Clements 2024 checklist update (4 Viewers)

[raymie]

Preparing for Taxonomy Time: Changes to Cory's Shearwater - eBird

While most eBirders associate

ebird.org

 

[Mysticete]

The Cory's shearwater situation kind of reminds me of the Socal Storm Petrel situation I encountered a few weeks ago. Effectively the only surefire way of separating Townsend's and Leach's after the fact was by examining photos folks were taking and checking aspects of the rump and tail afterwards. Going to be the same thing now with a lot of East Coast pelagics for this pair of species I think.

 

[Jeff Hopkins]

The Cory's shearwater situation kind of reminds me of the Socal Storm Petrel situation I encountered a few weeks ago. Effectively the only surefire way of separating Townsend's and Leach's after the fact was by examining photos folks were taking and checking aspects of the rump and tail afterwards. Going to be the same thing now with a lot of East Coast pelagics for this pair of species I think.

Yep. That's actually been happening. In fact, that's how the Scopoli's on my list got there.

 

[Steve Lister]

Most of the now many British records of Scopoli's are of photographed birds but a few relate to birds seen closely on pelagic trips and there are a very few land-based observations. Cory's is by-far the commoner species here, with just small numbers of Scopoli's noticed in recent years.

 

[Mysticete]

Yep. That's actually been happening. In fact, that's how the Scopoli's on my list got there.

Unfortunately my last East Coast pelagic was before people were really scrutinizing Cory shearwaters. For all I know I have seen one, but never bothered to check

 

[michalb]

2024 Taxonomy Update—COMPLETE - eBird

The 2024 eBird Taxonomy Update will begin on 22 October. Big changes are already underway to Herring Gulls, House Wrens, and more as we prepare the eBird database for this year's revisions.

ebird.org

The full eBird Taxonomy Update is scheduled for 22 October.

 

[Markus Lagerqvist]

2024 Taxonomy Update—COMPLETE - eBird

The 2024 eBird Taxonomy Update will begin on 22 October. Big changes are already underway to Herring Gulls, House Wrens, and more as we prepare the eBird database for this year's revisions.

ebird.org

The full eBird Taxonomy Update is scheduled for 22 October.

"we are pleased to note that we expect the AviList checklist of world birds to be published in 2025 and we hope and expect the eBird/Clements checklist to follow that new list for taxonomy and scientific nomenclature going forward"

 

[jts1882]

So WGAC is now the AviList Committee.

I note they mention that "[r]epresentatives from eBird/Clements, BirdLife International, IOC, AOS-NACC, and SACC" are involved, confirming the divorce of SACC from the AOS.

 

[TicoTyler]

So WGAC is now the AviList Committee.

I note they mention that "[r]epresentatives from eBird/Clements, BirdLife International, IOC, AOS-NACC, and SACC" are involved, confirming the divorce of SACC from the AOS.

SACC is now affiliated with the IOU. Per their site:

SACC is now affiliated with the International Ornithologists’ Union as a regional committee working with the IOU’s Working Group Avian Checklists (WGAC), whose goal is to produce a global classification of birds.

 

[Mysticete]

AviList is definitely a bit easier to use than WGAC, which could literally mean anything.

 

[CorvusAtrox]

Hmmm, so I counted the numbers up between the number of splits/lumps in the preliminary doc and the ones they say are coming in the new eBird page. I'm assuming the two new species that got described since were Timor Nightjar and the extinct White Swamphen, lumps seem to match or be close but I counted ~122 species gained from splits on the previous one and apparently 141 coming, wonder what could have been added

 

[TicoTyler]

Hmmm, so I counted the numbers up between the number of splits/lumps in the preliminary doc and the ones they say are coming in the new eBird page. I'm assuming the two new species that got described since were Timor Nightjar and the extinct White Swamphen, lumps seem to match or be close but I counted ~122 species gained from splits on the previous one and apparently 141 coming, wonder what could have been added

I don't think the Common Cicadabird split was in the preliminary document and that's 13 species.

 

[CorvusAtrox]

Oh I see it in there but it was 8 species back then, it seems like some of them like North and South Moluccan Cicadabirds were decided on after

 

[Paul Clapham]

AviList is definitely a bit easier to use than WGAC, which could literally mean anything.

The name is a clear reference to Avibase, so perhaps it will be hosted there.

 

[Mysticete]

My understanding was that a new website would be produced to house it. That seems the most straightforward approach

 

[jts1882]

Denis Lepage of Avibase was mentioned as the person who would be running the database during the WGAC process. And you can already see that Avibase includes some WGAC version names in the list of names for species (along with Clements, IOC and other checklist version). I suspect Avibase was always going to be the back engine of the website, whether hosted on Avibase or at a new domain name.

 

[Maffong]

I hope there will be a website with a good interface that allows for quick and easy viewing of information concerning taxonomy and nomenclature. I always found the pages of avibase, worldbirdnames and others somewhat clumsy to use.

 

[TicoTyler]

I hope there will be a website with a good interface that allows for quick and easy viewing of information concerning taxonomy and nomenclature. I always found the pages of avibase, worldbirdnames and others somewhat clumsy to use.

That was my thought as well. Maybe I just need to use it more but I always find myself more confused than enlightened when I open AviBase.

 

[Paul Clapham]

While the "official" update is quite a few months off, a working google list is publicly. A lot of these have been made publicly known via IOC updates, but some of these updates I think are new, and many will effect ABA based birders.

Hope you got your Island Thrushes worked out, because that is split into 17 (!) species, which has got to be a recent record.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Iybsy3ZZ_B1_pYhGG8rNytY1aNvQo1ytLMfvoestRHc/edit?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR3bxjLOHfOP9v6bbrNMqYUbaAdLCDj2HAxnVUpi9G2k1XCySdJ7N8y9Ss0_aem_aVRBNYeX_HdjDDaI5FZGog&pli=1

I just downloaded that spreadsheet and went through it in considerable detail. There's a lot of changes there, as there usually are. But the Willow Ptarmigan/Red Grouse split is conspicuously missing. The comment text suggests it is meant to happen, but there's only one lumped species in the spreadsheet as of yesterday.

 

[gusasp]

I reckon the spreadsheet linked in the first post is a bit outdated, dated in June.