BUBO Listing News

We have just updated BUBO Listing to include the Clements updates from December 2009.

The number of updates was very large (one of the reasons it's taken us a while to implement them in BUBO!) Many changes referred to minor changes to English and/or scientific names. More significantly, there have been many changes to the family-level taxonomy of the passerines. Many new families have been created, and many species have been switched between families, almost all as a result of new discoveries from molecular biology. Simultaneously, the ordering of the families and species has seen major changes.

Note that this has been a complex procedure so please let us know ASAP if you see anything clearly wrong (e.g. a bulbul amongst the penguins - the taxonomic changes are often radical, but not that wacky!)

Of interest to many listers, there have also been a number of splits and lumps. Actually, the only real lumping is of Merida and Lara Tapaculos into a single species. In addition, Narosky's Seedeater is now considered only a colour morph of Marsh Seedeater, and Mascarene Shearwater is now included within the new grouping of small shearwaters known as Tropical Shearwater.

On the other hand, splits have been announced of {number of new species in brackets}:

Speckled Teal (2), Shy Albatross (3), Tahiti Petrel (2), Little Shearwater (3), Audubon's Shearwater (2), Band-rumped Storm-petrel (3), Subantarctic Snipe (3), New Zealand Pigeon (3), Red-fronted Parakeet (2), Black-tailed Trogon (2), White-tailed Trogon (2), Violaceous Trogon (2), Scale-throated Earthcreeper (2), Red-eyed Thornbird (2), White-eyed Foliage-gleaner (2), Ruddy Foliage-gleaner (2), Greenish Warbler (2), Madagascar Brush-warbler (2), Red-flanked Bluetail (2), Littoral Rock-thrush (2), Dark-throated Thrush (2), Dusky Thrush (2), Spectacled Thrush (2), Blue-winged Leafbird (3), Golden-fronted Leafbird (2), Warbler Finch (2) and Common Redpoll (2).

[Note that a few of these splits will not appear as available to listers as they involve extinct forms]

For further details about how to update your Clements based lists, see how taxonomic updates are handled in BUBO Listing.