An interesting proposal, and thanks for linking us to the discussion, Shelley. I'm okay with leaving the eastern bird as is and going to interior painted bunting rather than Western. I'd like to see Western reserved for birds that are actually out west (near the Pacific), not hanging out in eastern New Mexico. Just my 2cents.
Marty
Trishrg
12/03/14 08:42 am
You gotta love the AOU. They mean well, but some of the changes they make are frustrating. I for one, don't much like change. Over the past few years I've had to get used to a few things. First, when I took a birding class, I found my Common Moorhen had been renamed Common Gallinule. Gallinules being American.
Then, last year they split up Sage Sparrow into like 3 or 4 subspecies. OMG!
Last year they also changed Clapper Rails(light-footed subspecies) in coastal California to the newly named Ridgeway's Rails. Say that fast 3 times. They wanted to honor someone named Ridgeway. That's how they did it.
Anyhow, back to the Bunting.... I can see for conservation sake why they would want to split up the 2 groups into E and W versions.
I've learned a lot since I started birding seriously. Getting close to 400 birds on my life list. Kinda cool.
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