Joel Jorgensen | joel.jorgensen@nebraska.gov | 24 June 2019
The 2019 (fifty-ninth) Supplement to the American Ornithological Society’s (AOS) Check-list of North American Birds is out and available for download HERE. The supplement, which is published each summer, makes changes to the official checklist of birds used by just about everyone. In some years, the changes may be significant, such as the splitting or lumping of a species. This year, the changes are rather mild and we have already incorporated the changes into the Birds of Nebraska – Online.
Changes affecting Nebraska’s birds includes the splitting of White-winged Scoter into three species. However, the North American population retains the common name White-winged Scoter and the only noticeable difference is the scientific name, which changes Melanitta fusca to Melanitta deglandi. The other two “white-winged” scoter species, now called Velvet and Stejneger’s scoter, are found in Eurasia. The genus name of Nashville, Tennessee, Orange-crowned and Virginia’s Warbler is changed from Oreothlypis to Leiothlypis as a result of a split of one genus into two. The warbler species remaining in Oreothlypis are Neotropical species. Common Ground-Dove has lost its hyphen and is now Common Ground Dove. Finally, the order of the Charadrius plovers, swallows and sparrows (which includes towhees) has also changed and should confuse birders for a while (especially the new order of sparrows!).
