Greetings!
Free updates are now available for version 4 and version 5 (the Gold edition.) These free updates reflect recent taxonomic changes made by the American Ornithologist's Union.
To download these free updates, simply open your birding program, click the Help tab in the Menu bar [click eViewer on Mac computers] then click "Check for Updates." You may have to give your computer permission to download the files. Once it is downloaded, click Install. You will need an Internet connection to get these free updates.
After downloading the first set of files, open the program again and click "Check for Updates" a second time. Install these files as well. Now close the birding program and then reopen it. You should then be running version 4.1 or version 5.1. You can click Help and then click "About eField Guide Viewer" to see this version number and a copyright date of 2011. (The desktop icons will still say v4.0 or v5.0.) more>>
If you have an older version of our software such as version 2.5, 3.0, 3.1, 3.5 or 3.9 these free updates are not available. You may want to upgrade to version 4 or the Gold edition. Look for the 10% discount code at the bottom of this eNewsletter. |
| WHAT CHANGED ??? | |
 | | Common Gallinule |
AOU Taxonomic Changes in 2011
The Common Moorhen was split. Birds in Eurasia retain the name Common Moorhen while birds in North America are now called Common Gallinule and have a scientific name of Gallinula galeata. They were split based on differences in vocalization and bill and shield morphology as well as mitochondrial DNA studies.
Another big change is in the scientific names of the wood-warblers. Most had their genus name changed. Setophaga replaces Dendroica, for example. When sorted in taxonomic order you will find that many wood-warblers have been moved around.
In addition, Snowy Plover has a new species name. For those with the Gold edition, some of the rare asian birds are now placed in the family Muscicapidae and the sort order has been rearranged. Here is a link to the 2011 report from the AOU detailing all changes made this year.
(By the way, we also made it easier to see the bird's name when running a Flash Card quiz.) |
