Date: 10/28/26 8:49 am From: Bill Carrell <cyanocitta.tachopteryx...> Subject: Taxonomic Changes
Greetings All,
For those who know and those who don't, the AOU has announced some updates to taxonomy, if you are on Ebird they are beginning to show up this week. There are three that affect Oklahoma, here's what I've seen so far:
Willet is split into eastern (Saltmarsh) and western (Prairie) Willets. All records in Oklahoma are defaulting to Prairie. Marsh Wren is split into Eastern and Western. There is a zone in the central plains where either species could occur, and where they can only be safely identified by their song. As of today in my records, all of the panhandle is defaulting to Western, while those in Tulsa and Wagoner counties are showing up as Eastern. Records in Alfalfa county are defaulting to Eastern/Western. Not sure where the cutoff is for Eastern. The third is Great Egret. The new and old world egrets are being split, the new world version is reverting to an earlier name, American Egret. The scientific name is also changing to Ardea egretta. I haven't seen this change on Ebird yet. For me, it means a new lifer and a new state bird. Yay!
