I'm not a taxonomy guy, but I see now after 34 years of apparent lack of notice that you're right, I see the split of Fringillilidae into Emberizidae, the Sparrow family, Fringillidae, finches, and Cardinalidae, cardinals, grosbeaks, and buntings. The Blue Grosbeak is actually a Passerina bunting, the Snow Bunting in the Sparrow family, with the Lark Bunting. But all in the correct families. To add to the confusion, the Fringillidae family is divided into the Fringillinae and Carduelinae Subfamilies. It's a matter of time before common names may be changed to conform, perhaps due to advances in phylogenetics and species concepts and thus our understanding of our subject's evolution.
On the subspecies level, some differences are real, some more political, I'm told by genetist that Red-tailed Hawk subspecies are more imagined than real and at time political, ie variants that people like to name to add to their lists. For eg. also some newer Dark-eyed Junco subspecies. But that has changed changed before as they have been tested in genetic labs. Apparently, mammal taxonomy is still a mess according to some mammalogists...and look at new homicide discoveries recently. So stay tuned.
The book is just in time to start thinking about the holidays. It will make a sweet gift.
Homicide= homin+I'd. I hate autocorrect and autospell, and everything I try to override it, it automatically reverts back, and error in the computer chip. BTW, do you have Ian Newton's FINCHES?
" When he started posting his Finch Forecast on an Ontario birding listserv in 1999, other listservs and birding networks started sharing the information. That’s how I learned about it."
Sister Su suggested to me that this sharing should rightly be called, "bird of mouth" information.
Your voice is so calming.
I'm not a taxonomy guy, but I see now after 34 years of apparent lack of notice that you're right, I see the split of Fringillilidae into Emberizidae, the Sparrow family, Fringillidae, finches, and Cardinalidae, cardinals, grosbeaks, and buntings. The Blue Grosbeak is actually a Passerina bunting, the Snow Bunting in the Sparrow family, with the Lark Bunting. But all in the correct families. To add to the confusion, the Fringillidae family is divided into the Fringillinae and Carduelinae Subfamilies. It's a matter of time before common names may be changed to conform, perhaps due to advances in phylogenetics and species concepts and thus our understanding of our subject's evolution.
On the subspecies level, some differences are real, some more political, I'm told by genetist that Red-tailed Hawk subspecies are more imagined than real and at time political, ie variants that people like to name to add to their lists. For eg. also some newer Dark-eyed Junco subspecies. But that has changed changed before as they have been tested in genetic labs. Apparently, mammal taxonomy is still a mess according to some mammalogists...and look at new homicide discoveries recently. So stay tuned.
The book is just in time to start thinking about the holidays. It will make a sweet gift.
Also, the longspurs are now in their own family, Calcariidae.
Homicide= homin+I'd. I hate autocorrect and autospell, and everything I try to override it, it automatically reverts back, and error in the computer chip. BTW, do you have Ian Newton's FINCHES?
(I knew what you meant with "homicide." I hate autocorrect.) I haven't read Newton's book--looks interesting.
Love this article, Chickadee!
" When he started posting his Finch Forecast on an Ontario birding listserv in 1999, other listservs and birding networks started sharing the information. That’s how I learned about it."
Sister Su suggested to me that this sharing should rightly be called, "bird of mouth" information.