Willy Fantail

Was it Willy Fantail or Willie Fantail?

There was suspicion that these names in the new Indonesian field
guide by James Eaton et al. were what was going to be adopted by HBW
/ BLI. This has just been released but I don’t have access to it. And
since BirdLife Australia follows this, that we might be affected. I
think BA chose HBW / BLI partly because of their affiliation with
BirdLife International and largely because they thought the list
would be far more stable than say IOC.

There has already been problems with Hooded Dotterel rather than Hooded Plover.

The common names go before BA’s English Names Committee which I am
part of. I cannot see any chance that we would accept Willie (or
Willy) Fantail! I think quite a few people on the ENC would go
apoplectic! A bit like telling the American to change American Robin
to American Thrush.

Another that may come up is White-quilled Honeyeater, a split from
Blue-faced Honeyeater across northern Australia. Not certain where
this name came from. This split hasn’t even been proposed for IOC yet.

_________________________________________________________________
Frank O’Connor Birding WA
birdingwa.iinet.net.au
Phone : (08) 9386 5694 Email : foconnor@iinet.net.au