Latest IOC Diary Updates (26 Viewers)

[njlarsen]

As a non-native English speaker, who have had a good deal of instructions in English, including a course in Academic Writing, and who furthermore have lived and worked in English language countries for 26 years of my life, no one have ever mentioned the difference between abbreviations and contractions to me. I do not believe there is a similar contrast in Danish, my native language.
Niels

 

[l_raty]

As a non-native English speaker, who have had a good deal of instructions in English, including a course in Academic Writing, and who furthermore have lived and worked in English language countries for 26 years of my life, no one have ever mentioned the difference between abbreviations and contractions to me. I do not believe there is a similar contrast in Danish, my native language.
Niels

As I wrote above, I think that, in American English, it's standard to add a period (alt. full stop) after any abbreviated title. Thus if you have always been in contact with the English language as used in America, it's may not be really surprising that you did not hear about the difference.
What I learned (in French, but I imagine the justification must be the same in British English) is that the full stop / period actually stands for the part of the word that is omitted; thus if the part of the word that is omitted is in the middle, it makes no sense to add a full stop / period at its end.

British English guidelines by a translation specialist (see under "Abbreviations and contractions") :

British English language guidelines | Sandberg Translation Partners (STP)

Our in-house style guide for linguists translating into UK English.

stptrans.com

"St Helena" as written on St Helena :

The official St Helena Tourism website

www.sthelenatourism.com

 

[MJB]

As I wrote above, I think that, in American English, it's standard to add a period (alt. full stop) after any abbreviated title. Thus if you have always been in contact with the English language as used in America, it's may not be really surprising that you did not hear about the difference.
What I learned (in French, but I imagine the justification must be the same in British English) is that the full stop / period actually stands for the part of the word that is omitted; thus if the part of the word that is omitted is in the middle, it makes no sense to add a full stop / period at its end.

British English guidelines by a translation specialist (see under "Abbreviations and contractions") :

British English language guidelines | Sandberg Translation Partners (STP)

Our in-house style guide for linguists translating into UK English.

stptrans.com

"St Helena" as written on St Helena :

The official St Helena Tourism website

www.sthelenatourism.com

About 50 years ago, the British military reviewed the rules for Service Writing to amalgamate the different rules and styles that applied to the individual formal written language rules used by the Army, Royal Navy, Royal Air Force and Royal Marines. This was far from straightforward, because there were quite a few internal differences within the RN (known historically as 'The Senior Service') simply because of its historical spread across the late Empire. Because the Army was organised by Regiment, there were very many differences. Much rationalisation had already happened with the spread of instant communication affecting joint operations, but quite often the tendency to revert to traditional rules and styles was apparent after a war was over.

Nevertheless, one of the 'universal' changes in the 1970s was to treat all abbreviations** and contractions as not requiring full stops/periods, a handy publication listing well-known abbreviations being distributed - as acronyms proliferated, this publication was frequently amended! One important Service Writing rule was that new abbreviations should always be explained in the text as they appeared. Supervisors of typing pools enthusiastically adopted the new rules because it shortened correspondence and reduced the typing task. No more N. A. T. O.; no more U. S. A.; no more U. S. S. R. and no more many hundreds of similar examples. At about the same time, ISO 216 was fully applied; goodbye foolscap paper sizes, hello A-sizing! You will not be surprised to know that numerous very senior brass-hats declined to adopt these changes for their own correspondence and continued to pontificate from on high, but I think this had much more to do with their customary insistence on employing a large Victorian font which they could decipher without putting on their glasses...!
MJB
**The exception was where confusion might be caused by the absence of a full stop/period...

 

[THE_FERN]

If we are to treat this as valid (St.) it just complicates the regex check. Assuming the only period is in this combination, the check would be ((other valid characters)|(St\.)) or similar to ensure that you pick up any other errant periods

 

[l_raty]

If we are to treat this as valid (St.) it just complicates the regex check. Assuming the only period is in this combination, the check would be ((other valid characters)|(St\.)) or similar to ensure that you pick up any other errant periods

As I understand it, it's in St. and in Mrs.

 

[THE_FERN]

As I understand it, it's in St. and in Mrs.

Fine. Then ((stuff)|(Mrs\.)|(St\.)). We can see why it's easier without the period

 

[kweetal]

Fine. Then ((stuff)|(Mrs\.)|(St\.)). We can see why it's easier without the period

That's basically what I did, with (?x) for expanded mode:

where "Species (English)" !~
    $$(?x)
                   ^ [A-Z] [ [:alpha:] ' & , -]+ \Z
                |  Mrs[.]
                |  St[.]
    $$

(this gives now zero hits and will catch any future 'errant periods')

 

[Viktor Björkert]

Family Accipitridae	Kites, Hawks, Eagles		PHY	Linear sequence of taxa within Accipitridae is revised (IOC 15.1) to reflect the comprehensive phylogenetic analysis of Catanach et al. 2024.
Dryotriorchis spectabilis	Congo Serpent Eagle	Circaetus spectabilis	TAX	Restore Congo Serpent Eagle to Circaetus from Dryotriorchis to resolve the paraphyly demonstrated in Lerner & Mindell (2005) and the more recent UCE phylogenetic analysis of Catanach et al. (2024).
Vinous-breasted Sparrowhawk	Tachyspiza rhodogaster	Add ssp. butonensis.	ADD	Split ssp. butonensis from the nominate ssp. following Eaton et al. (2021).
Red-tailed Hawk	Buteo jamaicensis	Add ssp. socorroensis.	ADD	Restore ssp. socorroensis (Dickinson & Remsen 2013; Preston & Beane 2020).
Paddyfield Warbler	Acrocephalus agricola	Delete subspecies septimus.	DEL	Treat as monotypic. Includes septimus (Hering et al. 2015; Shirihai & Svensson 2018; Dyrcz 2020).

 

[kweetal]

Some typos I saw in columns "Breeding Range-Subregion(s)" and "Nonbreeding Range" of master_ioc_list_v14.2.xlsx.
Unimportant but perhaps they can be corrected. I've added the associated taxon, and id (=spreadsheet row)
(Some occur more than once)

               |  corrected:    |   id

 annd          |  and           | 23872 | Curruca nana                           
 Australi      |  Australia     | 29942 | Anthus australis bistriatus            
 Bian          |  Biang         | 18742 | Pteruthius intermedius intermedius     
 Bintang       |  Bintan        | 21684 | Alophoixus phaeocephalus               
 Bolilvia      |  Bolivia       |  2399 | Threnetes leucurus leucurus            
 Bolviia       |  Bolivia       | 15077 | Mionectes galbinus                     
 Desventaduras |  Desventuradas |  6591 | Pterodroma neglecta juana              
 Dominca       |  Dominica      | 25771 | Troglodytes martinicensis              
 Ethiopa       |  Ethiopia      | 10085 | Pogoniulus uropygialis                 
 Galápago      |  Galápagos     | 32837 | Certhidea fusca becki                  
 HolArctic     |  Holarctic     |  6345 | Uria lomvia                            
 Kazakstan     |  Kazakhstan    | 27950 | Phoenicurus ochruros murinus           
 Mauretania    |  Mauritania    |  5543 | Burhinus oedicnemus saharae            
 Scandinaria   |  Scandinavia   | 30532 | Acanthis flammea                       
 seTibet       |  se Tibet      | 22516 | Leptopoecile elegans                   
 Southhampton  |  Southampton   |  5958 | Calidris alba rubida                   
 Turmenistan   |  Turkmenistan  | 30585 | Carduelis caniceps                     
 Vanuata       |  Vanuatu       |  7570 | Tachyspiza fasciata vigilax            
 Venezuala     |  Venezuela     | 14952 | Nesotriccus incomtus                   
 Zamboangao    |  Zamboanga     | 24114 | Heleia goodfellowi malindangensis      
 Zeland        |  Zealand       |   332 | Hymenolaimus malacorhynchos hymenolaimus

 

[DDonsker]

Some typos I saw in columns "Breeding Range-Subregion(s)" and "Nonbreeding Range" of master_ioc_list_v14.2.xlsx.
Unimportant but perhaps they can be corrected. I've added the associated taxon, and id (=spreadsheet row)
(Some occur more than once)

               |  corrected:    |   id

 annd          |  and           | 23872 | Curruca nana                          
 Australi      |  Australia     | 29942 | Anthus australis bistriatus           
 Bian          |  Biang         | 18742 | Pteruthius intermedius intermedius    
 Bintang       |  Bintan        | 21684 | Alophoixus phaeocephalus              
 Bolilvia      |  Bolivia       |  2399 | Threnetes leucurus leucurus           
 Bolviia       |  Bolivia       | 15077 | Mionectes galbinus                    
 Desventaduras |  Desventuradas |  6591 | Pterodroma neglecta juana             
 Dominca       |  Dominica      | 25771 | Troglodytes martinicensis             
 Ethiopa       |  Ethiopia      | 10085 | Pogoniulus uropygialis                
 Galápago      |  Galápagos     | 32837 | Certhidea fusca becki                 
 HolArctic     |  Holarctic     |  6345 | Uria lomvia                           
 Kazakstan     |  Kazakhstan    | 27950 | Phoenicurus ochruros murinus          
 Mauretania    |  Mauritania    |  5543 | Burhinus oedicnemus saharae           
 Scandinaria   |  Scandinavia   | 30532 | Acanthis flammea                      
 seTibet       |  se Tibet      | 22516 | Leptopoecile elegans                  
 Southhampton  |  Southampton   |  5958 | Calidris alba rubida                  
 Turmenistan   |  Turkmenistan  | 30585 | Carduelis caniceps                    
 Vanuata       |  Vanuatu       |  7570 | Tachyspiza fasciata vigilax           
 Venezuala     |  Venezuela     | 14952 | Nesotriccus incomtus                  
 Zamboangao    |  Zamboanga     | 24114 | Heleia goodfellowi malindangensis     
 Zeland        |  Zealand       |   332 | Hymenolaimus malacorhynchos hymenolaimus

Thanks. We will address these.

David

 

[WACCOE]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1847198773866361135

 

[Swindon Addick]

I'd been assuming that since the BOU adopted IOC taxonomy the British list would change immediately when IOC splits or lumps something. I'd certainly been changing my personal British list immediately. When does the official British List catch up?

 

[Bismarck Honeyeater]

I'd been assuming that since the BOU adopted IOC taxonomy the British list would change immediately when IOC splits or lumps something. I'd certainly been changing my personal British list immediately. When does the official British List catch up?

Only when announced by BOURC, which can be months after the IOC decision is published. I, like you, take off/add on the species immediately.

 

[Paul Chapman]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1847198773866361135

I'd been assuming that since the BOU adopted IOC taxonomy the British list would change immediately when IOC splits or lumps something. I'd certainly been changing my personal British list immediately. When does the official British List catch up?

I am informed that the article is erroneous in respect of Green-winged Teal and Hudsonian Whimbrel currently (pers. comm.).

This was from someone at one of the organisations involved in the process but the important word is currently.

All the best

Paul

 

[Mysticete]

"rumored": I wonder if rumored just means "we used avibase to look at differences between checklists relevant to the BOURC list". All of the suggestions are reasonable to infer on that criteria.

 

[Paul Chapman]

"rumored": I wonder if rumored just means "we used avibase to look at differences between checklists relevant to the BOURC list". All of the suggestions are reasonable to infer on that criteria.

Well yes. The article is resourced and based on the public sources. The correction was sent to the author by someone from one of the organisations in the process.

It is just provided so that people do not cut their British lists as above prematurely.

Yours parochially

Paul

 

[James Lowther]

I'd been assuming that since the BOU adopted IOC taxonomy the British list would change immediately when IOC splits or lumps something. I'd certainly been changing my personal British list immediately. When does the official British List catch up?

The British list is updated to take account of IOC updates once a year. Strictly speaking the IOC list is only updated every 6 months (although forthcoming changes are announced as they are decided), so the BOU update takes account of the previous 2 IOC updates.
Cheers
James

 

[James Lowther]

One of the mooted lumps is Amur and Siberian Stonechat.
I was under the impression this split was needed because of paraphyly between the two taxa I.e. European stonechat is more closely related to one of the two.
Is that not right?
James

 

[wolfbirder]

Five potential losses for me, just as I am approaching 500.

Its the end of the world -. Feels like qualifying for your pension, the closer you get age-wise the further you get away from it due to changes in legislation.

Meanwhile, in the British birding world, any news about Ruddy Shelduck? Come on lads and lasses, its getting embarrassing for you now.

 

[Xenospiza]

Five potential losses for me, just as I am approaching 500.

Its the end of the world -. Feels like qualifying for your pension, the closer you get age-wise the further you get away from it due to changes in legislation.

Meanwhile, in the British birding world, any news about Ruddy Shelduck? Come on lads and lasses, its getting embarrassing for you now.

If the Dutch ever switch to IOC instead of the CSNA taxonomy, the top man who has just reached 500 would lose 13! His only hope would be allowed to count category C birds instead.