Latest IOC Diary Updates (18 Viewers)

[Bowerbirder]

Why is something that'll probably need to be answered whenever the IOC gives their reasonings but this Should be the list of what things get lumped into that haven't been listed yet based on other checklist, listing by common names in IOC:

IOC ONLY (recognized today by IOC, but not HBW/BLI nor eBird/Clements, lumped in Avilist)
Wedge-tailed Sabrewing lumped with Curve-winged Sabrewing
Tricolored Grebe lumped with Little Grebe
Dimorphic Egret lumped with Little Egret
White-backed Stilt lumped with Black-necked Stilt
Cabot's Tern lumped with Sandwich Tern
White-breasted, Plain-breasted, and Rufous-thighed Hawk lumped with Sharp-shinned Hawk
Cape Verde Buzzard lumped with Long-legged Buzzard
Torotoroka Scops Owl lumped with Rainforest, maybe becoming Madagascar Scops Owl
Niau Kingfisher lumped with Mangareva, maybe becoming Tuamotu Kingfisher
Chilean Elaenia lumped with White-crested Elaenia
Coopman's Tyrannulet lumped with Golden-faced Tyrannulet
Loja Tyrannulet lumped with Peruvian Tyrannulet
Scarlet and Vermillion Flycatcher are getting lumped, might switch the common name for taxa
Huon Bowerbird with MacGregor's Bowerbird
Western Whistler with Australian Golden Whistler
Cinnamon-breasted Whistler with John's Whistler
Tagula Manucode with Glossy-mantled Manucode
Inca Jay with Green Jay
Indian Jungle and Eastern Jungle Crows with Large-billed Crow
Benguela Long-billed Lark with Karoo Long-billed Lark
Maghreb Lark with Crested Lark
Anjouan Brush Warbler with Malagasy Brush Warbler
Gray-backed and Green-backed Camaroptera
Sharpe's Greenbul with Yellow-streaked Greenbul
Kakamega Greenbul with Shelley's Greenbul
Somali, Dodson's, and Dark-capped Bulbul with Common Bulbul
Burmese Bushtit (and Black-browed Bushtit, also on HBW) lumped with Rufous-fronted Bushtit, not sure what'll come of eventual common name
Flores Leaf Warbler with Timor Leaf Warbler
Leaflitter and Glissando Babbler lumped with Mourning Babbler
Bornean Swamp Babbler with Malayan Swamp Babbler
Enggano Hill Myna lumped with Common Hill Myna
Mediterranean Flycatcher with Spotted Flycatcher
Madagascar Stonechat with African Stonechat
Ruaha Chat with Arnot's Chat
Basalt and Maghreb Wheatear with Mourning Wheatear
Striped Flowerpecker with Thick-billed Flowerpecker
Whyte's with Ludwig's Double-collared Sunbird
Royal with Red-headed Parrotfinch
Bonin with Oriental Greenfinch
Goldman's (and Audubon's Warbler also on HBW) with Myrtle Warbler
Tooth-billed (and Hepatic, also on HBW) with Red Tanager
Lemon-rumped Tanager with Flame-rumped Tanager

IOC+HBW/BLI ONLY (recognized today by IOC and HBW/BLI not eBird/Clements, lumped in Avilist)
Green-winged Teal lumped with Eurasian Teal
Fernando Po with African Black Swift
Grey-tailed with White-throated Mountaingem
Cinnamon-sided with Green-fronted Hummingbird
Kai Coucal with Pheasant Coucal
Ryukyu Green Pigeon with Taiwan Green Pigeon
Campbell with Black-browed Albatross
Yellow-billed with Black Kite
Lesser Sooty Owl with Greater Sooty Owl
Northern, Guatemalan, and Baja Pygmy Owl with Mountain Pygmy Owl
Annobon with African Scops Owl
Usambiro Barbet with D'Arnaud's Barbet
Wagler's and Blue-throated Toucanet with Emerald Toucanet
Black-throated Toucanet with White-throated Toucanet
Stripe-billed Aracari with... Probably Collared Aracari, not sure here
Citron-throated Toucan with Channel-billed Toucan
Little Spotted Woodpecker with Little Green Woodpecker
Bronze-winged with Golden-olive Woodpecker
Sumatran with Grey-headed Woodpecker
Cliff with Monk Parakeet (Depending on SACC?)
Palkachupa Cotinga with Swallow-tailed Cotinga
Yellow-cheeked with Green-backed Becard
Silvery-flanked Antwren with White-flanked Antwren
Biak Fantail with Northern Fantail
Brown-tailed with Yellow-breasted Apalis
Black-fronted with Green-fronted White-eye
Oya Tabu with Capped White-eye
Violet-hooded Starling with Metallic Starling
Australian with (Sunda) Zebra Finch
Chinese Long-tailed Rosefinch with Siberian Long-tailed Rosefinch
Sooty, Thick-billed, and Slate-colored Fox Sparrow with Red Fox Sparrow
Merida with Moustached Brushfinch
Chiriqui Yellowthroat with Olive-crowned Yellowthroat
Roraiman Warbler with Two-banded Warbler
Yellow-tufted with Black-faced Dacnis (depending on SACC?)
White-browed with Black-capped Hemispingus

