Not the way I wanted to get to 2K birds!
Posted: July 7th, 2016, 9:46 am
I have been hanging perilously close to the 2000 birds mark for a couple of years now. On my last trip to Australia I decided I was going to try and get over the hump but I spent too much time herping and not paying attention to my bird count. I ended up leaving Oz with a total of 1998 species on my world lifelist.
So I have been waiting for a chance to get two new birds and celebrate that 2000th tick on the lifelist!
Well, the AOU has stepped in and ruined everything once again. The Summer 2016 supplement is out and....http://blog.aba.org/2016/07/2016-aou-supplement.html
- California Scrub Jay has been split off from the "Woodhouse's" Scrub Jay (stupid name for scrub jays east of CA!). (+ 1 lifer for me) The Texas and Central Mexican populations may eventually be split off in the future as well.
- Green Violetear has been split so my sightings in US/Mexico are now a different species (Mexican Violetear) from those I saw in Panama (+1 lifer)
- Blue-crowned Motmot has been split and my Mexican sightings have been named Blue-capped Motmot, while my Costa Rican bird is now Lesson's Motmot (+1 lifer)
- Plain Wren from Mexico is now Cabani's Wren (no net change in my lifelist)
- Three-striped Warbler has been split so my Costa Rican sighting is now Costa Rican Warbler and my Ecuador birds are now a different species still called Three-striped Warbler (+1 lifer)
So Ebird hasn't incorporated all these changes yet, but my lifelist just jumped from 1998 to 2002 without me lifting my binoculars. I am more disappointed than happy. Now I have to wait for 3000 birds? I don't know that I'll live that long.
I understand how this birder felt:
So I have been waiting for a chance to get two new birds and celebrate that 2000th tick on the lifelist!
Well, the AOU has stepped in and ruined everything once again. The Summer 2016 supplement is out and....http://blog.aba.org/2016/07/2016-aou-supplement.html
- California Scrub Jay has been split off from the "Woodhouse's" Scrub Jay (stupid name for scrub jays east of CA!). (+ 1 lifer for me) The Texas and Central Mexican populations may eventually be split off in the future as well.
- Green Violetear has been split so my sightings in US/Mexico are now a different species (Mexican Violetear) from those I saw in Panama (+1 lifer)
- Blue-crowned Motmot has been split and my Mexican sightings have been named Blue-capped Motmot, while my Costa Rican bird is now Lesson's Motmot (+1 lifer)
- Plain Wren from Mexico is now Cabani's Wren (no net change in my lifelist)
- Three-striped Warbler has been split so my Costa Rican sighting is now Costa Rican Warbler and my Ecuador birds are now a different species still called Three-striped Warbler (+1 lifer)
So Ebird hasn't incorporated all these changes yet, but my lifelist just jumped from 1998 to 2002 without me lifting my binoculars. I am more disappointed than happy. Now I have to wait for 3000 birds? I don't know that I'll live that long.
I understand how this birder felt: