Xantus, Scripps, and Guadalupe

Scripps's Murrelet. 2007 off Newport, Oregon by Greg Gillson.

The American Ornithologists' Union this month split Xantus's Murrelet into two species (see my Oregon Seabirds blog article: Guadalupe and Scripps's Murrelet).

The origins of these names are not all that familiar to birders. Who were Xantus and Scripps? And where is Guadalupe?

John Xantus (1825-1894) fled to the United States from Hungary in 1851, escaping the unsuccessful war of independence from Austria. Soon he joined the US army, stationed in Riley, Kansas. There he developed an interest in natural history (in that age this evidently meant shooting mammals and birds, and collecting eggs and plants for museums). In California he collected "massive amounts of materials," including many fishes, for Spencer F. Baird at the Smithsonian. He made an expedition to Baja California, Mexico, in 1859, using Cabo San Lucas at the very tip of the peninsula as his base for collecting. (See also this biography of John Xantus). Xantus's described to science the murrelet that came to be named for him. Xantus also collected the hummingbird named for him by George Newbold Lawrence. Fifty-two species of plants, molluscs, lizards, insects, birds, and fishes were named for him. Xantus described to science many birds including Hammond's Flycatcher, Spotted Owl, and Cassin's Vireo (The Audubon Encyclopedia of North American Birds. 1980. John K. Terres.). Xantus eventually returned to Budapest, Hungary as a naturalist.

The murrelet type that Xantus originally described breeds primarily on Guadalupe Island, or Isla Guadalupe, about 150 miles west of Baja California, Mexico, and about 250 miles SW of Ensenada. (See Biology and conservation of Xantus's Murrelet in Marine Ornithology. 2006. Carter et al.).

In 1939 Green and Arnold described two forms of Xantus's Murrelets, including one breeding on Anacapa Island, California. They named the type specimen for Robert P. Scripps, on whose yacht they traveled to visit Anacapa. The Scripps family made their fortune in the newspaper industry in the Midwest, and most retired to San Diego. In 1903 E.W. Scripps and his older half sister, noted philanthropist Ellen Browning Scripps, provided funds to help create the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California.

Recent research has discovered that both the Guadalupe and Scripps's Murrelets breed on the San Benito Islands without significant interbreeding. They have different calls and different facial markings. And now they are considered separate species.

eBird and Troglodytes

Pacific Wren, Timber, Oregon, 22 November 2007 by Greg Gillson.

 

Back in July of 2010 the American Ornithologists' Union (A.O.U.) split the (formerly) holarctic Winter Wren into 3 species: Eurasian Wren (Troglodytes troglodytes), Winter Wren (T. hiemalis), and Pacific Wren (T. pacificus).

The genus name, Troglodytes means someone who lives in a cave--a caveman. It refers to the damp, dark, cave-like root wads and brushy tangles these birds favor.

Here in the Pacific Northwest we have the Pacific Wren. It is a resident bird in damp forests, but we get an influx of winter birds from the north. We have discussed this bird previously, including the possibility of this split, under the former name, Winter Wren.

You can look at a field guide range map and see the different populations in the East and West. However, what I want to show you is your contribution to the range maps. On the eBird site is an animated map of Winter Wren and Pacific Wren in the US.

As the map sweeps through the year, one week at a time, you can see the eastern Winter Wren migrate from the wintering range in the Southeast states to the summer range in just the northern tier of states.

In the West, however, the range of Pacific Wren expands in winter and contracts in summer, but doesn't show north/south migration.

This animated map is only possible because you (the common, everyday, ordinary, bird watcher--no offense intended) use eBird. That map was made with your sightings!


I mean, you do eBird, don't you?

Just as binoculars and field guide has defined a birder for the past 75 years, I believe eBird will define what it means to be a birder in the coming decades. Start now!

You don't want anyone to call you a troglodyte, now, do you?

---

It is my intention, as an eBird convert and champion, to present some ongoing articles on how to use eBird, especially how to get useful and interesting data out of eBird. One of the previous complaints about eBird was that it was (my own former words): "in only." They wanted my data, but didn't give me anything useful back. That has changed. I'll show you how.

See my previous post: What is eBird?