I am engaged in a little project for which I am seeking information about the taxonomic treatment of Australian birds for everyday purposes, that is in field guides and regional lists and personal recording. The eBird recording system is one example, but I know about the basis for that. There has been a trend towards the use of the IOC/WorldBirdNames taxonomy, for example in –
The Australian Bird Guide, Menkhorst, P. et al ( rev. ed. 2019)
Australian Bird Names: Origins and Meanings, Fraser, I. & Gray, J. (2nd ed. 2019)
Birds of the Australian High Country, Hermes, N. (2017)
The taxonomy is generally indicated by a declared choice of the ‘list’ that is being followed, sometimes a global list. There is not a great deal of difference between them, although the sequence of families can vary. So far as species are concerned, the choice of list can affect, for example, whether a separate species of ‘Morepork’ is recognised (N. leucopsis) or whether the Crested Shrike-tit is split into three different species.
I do not have copies of all the most recent field guides or apps or ready access to recent regional lists. I would be grateful for any information about recent developments and any comments about trends in this area. Apart from my own little project, I thought this subject might be of some interest to this chatline.
Geoffrey Dabb
