By Christian Perez
Over the past few years many WBCP members have asked me if there was any plan for a Kennedy update (Kennedy is short for A Guide to the Birds of the Philippines, by Robert Kennedy et al, 2000). I don’t know of any plan for a revised edition of the Kennedy, but I thought that something simple could be done to help new birders who use the Kennedy as their main field guide and are sometimes confused with the latest updates. After the publication of the WBCP Checklist of Birds of the Philippines 2016 (the Checklist) I prepared the attached document entitled Kennedy Supplement 2016. Basically, it is the Checklist presented in the sequence of the Kennedy and grouped under the same plate numbers as in the Kennedy.
This Kennedy Supplement has three columns: (1) the English name as in the Checklist, (2) the scientific name as in the Checklist and (3) the corresponding English name in the Kennedy or information on the difference between the Checklist and the Kennedy. Species that have not changed are shown in black without any comment. Minor differences in names such as spelling and removal of the dash are not considered name changes and are not highlighted. Taxonomic changes and real name changes are highlighted in dark red. Species that were split into two or more species are listed in the place of the original species and also highlighted in dark red. New country records (and one newly described species) that were not listed in the Kennedy are highlighted in blue and shown at the bottom of the relevant plate, together with the date of the first record.
One concern of many WBCP members is the identification of split species as the Kennedy often does not help. For resident species that were split and therefore can be identified based on geographical range, the range of the new species is indicated in the Kennedy Supplement to allow identification in the field based on location. Only the main islands are listed. The small adjacent islands are omitted as those lists can be very long. For migrant species that were split, a reference is given to a guide for their identification in the field if available.
The attached Kennedy Supplement 2016 is in PDF format. WBCP members can contact me if they need a copy in Word or Excel format. As this is the first edition, I expect feedback and comments on how to improve on it in the next edition. If you have any suggestion for improvement or notice some inaccuracies, please do not hesitate to contact me.
I hope you will find this supplement useful and wish you happy birding with it.
You can download the supplement as a PDF file here: Kennedy Supplement 2016
- All the species listed in the WBCP Checklist of Birds of the Philippines 2016 are shown in the sequence and pagination of “A Guide to the Birds of the Philippines”, by Kennedy et al, 2000, grouped by plate number
- Species that have not changed are shown in black without any comment.
- Minor differences such as spelling and removal of the dash are not considered name changes and are not highlighted
- Taxonomic changes and name changes are highlighted in dark red
- Species that were split into two or more species are listed in the place of the original species
- New country records (and one newly described species) are highlighted in blue and shown at the bottom of the relevant plate
- For resident split species, the range of the new species is indicated (usually the main islands only) to allow identification in the field based on location
- For migrant split species, a reference is given when possible to a guide for identification in the field
