Birds of New Spain Recorded by Mocino ca. 1800 Identified by Researchers

Least Bittern. Images courtesy of the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation. Used through news reporting fair use condition as given on terms of use page. Images have been cropped to reduce file size.

A detailed investigation of records for birds noted more than 200 years ago in New Spain indicate the importance of historic ornithology in determining the former occurrence of birds in different regions.

A group of international researchers studied records from the 1787-1803 Real Expedicion Botanica a Nueva Espana (Royal Botanical Expedition to New Spain), under commander Martin de Sesse. Jose Mariano Mocino was the scientist that joined the expedition in 1790.

Adolfo G. Navarro-Siguenza, of the Museo de Zoologia at the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, collaborated with A. Townsend Peterson of the Natural History Museum and Biodiversity Research Center at the University of Kansas at Lawrence, Miguel Angel Puig-Samper of the Instituto de Historia of the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas in Madrid, and Graciela Zamudio of the Laboratorio de Historia de la Biologia at UNAM, identified Mocino's efforts as a "stellar example of inventory and analysis of bird fauna" with "an impressive level of detail and scientific commentary," and "consistent and mostly complete" information," according to their recently published journal article.

"We definitely consider Mociño as the greatest Mexican ornithologist of his times, and one of the greatest of all times," Adolfo said.

"It was very rewarding to collaborate closely as ornithologists with personnel working on the history of biology at the Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales in Madrid that found the manuscripts and, as experts in the Sesse and Mociño expedition, invited us to do a deeper analysis of the ornithological results," Adolfo said. "Our ornithology groups at the Museo de Zoologia and University of Kansas have been interested in history of science, especially ornithology, for many years" and this study was a chance to contribute to a better understanding of the birds present more than two centuries ago, especially in southern North America.

Gray-necked Wood-Rail.

The primary reference works used included images of paintings previously published in other sources, and photocopies of the two volumes of the ornithological manuscripts preserved at the museum in Madrid, Spain.

"The greatest challenge was to put together the different pieces of evidence in the texts and paintings, all of which were dispersed among several institutions on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean," Navarro-Siguenza said. "Then, it was a challenge to accurately identify the species involved based on the original descriptions given in Latin."

The different species had been identified, and were named according to a variety of historic nomenclature. Mocino used sources such as the Systema Naturae of Carl Linnaeus and works by J.F. Gmelin. Many of the names matched the names used in later-era publications by William Swainson, William Bullock, Charles Lucien Bonaparte, for example.

One of the major tasks of the researchers was to update the historic scientific names to match those of currently accepted, modern nomenclature. The journal paper specifically notes how nomenclature was "unstable" during the late 1700s and early 1800s.