IOC+CLE (recognized today by IOC and eBird/clements, not by HBW/BLI, lumped in Avilist)
Heard Island, Crozet, Macquarie, Antarctic, South Georgia, and Kerguelen Shag lumped with Imperial Shag
Moluccan and Manus Masked Owl lumped with Australasian Masked Owl
Black-capped, Huon, Northern, and Arfak Catbird lumped with Black-eared Catbird
Sepik-Ramu, Rufous, Tagula, Mamberano, and Waigeo Shrikethrushes with Arafura Shrikethrush
Willard's Sooty Boubou with Mountain Sooty Boubou

With the Philippine Jungle Crow, I suspect Large-billed Crow isn't staying lumped like that in the future, I think eBird 2024 Taxonomy update even said to expect splits there in the future but that was the most obvious one for now but yeah

"Cinnamon-breasted Whistler with John's Whistler"? Cinnamon-breasted Whistler is Pachycephala johni. Do you mean it will be lumped with the Drab Whistler P. griseonota?

 

[CorvusAtrox]

Yeah whoops, I didn't double check some of these when I was translating to common names ^^; Thanks for that

 

[Jim LeNomenclatoriste]

Todiramphus gertrudae

The full genus Todiramphus needs to be revised with many lump mainly based on McCullough & al (2024). Phylogenomics of a genus of ‘Great Speciators’ reveals rampant incomplete lineage sorting, gene flow, and mitochondrial capture in island systems

 

[l_raty]

[...] until that diversity actually interferes with things like conservation status assessments [...]

I do not think it is very wise to base conservation entirely on one subjective interpretation of the reality, when other interpretations are known to be possible.

 

[gusasp]

Dec 19 Re-lump White-bellied Whipbird with Black-throated [Western] Whipbird.

 

[kweetal]

Dec 20 Lump Madagascar Stonechat with African Stonechat.

"Madagascar Stonechat Saxicola sibilla (including tsaratananae and ankaratrae) is lumped with African Stonechat Saxicola torquatus (Safford & Hawkins 2013; Dickinson & Christidis 2014; WGAC 170) supported by strong plumage similarity to some of the African Stonechat subspecies (e.g. axillaris) despite mtDNA divergence demonstrated in Woog et al. (2008)."

 

[edenwatcher]

I'm hoping that e.g. iGoTerra will offer the chance to opt out of taxonomic updates rather than automatically updating. These lumps are so inconsistent.

Rob

 

[Jim LeNomenclatoriste]

Dec 20 Lump Madagascar Stonechat with African Stonechat.

"Madagascar Stonechat Saxicola sibilla (including tsaratananae and ankaratrae) is lumped with African Stonechat Saxicola torquatus (Safford & Hawkins 2013; Dickinson & Christidis 2014; WGAC 170) supported by strong plumage similarity to some of the African Stonechat subspecies (e.g. axillaris) despite mtDNA divergence demonstrated in Woog et al. (2008)."

This would mean that they would have to include tectes in torquatus to avoid paraphyly. The best option is to consider tectes as a subspecies of sibilla while keeping sibilla as a species.

 

[opisska]

I have...mixed feelings...about whether multiple checklists are always good.

