The admirably open process of the American Ornithologists' Union's Check-list Committee permits us to look ahead to some changes. See http://www.aou.org/committees/nacc/proposals/pending.php . These decisions are probably not final till the publication of next month's issue of the Auk, but some name changes are in the offing. These are especially important if you're working on a checklist, or a publication, and one of them at least will be an immediate relief to ordinary birders. That one is the simplification of some of the English names of Ammodramus sparrows: "Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrow" is now "Saltmarsh Sparrow", and "Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrow" is now "Nelson's Sparrow." Hurray. The old genus Carduelis is being split up, with these changes in scientific names for Ohio species: common redpoll is now Acanthis flammea hoary redpoll is now Acanthis hornemanni American goldfinch is now Spinus tristis pine siskin is now Spinus pinus Finally, the Ohio "tanagers" (summer, scarlet, western), as well as the hepatic tanager, in the genus Piranga are leaving the tanager family to join the Cardinalidae. Their scientific names will remain the same, but maybe the English name "tanager" will be changed...I'd guess not, after reading the comments... 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]