More on Whimbrels

[David Shepherd]

It's been suggested that I was being a bit elitist when I mentioned
the Long Beach Hudsonian Whimbrel, and some folks might be a bit
confused about what I meant.

In North America there are essentially two races of Whimbrel. There
is a third Asian race which can basically be discounted round here.
The breeding race "hudsonicus" is the one we see in numbers in the
fall, but very rarely in the spring (like this was the second). The
European race "phaeopus" is restricted to breeding in Europe,
including Iceland, and recently E Greenland. It occurs here as a
spring vagrant although in much smaller numbers than European Golden
Plover.

Now the situation becomes more complicated when you realise that the
British Ornithologists' Union has now recognized the two former races
as separate species whereas the American Ornithologists' Union, in its
infinite wisdom has decreed they are but races. So I had my Brit hat
on when I called it a Hudsonian Whimbrel. I won't venture into the
relative merits of the two Ornithologists Unions, except to say the
British one has been going a lot longer. There are very significant
plumage details - rump colour, underwing colour, wrist patch etc. in
the two Whimbrels.

So, if you're a lister and want to hedge your bets for future lists,
make sure you "bag" the "european" whimbrel at Cape Spear.

You might want also to take a close look at Black and White-winged
Scoters to see if you can spot one of the European races - they have
already been "split" by the BOU. So be prepared for when they get
split here.

Oh American and European Herring Gulls are separate species now (in
Europe).

Hope you're all the wiser.

DS

[Howard Clase]

There's a similar situation in the botanical field too. Maybe the new comprehensive Flora of North America will help to coordinate things.