Tag: taxonomy and systematics

Birds

“Keep your taxonomy out of my field guide” – revisited

April 30, 2017 by Jochen 18 Comments

Way back in the days when blog posts still got a lot of comments, I wrote a piece on why field guides that arrange...

Birds

Clearing up the Collared Kingfishers

September 23, 2015 by Duncan 1 Comment

All the way back in 2011 I wrote about the confusing taxanomic enigma that is the Collared Kingfisher, a species that ranges from the...

Birds

Enjoy your redpoll ticks while they last

June 14, 2015 by David 2 Comments

All the world’s redpolls probably represent a single species, and redpolls probably look different in different places more because of environmental influences on how...

Birds

NYC mystery warbler: Odd Blackpoll, hybrid, or Carbonated Warbler?

May 17, 2015 by David 3 Comments

It was birdy this morning on the banks of the Hudson River in lower Manhattan. I’d seen nine warbler species, Baltimore Orioles, a brilliant...

Birds

Are Redpolls Just One Species?

March 30, 2015 by Corey 6 Comments

It sure looks like it! Gustave Axelson has a nice breakdown of a recent genetic analysis of redpolls on Cornell’s All About Birds Blog:...

Birds

The origins of tanagers, warblers, and sparrows are coming into focus

January 25, 2015 by David 6 Comments

A new paper out this month attempts to paint the most comprehensive picture yet of the origins and diversification of the American sparrows, wood-warblers,...

Birds

Purple Swamphen: Supertramp or superspecies?

December 28, 2014 by David 5 Comments

The colorful Purple Swamphen (Porphyrio porphyrio) lives in wetlands from Portugal and Senegal all the way east to New Zealand and the Samoan Islands,...