How to Split the Winter Wren and Whip-poor-will

If you have FEW Winter Wren sighting records --- a dozen or two or three. (Highlight Winter Wren, click the List button or press F11)

* Switch to World mode
* Find "winter wren" or type /wiwr
* Click Edit | Edit species name
* Leave the English name as "Winter Wren"
* For the Latin name, enter "Troglodytes hiemalis" and click OK

* Click Edit | Add Species ***
* For the English name, enter "Pacific Wren
* For the Latin name, enter "Troglodytes pacificus" and click OK

* With focus on the Pacific Wren, click Edit | Add Species ***
* For the English name, enter "Eurasian Wren"
* For the Latin name, enter "Troglodytes troglodytes" and click OK

Then, with the new Pacific Wren highlighted, click the StateCL (or Range | States) button and Add the following states to its state checklist status (The quickest method is to block and copy and then paste the following groups of up to 6 state entries into the Add dialog -- which takes 6 states at a time).

The next time you start AviSys, select Utilities | Rebuild Sighting File Indexes.

These actions will place the new Pacific Wren in the ABA North America Checklist, and the correct state checklists, the ~SECOND~ time you restart AviSys.

IMPORTANT: For each data set you update, delete all state checklists from your Checklist menu and re-add them. (Remember, the Checklist menu is a cache of checklists reflecting the status at the time you add the location to the menu.) You may also need to update any county checklists, and the like, that you have personally created and, assumably, backed up.

All the original subspecies names will stay with the original wren entry, the one you just re-named, until the next Clements Taxonomy update, later this year. The subspecies list cannot be edited.
Utilities | Create World Band Code Files will update the World band codes. The NA band codes will not be updated to include the Pacific Wren --- if you wish, you can edit BANDCODE.AVI in Notepad.

Finally:

List all your Winter Wren sighting records (Highlight Winter Wren, click the List button or press F11), and Edit all records that should be reassigned to Pacific Wren or Eurasian Wren. See the AviSys User's Guide, Chapter 4, Listing Sighting Records | Editing a Sighting Record (page 92 in Version 6). Pay particular attention to the paragraph, Mass Edits -- Down-Arrow + Enter is the really rapid way to do edits. Also, see the special section, Editing Sighting Records, below.

Now you are done.

*** Note: typically there are two empty spaces between any two species in the list. It's possible, however, that you may run out of room between species and get a message stating so, as below. In that case, you will need to run Utilities | Renumber Master Checklist, which will reinsert two empty spaces between each species in the master list.

NOTE: All the original subspecies names will stay with the original Winter Wren entry until the next Clements Taxonomy update later this year. The subspecies list cannot be edited. Utilities | Create World Band Code Files will update the World band codes. The NA band codes will not be updated to include the Pacific Wren --- if you wish, you can edit BANDCODE.AVI in Notepad; see the User's Guide. If you are a user of the Nation Checklist Add-On, the nation checklists are NOT updated by this procedure. See the BirdArea manual for information on possible editing of data.

If you have MANY Winter Wren records

CONCEPT:

The approach here is to rename (if necessary) the single existing Winter Wren entry in the AviSys Master Checklist to the NEW wren species that represents the MAJORITY of your "Winter Wren" sighting records. This minimizes the amount of work you have to do editing individual sighting records to reassign wren sightings to the correct species.

This could involve, if you live in the US or Canada northwest, for example, renaming the existing "Winter Wren" to "Pacific Wren" and then adding to the AviSys Master Checklist list "Winter Wren" and "Eurasian Wren." At this point, all your sightings will be assigned to the new "Pacific Wren." You will then edit any of those records to reassign them to the new "Winter Wren" and "Eurasian Wren" as necessary.

The ranges we mention below are rough approximations and do not account for vagrants --- definitive information for the two NA species is not yet available. Check whichever range maps and identification information you prefer. Also, after you do the species adds, the species sequence will likely be incorrect, which has no functional impact. The upcoming Clements 2010 Taxonomy Update, free from our web site in the fourth quarter, will correct the sequence.

PROCESS:

(This looks a little dense, but remember that you have to do only one third of the stuff below. This takes only a few minutes.)

. . . EITHER . . .

