On June 11 2025 the first version of the AviList was formally launched. You can download the list from the AviList website here: The Checklist v2025.

AviList Core Team. 2025. AviList: The Global Avian Checklist, v2025. https://doi.org/10.2173/avilist.v2025

The list will be updated once a year.

The IOC bird list is hosted on a dedicated World Bird Names website. The list has most recently been updated twice a year, usually in January and July. The current version of the IOC bird list is v15.1, released February 28 2025.

My previous blog post dated July 19 2025 provided a summary of how AviList v2025 differs from IOC bird list v15.1. In that blog post only a detailed analysis at Order/Family level had been completed, although some indications of how species were being treated were also provided.

This blog post provides some lower level detail about the Non-Passerine species in AviList v2025 and highlights the differences from IOC bird list v15.1.

Here is a summary of the major amendments:

Possibly extinct species

The following 19 Non-Passerine species were marked as being extant (or possibly extant) in IOC v15.1 but are annotated as ‘possibly extinct’ in AviList v2025:

Perdicula Bush Quails  -1  [Manipur Bush Quail]

Gallicolumba Bleeding Hearts  -1  [Sulu Bleeding-heart]

Ptilinopus Fruit Doves  -1  [Negros Fruit Dove]

Mustelirallus Rails  -1  [Zapata Rail]

Gallirallus Rails  -1  [New Caledonian Rail]

Gallinula Woodhens  -1  [Makira Woodhen]

Numenius Curlews  -2  [Eskimo Curlew, Slender-billed Curlew]

Turnix Buttonquail  -1  [Buff-breasted Buttonquail]

Eurostopodus Nightjars  -1  [New Caledonian Nightjar]

Aegotheles Owlet-nightjars  -1  [New Caledonian Owlet-nightjar]

Eriocnemis Hummingbirds  -1  [Turquoise-throated Puffleg]

Glaucidium Pygmy Owls  -1  [Pernambuco Pygmy Owl]

Otus Scops Owls  -1  [Siau Scops Owl]

Chondrohierax Kites  -1  [Cuban Kite]

Ceyx Dwarf Kingfishers  -1  [Sangihe Dwarf Kingfisher]

Campephilus Woodpeckers  -2  [Ivory-billed, Imperial]

Vini Old World Lorikeets  -1  [Red-throated Lorikeet]

New to science

None

Splits

Piaya Squirrel Cuckoos  +1 species

Gygis White Terns  +2

Trogon Trogons  +1

Amazona New World Parrots  +1

Pyrrhura New World Parakeets  +2

Lumps

Oxyura Ducks  -1  [Andean Duck]

Anas Teals  -1  [‘American’ Green-winged Teal]

Tachybaptus Grebes  -1  [Tricolored Grebe]

Centropus Coucals  -1  [Kai Coucal]

Leptotila Doves  -1  [Azuero Dove]

Treron Green Pigeons  -1  [Ryukyu Green Pigeon]

Porphyrio Swamphens  -5
[African, Grey-headed, Black-backed, Philippine, Australasian]

Himantopus Stilts  -1  [White-backed Stilt]

Thalasseus Terns  -1  [Cabot’s Tern]

Thalassarche Albatrosses  -1  [Campbell Albatross]

Puffinus Shearwaters  -1  [Balearic Shearwater]

Pterodroma Petrels  -1  [Vanuatu Petrel]

Leucocarbo Shags  -6  [South Georgia, Crozet,
Antarctic, Kerguelen, Heard Island, Macquarie]

Egretta Egrets  -1  [Dimorphic Egret]

Apus Swifts  -4  [Salim Ali’s, Blyth’s, Cook’s, Fernando Po]

Aerodramus Swiflets  -1  [Marquesan Swiftlet]

Lampornis Hummingbirds  -1  [Grey-tailed Mountaingem]

Pampa Hummingbirds  -1  [Wedge-tailed Sabrewing]

Ramosomyia Hummingbirds  -1  [Cinnamon-sided Hummingbird]

Tyto Owls  -3  [Lesser Sooty, Moluccan Masked, Manus Masked]

Glaucidium Pygmy Owls  -3  [Northern, Baja, Guatemalan]

Otus Scops Owls  -2  [Torotoroka Scops Owl, Annobon Scops Owl]

Strix Owls  -1  [Maghreb Owl]

Accipiter Hawks  -3
[White-breasted, Plain-breasted, Rufous-thighed]

Milvus Kites  -1  [Yellow-billed Kite]

Buteo Buzzards  -1  [Cape Verde Buzzard]

Trachyphonus African Barbets  -1  [Usambiro Barbet]

Ramphastos Toucans  -1  [Citron-throated Toucan]

Pteroglossus Aracaris  -1  [Stripe-billed Aracari]

Aulacorhynchus Toucanets  -3
[Wagler’s, Blue-throated, Black-throated]

Picus Woodpeckers  -1  [Sumatran Woodpecker]

Campethera Woodpeckers  -1  [Little Spotted Woodpecker]

Colaptes Woodpeckers  -1  [Bronze-winged Woodpecker]

Pionus New World Parrots  -1  [White-capped Parrot]

Cyanoramphus Old World Parakeets  -1  [Reischek’s Parakeet]

Revision and resequencing of families

32 Non-Passerine families have a new or modified English name. The species in 40 families have been resequenced. 33 other families have been partially resequenced. For other revisions and an overview of how the sequencing of Non-Passerine Orders has changed, see my previous blog post of July 19 2025. Within some Non-Passerine Orders, there has also been a resequencing of families.

In AviList v2025 there are 4308 ‘known to be extant’ Non-Passerine species (net -68 vs. IOC v15.1) ascribed to 107 families.

The AviList will be used as the basis for 2026 editions of ATWB Companion Guides. Work has begun on the implementation of the extensive changes involved. Some 2026 editions will be released in late 2025, while others may be delayed to sometime during 2026.

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Some details …

Each of the ATWB 2026 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.

In future, the ‘All the World’s Birds’ series of Companion Guides will derive its taxonomy, English names and scientific names from The Global Avian Checklist (AviList), an open access resource maintained by the AviList Core Team. The AviList is hosted on The Global Avian Checklist website, which provides access to the list in two different formats.

The version of the AviList that will be used in the ‘All the World’s Birds 2026’ series of Companion Guides is v2025, formally launched on June 11 2025. Alongside the Checklist, the AviList Core Team has provided a register of corrections, v2025 errata, which can be found here. The corrections that are available at the time of publication will be incorporated into the ATWB 2026 series of Companion Guides.

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