Improving bird ID books

Perhaps you have noticed that the newest field guides to bird identification don't begin with loons, as such books have since Day One. In the new pair of photographic guides, "Birds of Eastern/Western North America" (Sterry and Small, Princeton University Press, 2009), you encounter geese first. This is because the books arrange bird species in taxonomic order (mostly), and now that order has been changed by the American Ornithologists' Union. Those folks are The Deciders. And what they decide is always subject to change. Taxonomy is a system based on descent of species from common ancestors, oldest coming first. It's a way to classify species based on factors such as DNA. And now geese have been determined to precede loons on the list. In the November 2009 issue of "Birding," the magazine of the American Birding Association, there is an article on how field guides are and could be arranged. The several authors of the piece suggest that all publishers agree on one order-of-species list and stick with it. This way, you'd always find loons where you expect to find them. Furthermore, they suggest a practical, not scientific, order for presentation: Group like bird species together. All swimming waterbirds would be one group, flying waterbirds another, larger landbirds and aerial landbirds two more groupings. This system, for example, would group tanagers with orioles, not presently done but a good idea since the birds to some degree resemble each other. Trying to figure out which tanager or oriole you are watching with the Sibley guide at hand you will be flipping back and forth between pages 464 and 519. A more convenient order sounds like a good idea to me. But, if you're in the market for a new field guide, don't wait for that change.