If MOST of your current Winter Wren sightings are of the eastern/interior (Winter) form (NOT from Washington, Idaho, Oregon, western Montana, Alaska, BC, or California, etc.):

* Switch to World mode
* Find "winter wren" or type /wiwr
* Click Edit | Edit species name
* Leave the English name as "Winter Wren"
* For the Latin name, enter "Troglodytes hiemalis" and click OK

* Click Edit | Add Species ***
* For the English name, enter "Pacific Wren
* For the Latin name, enter "Troglodytes pacificus" and click OK

* With focus on the Pacific Wren, click Edit | Add Species ***
* For the English name, enter "Eurasian Wren
* For the Latin name, enter "Troglodytes troglodytes" and click OK

All your current sightings will now be of Winter Wrens. After doing the state checklist update described below in "Finally . . . " list your Winter Wren records and do the record edit process to reassign any sightings that require it to Pacific Wren or Eurasian Wren.

. . . OR . . .

If MOST of your current Winter Wren sightings are of the Pacific coastal (Pacific Wren) form, for example in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Alaska, BC, western Montana, or California:

* Switch to World mode
* Find "winter wren" or type /wiwr
* Click Edit | Edit species name
* Change the English name to "Pacific Wren
* Change the Latin name to "Troglodytes pacificus" and click OK

* Click Edit | Add Species ***
* For the English name, enter "Winter Wren
* For the Latin name, enter "Troglodytes hiemalis" and click OK

* With the focus on Winter Wren, click Edit | Add Species ***
* For the English name, enter "Eurasian Wren
* For the Latin name, enter "Troglodytes troglodytes" and click OK

All your current sighting records now are assigned to Pacific Wren. After doing the state checklist update described below in "Finally . . . " list your Pacific Wren records and do the record edit process to reassign any sightings that require it to Winter Wren or Eurasian Wren.

. . . OR . . .

If MOST of your current Winter Wren sightings are of the Eurasian (Eurasian Wren) form:

* Switch to World mode
* Find "winter wren" or type /wiwr
* Click Edit | Edit species name
* Change the English name to "Eurasian Wren"
* Change the Latin name to "Troglodytes troglodytes" and click OK

* Click Edit | Add Species ***
* For the English name, enter "Winter Wren"
* For the Latin name, enter "Troglodytes hiemalis" and click OK

* With focus on the Winter Wren, click Edit | Add Species ***
* For the English name, enter "Pacific Wren"
* For the Latin name, enter "Troglodytes pacificus" and click OK

All your current sightings will now be of Eurasian Wrens. After doing the state checklist update described below in "Then . . . " list your Eurasian Wren records and do the record edit process to reassign any sightings that require it to the correct wren species.

*** Note: typically there are two empty spaces between any two species in the list. It's possible, however, that you may run out of room between species and get a message stating so, as below. In that case, you will need to run Utilities | Renumber Master Checklist, which will reinsert two empty spaces between each species in the list.

. . . BUT . . .

If one of the three situations above does not apply, pick one that appeals to you.

. . . FINALLY . . .

* When you have finished the above, highlight each North America wren in the Master Checklist and click the StateCL (or Range | States) button.
* Add and Delete states for each species as necessary to result in a distribution as follows: (Remember, in the dialog you can add or delete up to six states at a time, in the form /CA/WA/OR using the tables below.)
* For the Pacific Wren state checklist status (you can block/copy and then paste these 13 entries into the Add dialog, 6 at a time):

* For the Winter Wren state checklist status: all 63 continental states (you can Block (Triple-Click), Copy (Ctrl-C), and then paste (Ctrl-V) these entries into the Add dialog, each group of 6 at a time).

* THEN, if the new Eurasian Wren in the list has states in its state checklist status, delete all those states so that it does not show up in the ABA NA checklist or in NA mode. (Use the table above with the Delete button.)

These actions will place the new wrens in the ABA North America Checklist the ~SECOND~ time you restart AviSys.

IMPORTANT: For each data set you update, delete all state checklists from your Checklist menu and re-add them. (Remember, the Checklist menu is a cache of checklists reflecting the status at the time you add the location to the menu.) You may also need to update any county checklists, and the like, that you have personally created and, assumably, backed up.

