahiti Petrel
- White-chinned Petrel
- Long-winged Harrier
- Gray-bellied Hawk
- Solitary Snipe
- Large-billed Seed-Finch
2. Name Changes
Sometimes what we see as name changes are really the results of splits, for example, with old-world birds. Other times they're just...name changes. The name change from our beloved Common Moorhen to Common Gallinule is the result of a split with the old world Common Moorhen (neither of which, incidentally, are actually found on moors).
3. Just Splits and Lumps
If there is no name change resulting from a split or lump (say, with an old world species), it's likely to go unnoticed. In other cases, North American birders may gain or lose a species on their life lists.
- Snowy Plover is split from the widespread old world Kentish Plover
- Chestnut-mandibled Toucan is considered a subspecies of Black-mandibled Toucan
- Mexican Jay has been split. The birds in Arizona are still called Mexican Jay, while the birds farther south in Mexico have gained the awesome name Transvolcanic Jay
4. Taxonomic Reshuffling
Splits and lumps don't just happen at the species level! Ornithologists learn new things all the time about the familial affinities of certain birds, where they belong in the grand scheme of things. Based on some of this research, the AOU recognizes:
- Sandgrouse get their own order, Pteroclidiformes
- Sapayoa gets its own family, Sapayoidae
- Tityras, Becards, Schiffornis, and some Mourners are placed in the a new family, Tityridae (wait, we already knew that)
- Bluethroat, rubythroats, bluetails, wheatears, and Stonechat are moved from Turdidae (thrushes) to Muscicapidae (Old World Flycatchers)
- Bush-tanagers are moved from Thraupidae (tanagers) to Emberizidae (sparrows)
5. Wood-Warblers Rearrange
It's difficult to give a decent overview of this reshuffling of Parulidae without images, so I recommend checking out the proposal on this one. There's a lot to get used to here...
First of all, forget about the genera Parula, Dendroica, and Wilsonia. They've all been moved into other genera!
1. Formerly of Parula, Crescent-chested and Flame-throated Warblers have been moved into Oreothlypis. You remember Oreothlypis, all those warblers that used to be called Vermivora? But what about the parulas, you ask? Newly christened Setophaga (see below).
2. American Redstart is no longer lonely in its own genus (Setophaga). It's been lumped with all the (formerly known as) Dendroica warblers, a move which makes sense. But since Setophaga has priority, that's what they will all be called, including Northern and Tropical Parula, which are now included in this group.
3. The warblers formerly known as Wilsonia have been scattered around to new genera. Hooded Warbler joins the party in Setophaga. Wilson's and Canada Warblers, along with Red and Pink-headed Warblers (formerly of Ergaticus), have been merged with Red-faced Warbler and its genus, Cardellina.
Another big change is the near-extermination of Oporornis. It turns out that Kentucky, Mourning, and MacGillivray's Warblers are more closely related to yellowthroats (genus Geothlypis). Connecticut Warbler, that strange creature that walks rather than hops, stays cozy in Oporornis.
The tropical-minded will be interested in the splitting of the genus Basileuterus. The majority of North American species were split off as Myiothlypis, although none of these occur in the ABA-area. Rufous-capped and Golden-crowned Warblers remain Basileuterus, and Fan-tailed Warbler was merged into it as well.
How about an overview of North American Parulid genera!
- Several monotypic genera remain unchanged, including Black-and White, Prothonotary, and Swainson's Warblers and Ovenbird.
- Parkesia includes the two waterthrushes
- Vermivora includes Bachman's, Blue-winged and Golden-winged Warblers
- Oreothlypis includes all the former Vermivora, along with Crescent-chested and Flame-throated Warblers
- Geothlypis includes the yellowthroats along with Kentucky, Mourning and MacGillivray's Warblers
- Setophaga includes all former Dendroica, American Redstart, and Hooded Warbler
- Myiothlypis includes a bunch of the former Basileuterus
- Basileuterus, much reduced, now includes Fan-tailed Warbler
- Cardellina includes Red-faced, Red, Pink-headed, Wilson's, and Canada Warblers
- Myioborus remains unchanged. Good ol' whitestarts.
Whew, that was exciting. The biggest changes for me will be the name change for Common Gallinule and the warbler reshuffling. I'll have to catch myself when I write "COMO" in my notes (COGA now) and when I start talking about Dendroica chip notes.
Folks may be interested in hearing about some proposals that didn't pass. Some of these may well be valid changes that come up again after further research.
- Split Mountain Chickadee
- Split Yellow-rumped Warbler
- Change the names of Winter and Pacific Wrens to Western and Eastern Winter Wren
- Recognize Mexican Duck as a full species
 |
| Cardellina canadensis |
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