Date: 7/11/25 1:50 pm From: Edge Wade <1edgewade...> Subject: Coming your way: New World Bird Species List
"The only constant is change"
With that in mind, many of you may have heard there is a new "official"
taxonomic list of all the species of birds on earth. It is called AviList,
and will replace the current multiple lists used around the world by
different authorities.
The new taxonomic list will affect you if you keep a list of birds
and report to eBird. The new system will be implemented on eBird later
this year. Most of these changes will not affect North American lists, but
some certainly will.
Some of the world’s species will be lumped in AviList. That is, some
considered separate species in the system eBird has been using will now be
lumped into a single species; in other instances, some that were thought to
be subspecies will be considered separate, distinct species.
As an example, if you have birded only in North America, you may have seen
one or more Green Herons. Your list will still show Green Heron.
If you have birded in eastern Panama or South America, you may have seen a
close relative, but separate species, the Striated Heron. That will still
show as Striated Heron. But those two species have now been split into
four.
If you have birded in Asia, you may have Striated Heron on your list. In
the new AviList system, that bird you saw in India or China or Japan, etc.,
will become the Little Heron on your eBird list for places you birded in
Asia.
And, if you’re fortunate enough to have visited the Galapagos Islands, the
heron you saw there is recognized in Avilist as a separate species: Lava
Heron.
Some name changes will be seen for species we are familiar with—not as an
attempt to be politically correct, but as an attempt to standardize English
names. Be ready for Grey Plover—not a new species, but the species we’re
used to calling Black-bellied Plover that Europeans have called Grey Plover
for many centuries. Following the rules of taxonomic naming, the older
name prevails.
According to Cornell University based eBird:
The new list recognizes 11,131 bird species across 252 families, offering a
single, harmonized reference point for ornithologists, conservationists,
and birders around the world. “In trying to protect birds at a global
scale, it is important to ensure that everyone is talking the same language
and the data match,” says Marshall Iliff, an AviList team member and eBird
project leader at the Cornell Lab.
See and learn more about AviList, how it was developed, and even download
the new list:
