American Tree Sparrow

[Mark Amershek]

FYI...  Information received this morning from an ABA Blog posting.

New Genus for American Tree Sparrow

The species’s scientific name has changed from Spizella arborea to Spizelloides arborea. Genetic data show it to be not at all closely related to Spizella sparrows. Instead, it is related to a group containing Fox Sparrow, Zonotrichia sparrows, and juncos.

Hope everyone has a nice 4th of July weekend. As always - Great Birding.

Mark Amershek

[Ted Floyd]

Thanks, Mark, for this Public Service Announcement.

I have one of my own. 

Let's pronounce this new name right. The word consists of two parts, Spizello– + –ides. So it is pronounced spy-ZELL-oh-EYE-deez. Not spy-zuh-LOY-deez, which is an execration. Similarly, the woodpecker genus Picoides is pronounced:

pie-coe-EYE-deez 

And the gull genus Glaucoides is pronounced:

glaw-coe-EYE-deez

(puh-COY-deez and glaw-COY-deez, respectively, are execrations.)

Yours for Truth, Justice, and the Pedantic Way,

Ted Floyd

Lafayette, Boulder County