On January 25 2020 the International Ornithological Congress (IOC) released the latest version of its world bird list (V10.1):

Gill, F & D Donsker (Eds). 2020. IOC World Bird List (v 10.1). doi :  10.14344/IOC.ML.10.1.

The IOC bird list is hosted on a dedicated World Bird Names website, which provides access to the list in various different formats. The list is updated twice a year, in January and June.

The details of the changes in the v10.1 release can be found by clicking on the Updates tab on the IOC website. Here is a summary of the major amendments:

New to science

Myzomela Honeyeaters  +1 species  Alor Myzomela

Dicaeum Flowerpeckers  +1 species  Spectacled Flowerpecker

Splits

Lophornis Hummingbirds (Coquettes)  +1 species

Numenius Whimbrels  +1 species

Thalasseus Terns  +1 species

Glaucidium and Strix Owls  +2 species

Microptilotis Honeyeaters  +1 species

Prinia Prinias  +3

Phylloscopus Leaf Warblers  +2

Oenanthe Wheatears  +1

Lumps

Lophura Pheasants  -1  [Hoogerwerf’s Pheasant]

Deletions

Stachyridopsis Babblers  -1  [Deignan’s Babbler]

Revision and resequencing of families

The Pternistis genus in Family: Phasianidae – Pheasants & Allies has been revised and resequenced.

Within Order Charadriiformes, single species Family: Dromadidae – Crab-plover has been resequenced to precede Family: Glareolidae – Coursers, Pratincoles.

The Honeyeaters family Meliphagidae has been revised and resequenced.

The Oriolus genus in Family: Oriolidae – Figbirds, Orioles, Turnagra has been revised and resequenced.

The Poecile genus in Family: Paridae – Tits, Chickadees has been revised and resequenced.

In the IOC bird list there are now 10770 extant species (net +12) ascribed to 249 families.

The changes include:

a) the splitting of Whimbrel into:

274/1530    Eurasian Whimbrel    Numenius phaeopus

274/153E    Hudsonian Whimbrel    Numenius hudsonicus
                  (Americas)

b) the splitting of:

286/164T    West African Crested Tern
                  Thalasseus albididorsalis    (w coast of Africa)

from:

286/1648    Royal Tern    Thalasseus maximus    (coasts of Americas)

c) the splitting of:

323/229T    Maghreb Owl    Strix mauritanica    (nw Africa)

from:

323/229Y    Tawny Owl    Strix aluco

d) the splitting of Black-eared Wheatear into:

907/835F    Western Black-eared Wheatear    Oenanthe hispanica
                  (breeds nw Africa, sw, western sc Europe)

907/835T    Eastern Black-eared Wheatear    Oenanthe melanoleuca
                  (breeds eastern sc, se Europe, se WP)

All the v10.1 changes will be reflected in the 2021 editions of the ATWB Companion Guides. These editions will be released commencing August 2020, after publication of the next version (v10.2) of the IOC bird list.

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Some details …

Each of the ATWB 2020 Companion Guides has a number of important features, including:

– A complete taxonomic listing of bird species

– An indication of where each bird family and species can be found in its native state

– Spotlighted species that have a restricted regional or worldwide range

However, perhaps the key feature of all eBooks in the Companion Guide series is the way you can quickly and simply access relevant, up to date online information about every featured bird species. If your reading device is connected to the internet, a single click will take you to a search results page for a species, from where you can continue to search for additional information to whatever level of detail you desire.

The ‘All the World’s Birds’ series of Companion Guides derives its taxonomy, English names and scientific names from The IOC World Bird List, an open access resource maintained by the International Ornithological Congress (IOC). The IOC bird list is hosted on a dedicated World Bird Names website, which provides access to the list in various different formats. The version of the IOC bird list used in the ‘All the World’s Birds 2020’ series of Companion Guides is Version 9.2, published June 22 2019.

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