Thanks for the update, Bill. It's interesting that I learned the American Goldfinch as Spinus tristis and now it's back! Maybe my old field guides will be accurate again; who knows. Bob Beason Huron, OH On Jun 30, 2009, at 10:53 AM, Bill Whan wrote: > 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] ______________________________________________________________________ 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]