NOTE: All the original subspecies names will stay with the original Winter Wren entry until the next Clements Taxonomy update later this year. The subspecies list cannot be edited. Utilities | Create World Band Code Files will update the World band codes. The NA band codes will not be updated to include the Pacific Wren --- if you wish, you can edit BANDCODE.AVI in Notepad; see the User's Guide. If you are a user of the Nation Checklist Add-On, the nation checklists are NOT updated by this procedure. See the BirdArea manual for information on possible editing of data.

Editing Sighting Records

(To List all the sighting records for a single species, highlight that species in the Master Checklist and click the List button or press F11. They will be listed in date sequence, which will usually also group them by trip/location.)

When listing sighting records, if you highlight a record and click the Edit button, the record is loaded into this edit dialog. What you do then is pretty straightforward -- just click the button for the element you want to change, and make the change with the dialog provided.

One exception is the Species edit: the NEW species must have been previously loaded into the Species Edit list while in the main screen by using Utils / Save Species for Edit or with Ctrl-F3. You can have up to eight species loaded for complex record edits to accomplish splits and lumps. This approach saves your searching all over the master list during editing tasks.

When you have made all the changes you wish, click Finished. To cancel the operation, click the red X Cancel button.

Look below for Mass and Complex Edit procedures:

Mass Edits -- The FAST WAY!

You can apply an edit to multiple records by performing the edit on the first record, as usual, and then simply double-clicking the other records to be edited, or highlighting them and pressing Enter. The first time you select a record after an edit, you are asked "Do you want to do mass edits?" to confirm that you really want to edit multiple records. After that, you just double-click as many records as you like. The edit operation is applied to each successive record exactly as it was to the first. (Actually, rather than double-clicking, with two hands you can use the Down-Arrow and Enter keys and quickly edit hundreds of records in seconds.)

If you have been doing mass edits and then want to change the edit operation, just use the Edit button again.

Complex Comment Edits

Automatic Text Additions: to automatically add a text string to all comments during an edit, clear the original comment in the edit window, and then enter a “+” (plus) followed by the text you wish to insert in all comments. For example, editing the comment field to say “+windy” (don’t enter the quote marks) will add “windy” to each comment, leaving all the other comment text intact. The new text is added immediately after any initial Attribute information. If the addition of text causes the new comment to be longer than 48 (Ver 4&5) or 80 characters, the comment is truncated at the end.

Automatic Text Deletions: to automatically delete a text string from all comments during a mass edit, clear the original comment in the edit window, and then enter a “-” (minus) followed by the text you wish to delete from all comments. For example, editing the comment field to say “-flugle” (don’t enter the quote marks) will delete the first instance of the text string “flugle” in all comments in edited records. All other text remains intact. The facility does not delete multiple instances of the same string. Be careful; the strings “fluglehorn” and “contraflugle” will be converted to “horn” and “contra”.

By the way, Attributes are simply text. They can be automatically inserted or deleted, too. "-/WC"

Complex Edit Example

Let’s assume you entered 25 sightings with a Site of Nisqually NWR and a date of 4/28/92. You had entered the Key Word “McAllister Creek” in each of the comments to identify the specific area of the NWR where the birds were found. Suddenly, you discover you had picked up the wrong set of field notes to enter those records! You had entered records that were actually from the north shore of Sinclair Inlet on 5/3/93.

Here’s what you do. Run a Sighting Record Listing with a Place of Nisqually NWR, and a date of 4/28/92. Now all the offending records are listed. Double-click the first bad record, or highlight it and click Edit. Select Place in the edit dialog, and select Sinclair Inlet from your Sites table. Select Date and enter 5/3/93. Select Comment and enter “-McAllister Creek +North Shore”. Click Finished. The Place and date are corrected, “McAllister Creek” is deleted from the comment, and “North Shore” is added. All other comment information, including quantity and attributes, is retained. Now double-click the next bad record and answer Yes to "Do you want to do mass edits?" The second record is corrected. You will receive no more prompts. As fast as you can double-click, or Down-Arrow and Enter, you can correct the remaining records.

The Whip-poor-will Split

Highlight Whip-poor-will in the AviSys master checklist, click Edit | Add Species, and add "Mexican Whip-poor-will" with the Latin name "Caprimulgus arizonae." With the new species highlighted, click StateCL (or Range | States) and Add the following states (you can block/copy and paste this list in the dialog): /AZ/CA/NV/NM/TX.