List of bird species determined for the Royal Botanical Expedition (Navarro-Siguenza et al., November 2007, Condor 109: 808-823). The 262 species recognized, are listed in modern taxonomic sequence. Numerous other bird types with vague description or unrecognizable nomenclature could not be identified to a modern equivalent.
• Black-bellied Whistling-Duck • Greater White-fronted Goose • Muscovy Duck • Gadwall • Blue-winged Teal • Green-winged Teal • White-winged Scoter • Plain Chachalaca • Crested Guan • Red Junglefowl • Wild Turkey • Scaled Quail • Elegant Quail • California Quail • Northern Bobwhite • Montezuma Quail • Least Grebe • Double-crested Cormorant • Anhinga • Magnificent Frigatebird • American Bittern • Least Bittern • Bare-throated Tiger-Heron • Great Blue Heron • Great Egret • Snowy Egret • Green Heron • Black-crowned Night-Heron • Yellow-crowned Night-Heron • Boat-billed Heron • Roseate Spoonbill • Wood Stork • Turkey Vulture • King Vulture • Osprey • Northern Harrier • Cooper's Hawk • Common Black-Hawk • Harris's Hawk • White-tailed Hawk • Red-tailed Hawk • Harpy Eagle • Crested Caracara • Laughing Falcon • American Kestrel • Merlin • Aplomado Falcon • Prairie Falcon • Virginia Rail • Sora • Common Moorhen • Sandhill Crane • Black-bellied Plover • Semipalmated Plover • Killdeer • Black-necked Stilt • American Avocet • Spotted Sandpiper • Willet • Upland Sandpiper • Least Sandpiper • Wilson's Snipe • Laughing Gull • Marbled Murrelet • Tufted Puffin • Rock Pigeon • Red-billed Pigeon • Band-tailed Pigeon • White-winged Dove • Mourning Dove • Inca Dove • Common Ground-Dove • Blue Ground-Dove	• Orange-fronted Parakeet • Military Macaw • Thick-billed Parrot • Barred Parakeet • White-fronted Parrot • Lilac-crowned Parrot • Red-lored Parrot • Yellow-headed Parrot • Squirrel Cuckoo • Yellow-billed Cuckoo • Lesser Ground-Cuckoo • Lesser Roadrunner • Greater Roadrunner • Groove-billed Ani • Great Horned Owl • Whip-poor-will • Canivet's Emerald • Broad-billed Hummingbird • White-eared Hummingbird • Berylline Hummingbird • Amethyst-throated Hummingbird • Blue-throated Hummingbird • Lucifer Hummingbird • Costa's Hummingbird • Rufous Hummingbird • Black-headed Trogon • Citreoline Trogon • Violaceous Trogon • Mountain Trogon • Elegant Trogon • Russet-crowned Motmot • Blue-crowned Motmot • Belted Kingfisher • Green Kingfisher • Emerald Toucanet • Collared Aracari • Keel-billed Toucan • Acorn Woodpecker • Black-cheeked Woodpecker • Golden-cheeked Woodpecker • Ladder-backed Woodpecker • Hairy Woodpecker • Strickland's Woodpecker • Smoky-brown Woodpecker • Golden-olive Woodpecker • Northern Flicker • White-striped Woodcreeper • Black Phoebe • Vermilion Flycatcher • Great Kiskadee • Social Flycatcher • Scissor-tailed Flycatcher • Fork-tailed Flycatcher • Masked Tityra • Loggerhead Shrike • Rufous-browed Peppershrike • Steller's Jay • White-throated Magpie-Jay • Green Jay • Brown Jay • Purplish-backed Jay • Azure-hooded Jay • Western Scrub-Jay • Mexican Jay • Common Raven • Horned Lark • Purple Martin • Gray-breasted Martin • Mangrove Swallow • Northern Rough-winged Swallow • Barn Swallow	• Mexican Chickadee • Bushtit • Brown Creeper • Band-backed Wren • Gray-barred Wren • Boucard’s Wren • Rock Wren • Canyon Wren • Bewick's Wren • Golden-crowned Kinglet • Black-tailed Gnatcatcher • Eastern Bluebird • Brown-backed Solitaire • Orange-billed Nightingale-Thrush • Clay-colored Robin • American Robin • Gray Catbird • Northern Mockingbird • Ocellated Thrasher • Curve-billed Thrasher • Blue Mockingbird • Gray Silky-flycatcher • Phainopepla • Nashville Warbler • Yellow Warbler • Yellow-throated Warbler • Black-and-white Warbler • Louisiana Waterthrush • Common Yellowthroat • Hooded Warbler • Wilson's Warbler • Red Warbler • Painted Redstart • Slate-throated Redstart • Yellow-breasted Chat • Red-breasted Chat • Hepatic Tanager • Western Tanager • Yellow-winged Tanager • White-collared Seedeater • Rufous-capped Brush-Finch • Spotted Towhee • Canyon Towhee • Stripe-headed Sparrow • Striped Sparrow • Chipping Sparrow • Black-chinned Sparrow • Yellow-eyed Junco • Black-headed Saltator • Black-faced Grosbeak • Crimson-collared Grosbeak • Northern Cardinal • Yellow Grosbeak • Black-headed Grosbeak • Blue Grosbeak • Indigo Bunting • Red-winged Blackbird • Yellow-headed Blackbird • Great-tailed Grackle • Slender-billed Grackle • Bronzed Cowbird • Black-cowled Oriole • Orchard Oriole • Streak-backed Oriole • Audubon’s Oriole • Yellow-winged Cacique • Yellow-throated Euphonia • House Finch • Red Crossbill • Lesser Goldfinch

The detailed analysis identified 78 of the paintings to a particular species of bird, with 242 species determined from the manuscripts. Overall, more than 260 species were identified.

