Which taxonomy? (3 Viewers)

[Mysticete]

And then there's the "best"of the lot: taxonomy in flux... Seriously, though, there will never be nor should there ever be one taxonomy. Ideally you'll not just tick the birds off but learn about them. So you'll appreciate Cassia crossbill whether or not you agree it's a species and you'll be aware of what makes it special.

While I love that website, I am leery of considering a taxonomic checklist created and run by only one individual and only in an online format to really count as any sort of "official" checklist.

 

[wolfbirder]

I keep my lists on BUBO, and you can choose your authority.
In Britain, the official BOU line follows IOC now, so most UK birders keep an IOC list. A minority (me included) also keep a UK400 list as its more based on morphology rather than DNA, I would say, but of course its not in any way authoritative. So Masked Wagtail does not come under the umbrella of White Wagtail there, for example, it is its own full species.

I also keep a World List using IOC, and a Western Palearctic (WP) List using IOC, though I see that most WP listers on BUBO still use AERC, rather than transferring across to IOC, for consistency.

 

[James Lowther]

I probably wouldn't follow Howard and Moore. Its more conservative, but partly that is due to simply not being updated yearly or multiple times a year. It doesn't mean it inherently chooses to lump rather than split, but just you will probably get major waves of splits all at once.

As a user I do think H&M is genuinely less "split-friendly" even allowing for the infrequent updates.
someone did a very interesting analysis of the four lists that shows various commonalities and differences. it would be nice to dig that out...
James

 

[raymie]

I follow Clement's, simply because it's what eBird uses.

 

[Nightjar61]

I’m probably a little obsessed but I keep three life lists: Clements/eBird, IOC, and a third list that includes any birds I’ve seen that are split by at least one authority (Clements, IOC, Taxonomy in Flux, and Handbook of the Birds of the World).

Dave