These actions will place the new species in the ABA North America Checklist the ~SECOND~ time you restart AviSys.

Then, change the English name of "Whip-poor-will" to "Eastern Whip-poor-will." (All your existing records will now reflect that new name.)

FINALLY, list all your "Eastern Whip-poor-will" records and edit those records that require reassignment to "Mexican Whip-poor-will." See Editing Sighting Records, above.

IMPORTANT: For each data set you update, delete all state checklists from your Checklist menu and re-add them. (Remember, the Checklist menu is a cache of checklists reflecting the status at the time you add the location to the menu.) You may also need to update any county checklists, and the like, that you have personally created and, assumably, backed up.

All the original subspecies names will stay with the original species entry, until the next Clements Taxonomy update, later this year. The subspecies list cannot be edited. Utilities | Create World Band Code Files will update the World band codes. The NA band codes will not be updated to include the Mexican Whip-poor-will --- if you wish, you can edit BANDCODE.AVI in Notepad; see the User's Guide. If you are a user of the Nation Checklist Add-On, the nation checklists are NOT updated by this procedure. See the BirdArea manual for information on possible editing of data.

WHICH BIRD DID I SEE?

The following range and identification information is from Tony White.

PACIFIC WREN AND WINTER WREN

The full extent of vagrancy of Winter and Pacific Wrens will require considerable long-term study.

Field Guides: Sibley’s Guide to Birds has the most complete discussion of the differences between the eastern and western forms of the old “Winter Wren”. (Hereafter “Winter Wren” in quotes refers to the species before the split.) These correspond to the new species of Pacific Wren and Winter Wren. Aleutian forms are subspecies of the Pacific Wren. The National Geographic Guide (Fourth Edition) has good illustrations and species account distinguishing between the two forms. Kaufman’s Birds of North America also separates the two forms, but the pictures are not as distinct and the text has fewer details. The picture of “Winter Wren” in the Peterson Field Guide to Western Birds (Third edition) is the same as the one in the Peterson Eastern Field Guide and should not be used to identify Pacific Wren.

Appearance: Pacific Wren has a darker back and browner breast than Winter Wren. Otherwise the appearance and behavior of the two species are similar. There are several good photos of Pacific Wren on the internet. Google Pacific Wren to find them.

Vocalizations:  Believe it or not, Pacific Wren’s songs are even more complex than those of the Winter Wren. Songs of the two species can be found on tracks 61 and 62 on the CD accompanying Donald Kroodsma’s The Singing Life of Birds.  The songs on the Stokes’ Field Guide to Bird Songs: Western Region disk 3, track 84 are from Pacific Wrens. According to Sibley and National Geographic the calls (not songs) of the Winter Wren resemble a Song Sparrow’s, and those of the Pacific Wren resemble a Wilson’s Warbler’s call. Songs and calls can also be found on the website xeno-canto.

Range: Any “Winter Wren” seen in summer time west of the Rockies is likely to be a Pacific Wren. In winter there is a possibility of migrant Winter Wrens. Breeding range and winter ranges east of the Rockies apply to the new Winter Wren.

EASTERN WHIP-POOR-WILL AND MEXICAN WHIP-POOR-WILL

Field Guides: Sibley and National Geographic have comparison pictures of tails of the males of the two species. Except for this feature it is very difficult to separate the two species by appearance in the field.

Vocalizations: The Mexican Whip-poor-will’s song can be readily distinguished from that of its eastern counterpart. Kaufmann describes it as “lower and rougher”. The National Geogaphic guide says it is “rough and burry… with strongest accent on the last syllable”. It can be heard on the Stokes’ Field Guide to Bird Song: Western Region, disk 2, track 88 and at the xeno-canto website.

Ranges: The breeding ranges of the two species are entirely separate. Any Whip-poor-will found in summer between West Texas and Southern California will almost certainly be a Mexican Whip-poor-will. In fall and winter, however, the Mexican species migrates south of the border, and there is the possibility of an Eastern Whip-poor-will. For example Arizona has an Eastern Whip-poor-will record from 4 November 1952.

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