[NatureNS] Re: Choice For Our 'National Bird' ...The Gray Jay

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From: Rick Whitman <dendroica.caerulescens@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 18 Nov 2016 14:20:51 -0400
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The science is relatively current, to 2012:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/221820269_High_latitudes_and_high_=
genetic_diversity_Phylogeography_of_a_widespread_boreal_bird_the_gray_jay_P=
erisoreus_canadensis

On 18 November 2016 at 13:19, Fred Schueler <bckcdb@istar.ca> wrote:

> On 11/18/2016 11:34 AM, Laviolette, Lance wrote:
>
> > Perisoreus canadensis canadensis, that's a lot of Canadian content
> packed into one bird. Inevitably a name had to be chosen for the species
> and Canada Jay could have been the name.  For the majority of Canadians,
> subspecies are not differentiated but if an English name was needed for P=
.
> c. canadensis subspecies then it could have been Gray Jay.
>
> > ...agree with Wayne. To paraphrase Frodo Baggins, the name was taken an=
d
> hidden away, never to be spoken of again. However, like that famous gold
> ring he was speaking of, Canada Jay keeps popping up again in the memory =
of
> Canadian birders.
>
> * well, under the rules necessary for the process of forming english name=
s
> for species the AOU couldn't elevate the subspecific 'Canada Jay' to be t=
he
> name of the species. For one simple example of the kind of trouble this
> would have caused (besides the confusion of whether species or subspecies
> was meant in a particular text), P. c. obscurus was the 'Oregon Jay' and
> making 'Canada Jay' the name for the whole species would have tied
> Oregonians' knickers in a knot - and you know how sensitive birders are
> about their knickers.
>
> What the species needs is a proper study to see if any of the so-called
> subspecies have any reality, or if they're just geographic variation in
> colour and size.
>
> ...and look at the parts of Canada where the Bird was never known as
> Canada Jay (from the wikipedia list of subspecies): northeastern British
> Columbia and northwestern Alberta southeastward, east of the Rocky
> Mountains to South Dakota; the Rainbow Mountains area, and headwaters of
> the Dean and Bella Coola Rivers of the central Coast Ranges, British
> Columbia; Anticosti Island, Quebec; southeastern British Columbia,
> southwestern Alberta; southwestern British Columbia and Vancouver Island
> south through central Washington; northern Quebec (Fort Chimo, Whale Rive=
r,
> and George River), throughout Labrador, and in southeastern Quebec.
> Thinking 'Canada Jay' was the name of the species all across Canada is a
> misremembering of what names were used for the subspecies.
>
> > Common names were rarely, if ever, universal so that fact that
> Wi-akajak, W=C3=ACsakedj=C3=A0k, W=C4=ABhsakec=C4=81hkw, Wiisagejaak, Ink=
tonme, Nanabozho,
> Whiskey Jack, Camp Robber, Gray Jay, Meat Bird, White-headed Jay, Oregon
> Jay and numerous others have been used to identify this species is not
> important to this discussion. What is important is that not only is Gray
> Jay a bland, non-inspiring choice of an English name for such a great bir=
d
> but in its current form it is spelled incorrectly for Canadian consumptio=
n.
>
> * I'm sure they spell 'colour' 'color' in the AOU Checklist. On the other
> hand, in grade 2 in Connecticut I was taught that grey/gray was the one
> case where there were alternative acceptable spellings for a word, but it
> seems 'grey' has gone down the tubes in the USA since then, or maybe it w=
as
> just a New England thing.
>
> > The French name has it right, M=C3=A9sangeai du Canada and it=E2=80=99s=
 time the
> English name moved out of the last century and into the present one.
>
> * I've worried about this for years, and have decided, since vernacular
> names should, if they're meant to be vernacular, be harvested rather than
> invented, to just use 'Whiskey Jack.'
>
> > There are few enough birds with Canada as part of their name but a whol=
e
> lot with American. I know it is SUPPOSED to stand for North American but =
I
> always imagine American (as in the United States of AMERICA) Ornithologis=
ts
> quietly laughing about it behind closed doors. Would bringing the number =
of
> birds with Canada in their name back up to the enormous total of three
> really be that much of a crime?
>
> * but the real preponderance is in the other direction, if you consider
> the scientific names, which is how we're supposed to reference species if
> we're to be understood. Vernacular names are really just a recreational
> aspect of the study of cultural traditions.
>
> fred.
> ------------------------------------------------------------
>           Frederick W. Schueler & Aleta Karstad
>            Fragile Inheritance Natural History
> Daily Paintings - http://karstaddailypaintings.blogspot.com/
> Vulnerable Watersheds - http://vulnerablewaters.blogspot.ca/
> Mudpuppy Night in Oxford Mills - http://pinicola.ca/mudpup1.htm
> 4 St-Lawrence Street Bishops Mills, RR#2 Oxford Station, Ontario K0G 1T0
>    on the Smiths Falls Limestone Plain 44* 52'N 75* 42'W
>     (613)258-3107 <bckcdb at istar.ca> http://pinicola.ca/
> ------------------------------------------------------------
>

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<div dir=3D"ltr">The science is relatively current, to 2012:<div><br></div>=
<div><a href=3D"https://www.researchgate.net/publication/221820269_High_lat=
itudes_and_high_genetic_diversity_Phylogeography_of_a_widespread_boreal_bir=
d_the_gray_jay_Perisoreus_canadensis">https://www.researchgate.net/publicat=
ion/221820269_High_latitudes_and_high_genetic_diversity_Phylogeography_of_a=
_widespread_boreal_bird_the_gray_jay_Perisoreus_canadensis</a><br></div></d=
iv><div class=3D"gmail_extra"><br><div class=3D"gmail_quote">On 18 November=
 2016 at 13:19, Fred Schueler <span dir=3D"ltr">&lt;<a href=3D"mailto:bckcd=
b@istar.ca" target=3D"_blank">bckcdb@istar.ca</a>&gt;</span> wrote:<br><blo=
ckquote class=3D"gmail_quote" style=3D"margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #c=
cc solid;padding-left:1ex">On 11/18/2016 11:34 AM, Laviolette, Lance wrote:=
<br>
<br>
&gt; Perisoreus canadensis canadensis, that&#39;s a lot of Canadian content=
 packed into one bird. Inevitably a name had to be chosen for the species a=
nd Canada Jay could have been the name.=C2=A0 For the majority of Canadians=
, subspecies are not differentiated but if an English name was needed for P=
. c. canadensis subspecies then it could have b