Jon.Bryant
Well-known member
Just looking at Avibase and in (some?) species drop down's they have 'Working Group of Avian Checklists, version 0.01, v.0' and '... version 0.02, v.0'
Has WGAC published anything yet (apart from the update on their website), or does the administrator of Avibase have an inside track to work in progress?
I know that IOC and Clements have been working to align and adopt the WGAC 'agreed' taxonomy, but I think it would be wrong if Avibase has assume that all recent changed and alignments in IOC and Clements, indicate full and final WGAC 'approval'. I understand that there are voting rounds and that agreements can be 'overturned' and revisited - hopefully the WGAC has some process for this, and some timescales for revisiting a decision, so that there can be eventually be a final decision leading to a published list (or an end point for other taxonomies to converge on).
As I have stated in previous posts, BirdLife will be slow to implement the WGAC (and may choose not to - which would be a shame), so the update to their taxonomy (in December) may not shine much light on progress of the WGAC.
I note that you cannot currently create checklists in Avibase using the WGAC taxonomy, so perhaps this implies that the Avibase WGAC list it is not a full list, but a work in progress. Also the version number V.0 may also imply that it is not an official release.
A shame that the WGAC website now hasn't been updated for 16 months - I know it is volunteer work, but it would be nice to have an idea on progress. I really hope that the project is alive and kicking and can be expected to deliver in the next few years. I hope that it wasn't a nice idea during Covid lockdown, which is now stumbling, given that life is back to normal and the volunteers busy.
Has WGAC published anything yet (apart from the update on their website), or does the administrator of Avibase have an inside track to work in progress?
I know that IOC and Clements have been working to align and adopt the WGAC 'agreed' taxonomy, but I think it would be wrong if Avibase has assume that all recent changed and alignments in IOC and Clements, indicate full and final WGAC 'approval'. I understand that there are voting rounds and that agreements can be 'overturned' and revisited - hopefully the WGAC has some process for this, and some timescales for revisiting a decision, so that there can be eventually be a final decision leading to a published list (or an end point for other taxonomies to converge on).
As I have stated in previous posts, BirdLife will be slow to implement the WGAC (and may choose not to - which would be a shame), so the update to their taxonomy (in December) may not shine much light on progress of the WGAC.
I note that you cannot currently create checklists in Avibase using the WGAC taxonomy, so perhaps this implies that the Avibase WGAC list it is not a full list, but a work in progress. Also the version number V.0 may also imply that it is not an official release.
A shame that the WGAC website now hasn't been updated for 16 months - I know it is volunteer work, but it would be nice to have an idea on progress. I really hope that the project is alive and kicking and can be expected to deliver in the next few years. I hope that it wasn't a nice idea during Covid lockdown, which is now stumbling, given that life is back to normal and the volunteers busy.