I absolutely believe that as far as taxonomy goes, its important that at least Birdlife, Clements/ebird, inaturalist, and similar public data projects should have a common checklist and agree on specific/subspecific taxonomy. Because if everyone uses something unique, it makes the data harder to use for researchers and those performing conservation assessments. There are real world impacts on data quality

I'm less bothered by IOC...from a stateside approach, I think the only major source of bird information that uses IOC that I regularly check is wikipedia. from a birding perspective, multiple checklists might cause some confusion with different names/concepts used by different field guides (which is impossible to avoid anyway, as a field guide is almost always out of date anyway after a few years due to changes in classification) and list totals, the latter not being important at all.

Basically I think a diversity of viewpoints is good, until that diversity actually interferes with things like conservation status assessments or data quality from sources like ebird or iNaturalist. I would have been perfectly fine if IOC (alongside Howard and Moore which of course isn't directly part of the reconciliation), kept doing its own thing, and just birdlife and Clements/ebird reconciled taxonomies

That is probably the American experience. But in Europe, this is borderline absurd. Birdlife has its own list. The Czech Ornithological Society is a Birdlife partner, but its rarities committee uses IOC. Meanwhile the birding community silently almost completely moved to eBird.

 

[Brian J Small]

Dec 20 Lump Madagascar Stonechat with African Stonechat.

"Madagascar Stonechat Saxicola sibilla (including tsaratananae and ankaratrae) is lumped with African Stonechat Saxicola torquatus (Safford & Hawkins 2013; Dickinson & Christidis 2014; WGAC 170) supported by strong plumage similarity to some of the African Stonechat subspecies (e.g. axillaris) despite mtDNA divergence demonstrated in Woog et al. (2008)."

I have always been interested in the fact that Madagascar Stonechat appears to have sexually dimorphic juvenile plumages - see male here ML626210559 - African Stonechat (Madagascar) - Macaulay Library

African Stonechat doesn't seem to...

Brian

 

[Jacana]

Bah humbug! That's another one of mine gone.

 

[Mysticete]

I'm hoping that e.g. iGoTerra will offer the chance to opt out of taxonomic updates rather than automatically updating. These lumps are so inconsistent.

Rob

Downside of opting out means you also wouldn't get any future taxonomic splits

 

[l_raty]

This would mean that they would have to include tectes in torquatus to avoid paraphyly.

Unless you can provide data that support this, I would not regard it as clearly established.
There is a lot of genetic structure in continental African Saxicola, and the distances between the continental populations (Tanzania+Kenya; South Africa; Nigeria; many taxa remain unsampled) are at least comparable to the distance between them and tectes or sibilla (or, rather, sibilla+voeltzkowi -- these two do not seem to differ in mtDNA).

 

[Jim LeNomenclatoriste]

Unless you can provide data that support this, I would not regard it as clearly established.
There is a lot of genetic structure in continental African Saxicola, and the distances between the continental populations (Tanzania+Kenya; South Africa; Nigeria; many taxa remain unsampled) are at least comparable to the distance between them and tectes or sibilla (or, rather, sibilla+voeltzkowi -- these two do not seem to differ in mtDNA).

I just looked the figure from Woog & al

 

[l_raty]

I just looked the figure from Woog & al

The support for this node is below 50%.

 

[Jim LeNomenclatoriste]

The support for this node is below 50%.

Have other studies included sibilla?

 

[Maffong]

This would mean that they would have to include tectes in torquatus to avoid paraphyly. The best option is to consider tectes as a subspecies of sibilla while keeping sibilla as a species.

As far as I understand it , in general paraphyly should not be a problem at species level only at genus level or higher.

 

[Jim LeNomenclatoriste]

As far as I understand it , in general paraphyly should not be a problem at species level only at genus level or higher.

I still recognise sibilla as species. I don't know what other people think 🤷

 

[sicklebill]

I'm hoping that e.g. iGoTerra will offer the chance to opt out of taxonomic updates rather than automatically updating. These lumps are so inconsistent.

Rob

I have requested they do not automatically update, and asked for an IOC 14.2 option to be there as I have no intention of being shoehorned into Avilist/Evilest. Sovereign listing beckons sadly, I will accept lumps I agree with like African hoopoe, but not the rest.

 

[Mysticete]

I have requested they do not automatically update, and asked for an IOC 14.2 option to be there as I have no intention of being shoehorned into Avilist/Evilest. Sovereign listing beckons sadly, I will accept lumps I agree with like African hoopoe, but not the rest.

I will probably do something similar, once I finish my checklist. Probably keep the present taxonomy I use frozen until then