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Posted by jnrosenthal on 09:42:07 10/05/07
In Reply to: Re: Yellow grosbeak posted by John Boyd
John Boyd correctly points out that there are two species-at least by AOU standards, of Yellow Grosbeak. The one illustrated in my Ecuador photo (link...http://www.flickr.com/photos/joelnrosenthal/1480943640/) is p. chrysogaster, identified as "southern yellow grosbeak" in Ridgely and Greenfield and as "golden bellied grosbeak" in Robin Restall's wonderful volume "Birds of Northern South America".Ridgely further clarifies(?) as follows: "sometimes called simply Yellow Grosbeak, P.chrysopeplus, this when considered conspecific with Mid Am. forms." Van Perlo, in Birds of Mexico and Central America, calls P.chrysopeplus simply Yellow Grosbeak-and its range is limited to Mexico and Guatemala.In Ecuador, the bird (chrysogaster)is uniformly called "southern yellow grosbeak". To all outward appearances(from the field guide illustrations) the two species appear virtually identical although I am sure differences(perhaps in more than appearance and which elude me) exist. I have adjusted the caption on my Ecuador photos accordingly.
all of which raises the question of how it is that the birding protocol is to refer to birds by English names rather than the Latin ones, as is common in the shell collecting world-conchology/malacology and in lepidoptery, and I assume other disciplines...I am an ornithological neophyte--can someone educate me?
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