Nearly fifty different locales are represented in the sites where a particular species was noted to occur. Most of the locales are in the area of modern Mexico, with a few from the coastal area of the northern Pacific Ocean near Monterey and Nootka Sound.

Sites with birds records as recorded during the Royal Botanical Expedition. These locales are based on a compilation of the records for the species listed in the published article, with the site designation based on locality information given for a particular species.
• Acaponeta • Acapulco • Acayucan • America • Amoles • Apatzingan • Cayenne • Coahuayana • Cuernavaca • Desierto de los Leones • Guadalajara • Gulf of Mexico • Huasteca • Huasutepeque • Huauchinango • Huehuetla	• Hueytlalpan • Lake Texcoco • Lake Tixtla • Los Tuxtlas • Malacatepec • Martinica • Mazatlan • Mexico • Mexico City • Monterey • Nootka Sound • Paramita • Puebla • Queretaro • San Agustin • San Angel	• San Blas • San Felipe del Obraje • San Nicolas • Santo Domingo • Sinaloa • Temascaltepec • Tepic • Tepic Lakes • Toluca • Tropical Mexico • Tulancingo • Uruapan • Valle de Mexico • Zacatlan • Zacatlan de la Manzanas • Zitacuaro

"This analysis fills a large gap on the knowledge of scientific ornithology in Mexico," Navarro-Siguenza said. "It also demonstrates the high level of scientific skills of naturalists of this epoch in New Spain and is a good glance at the impressive biodiversity of the region. And personally, this was a fascinating challenge, a kind of research done just because it is outstandingly fun."

Tri-colored Heron.

In addition to documenting the occurrence of many species in historic Mexico, the records also indicate variations in distribution when site records by Mocino are compared to modern range of a species. Changes were especially notable for the Double-crested Cormorant, Anhinga, Sandhill Crane, Boat-billed Heron, and Slender-billed Grackle. The species occurred in areas where they are no longer present.

Navarro-Siguenza further emphasized the importance of natural history chronicles from this expedition: "Mariano Mociño has been 'venerated' as a major contributor to the botany of Mesoamerica. After this research, we are almost sure that his heart was more closely related to ornithology, and were surprised about the detail and care of his ornithological contributions. It is sad that the work was never published in the 1800s, otherwise nomenclature of North American birds would be really different."

If Mocino's findings had been published soon after the expedition returned from New Spain, the scientific names for many of the species he observed would be based on the names he would have designated, since his citation would have been the first in the historic record. Modern nomenclature is typically derived from the genus and species name given in a published work by the initial observer of a particular species.

"The history of ornithology is important for the history of the science in general, given that many general thoughts in biology - biogeography, conservation, systematics, evolution and ecology - have been based in the study of birds," Navarro-Siguenza said.

"As museum people, we are really aware of the importance of recovering historical information and we hope more people can get involved in this kind of analyses. We have learned through the years that birds are one of the best studied groups at the beginning of any natural history survey in the ancient times in every part of the world, so comparing bird distribution from different periods in time can give a hint on changes of biodiversity in any region.

"Through these records we witness environmental changes, populations health, and geographic structure of faunas. But besides that, we use those records as base data for developing many research projects on avifaunas, including future projections of bird diversity as a result of climate change, emergent diseases" and other factors which influence the distribution of bird species.

"For several years my research group, and others we have worked with in the U.S.A. and Europe especially the University of Kansas and the Natural History Museum in Britain, have stressed the value of scientific collections and historical records as a source of information valuable for conservation, biogeography and systematics of birds and other taxa."