FW: HBW/Birdlife International Illustrated Checklist adopted by UN Convention

________________________________ From: angus_innes@hotmail.comangus_innes@hotmail.com> To: birding-aus@vicnet.net.aubirding-aus@vicnet.net.au> Subject: HBW/Birdlife International Illustrated Checklist adopted by UN Convention Classification lists are a subject of endless fascination for quite a few Birding Aus correspondents – mine waxes and wanes. International travel birding lists and information probably attract even more space. Having those groups particularly in mind, I thought the following may be of interest, as well as to others who may share my inclination to use a credible hard copy list that will not disappear on computer melt down. It is reported that during the eleventh meeting of the Council of the Conference of the parties to the UN Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) the HBW and Birdlife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World, vol 1 – Non-passerines, published June 2014 by Lynx publications (Barcelona), was adopted as the Convention’s standard reference for bird taxonomy and nomenclature for non-passerines. The resolution adopting the Checklist also requested the Council of the Convention to consider adopting the second volume on Passerines for similar purposes when published in 2016. A reviewer of the first volume, Alan Knox, in the venerable and prestigious UK Birding magazine, “British Birds”, (November 2014) wrote “Having a full checklist of all the non-passerine species and subspecies together with illustrations and maps in one remarkable volume, simply cannot be beaten.” For the record breakers and splitters, he comments elsewhere in the article “While the authority of the text, the quality of the plates and revised distribution mapping for every species are more than enough to establish this as an exceptional volume, it is the authors approach to species-level taxonomy that they believe is the most distinctive feature of the book…. In a massive exercise , the authors have carried out a massive sweep using new criteria , adding a total of 462 species since HBW, about half of which were proposed by other authors after the publication of the relevant volumes (of HBW). The criteria used here were published by Tobias et al (Ibis 152:724-746) and they are carefully explained in the introduction” He does go on to qualify the “great service (done by the authors) in their review of species” by instancing some species anomalies which he states “serves to show that no known system can definitively identify which taxa deserve to be treated as a species.” The checklist is currently on offer from the publishers for 145 euros – with an offer of Vol 2 at the same price (to be paid on publication of Vol 2 in 2016) if a commitment to purchase is made now. The general sale price appears to be around 185 euros. As I understand it, it distils much of its key information from the volumes of HBW. I do not have the knowledge to engage in any debate on the science behind the list adopted. I merely offer this information for the benefit of others who find themselves in my position. Yes, I am getting one. Angus Innes. Information in this message may be confidential and may be legally privileged. If you have received this message by mistake, please notify the sender immediately, delete it and do not copy it to anyone else. We have checked this email and its attachments for viruses. But you should still check any attachment before opening it. We may have to make this message and any reply to it public if asked to under the Freedom of Information Act, Data Protection Act or for litigation. Email messages and attachments sent to or from any Environment Agency address may also be accessed by someone other than the sender or recipient, for business purposes.