Date: 10/13/26 12:43 pm From: Nate Dias (via carolinabirds Mailing List) <carolinabirds...> Subject: Taxonomy unification Re: It's a Purple Swamphen
My understanding is that the emerging Avilist initiative is going to solve
the issue of taxanomic misalignment of the various world avian checklists /
authorities. So instead of Clements/AOS/IOC/Birdlife/etc. in future
eBird, Birds of the World and everyone will use the same unified taxonomy.
Supposedly there will be a system for people to propose taxonomic changes
for consideration by AviList’s teams of experts.
On Tuesday, October 13, 2026, Kent Fiala <carolinabirds...> wrote:
> If you upload photos of the Gray-headed Swamphen to the Carolina Bird Club
> photo gallery, please identify it as Purple Swamphen, not Gray-headed.
>
> Since the 1880s the American Ornithologists' Union (now reconstituted as
> American Ornithological Society) has been the authority for taxonomy of
> North American birds. From the early days of Carolina Bird Club up into the
> early years of this century, everyone in North America accepted their
> taxonomy. In this century, eBird has emerged using the Clements taxonomy,
> which is worldwide rather than just for North America. Many people use
> eBird so they are more familiar with Clements/eBird taxonomy than with AOS.
> This is one of a few unfortunate cases where Clements/eBird uses a
> different name than AOS uses.
>
> I have asked the chairs of both the NC and SC Bird Records Committees to
> make a formal decision on whether we continue the long tradition of using
> the AOS taxonomy, or to switch to Clements. Neither committee has responded
> to me, so on the CBC website I continued using AOS as always rather than
> make a big change on my own, and I've suggested to Jeff that he do so as
> well. Thus, on the CBC website this species is known by its AOS name,
> Purple Swamphen, and not the Clements name Gray-headed Swamphen. By the
> way, the reason for the difference is that worldwide, Clements splits the
> former Purple Swamphen into multiple species, while AOS retains them all as
> one species.
>
> I believe that the annual taxonomic update from AOS is expected this
> month, so it will be interesting to see if they make any further move
> toward unification.
>
> --
> Kent Fiala
>
>
"These days I prefer to hunt with a camera. A good photograph demands more
skill from the hunter, better nerves and more patience than the rifle
shot." -- Bror Blixen
