I read about an interesting story in the Chicago Tribune, available at
http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/lifestyle/green/chi-birds-web-jun27,0,7133429.story

        One of the items involves taxonomic studies that suggest falcons are
more closely related to parrots than to hawks & other raptors. I was
reminded of a conversation we had on this list trying to identify the
species of bird represented in a Hopewell effigy: some of were sure it
was a Carolina parakeet, and the establishment was betting on peregrine
falcon. Might not be such a big disagreement after all.
        The Tribune story mentions this in the course of describing some major
realignments in bird taxonomy, to be announced soon in Science magazine.
A quote from AOU Checklist Committee member Carla Cicero was intriguing
as well. The Committee will publish changes in the official North
American list in a few weeks, and Cicero is quoted as saying, "There are
going to be a lot of changes, I can tell you that."
        As in years past, I'll pass along a summary of these decisions to
ohio-birds, so we can trash our checklists all over again.
Bill Whan
Columbus

______________________________________________________________________

Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society.
Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list.
Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/.

You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at:
http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS
Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]