Scythebill 15.4 - the eBird/Clements 2021 taxonomy is now available!

Scythebill 15.4 is now available with the eBird/Clements 2021 taxonomy.  As always, download here, and let me know if you have any problems, either on Facebook or by email.

 eBird/Clements 2021

It's been two years since eBird has been able to update their taxonomy, and accordingly - this is is a big one!  There's 70 different splits from around the world (and 8 lumps), and one of those 70 is a whopping 13-way split of Rufous Antpitta!  There's even 11 species new to science!

As always, Scythebill works hard to make this as easy a process as possible, using updated country checklists to simplify the choices as much as possible - and sometimes doing all the work for you.

Some of the splits likely affect a lot of birders. To name just a few:

• Northern hemisphere birders probably have seen Mew Gull;  that is now Short-billed Gull and Common Gull.  If you're in Europe or Asia, it's overwhelmingly likely that you've seen Common Gull.  If you're in the western part of North America, those are (almost) all Short-billed Gulls.  Somewhere in-between?  It's a hard ID problem!
• In Asia, Siberian Stonechat is now split to Siberian and Amur Stonechat.  This is another hard identification problem, though Amur is largely restricted to easternmost Asia, but in Southeast Asia this gets complicated!  And if you saw a vagrant, and no one thought to collect DNA samples, you might need to live with it as a Siberian/Amur Stonechat "sp."
• Elsewhere in the Palearctic, Subalpine Warbler, Black-eared Wheatear, and Lesser Short-toed Lark have each been split in two, mostly west vs. east, though again vagrant records are a challenge.

But there's so much more - visit the eBird site to get the full description, or skim the Appendix down below for a quick form of the list.

And after you've updated, visit the Splits and lumps report in "Special reports" to see a recap of everything that happened affecting your list.  (I gained 24, and lost 3.  Not bad for a pandemic year when I haven't made it more than 100 kilometers from home!)

Other changes

It's only been six weeks since the last release (when IOC 11.1 was released), so there hasn't been much time to get in other changes alongside the big taxonomic update, but here's a few changes that are worth noting:

• eBird also changed their date format in downloaded checklists, which broke import - that's been fixed.
• eBird locations with lat-long in their name are now handled more consistently (with the lat-long automatically extracted from their name)
• Wildlife Recorder imports now will use either IOC or eBird/Clements depending on the current bird taxonomy, instead of just assuming the imports are always eBird/Clements.
• Scythebill will tell you, on an import, what birds are new for your year list, but it used to so oddly when importing records from years other than the current one.  Now it always reports based on the current year.

Appendix - the whole list

Splits:

1. Variable Chachalaca->Variable/Chestnut-headed Chachalaca
2. Dusky-legged Guan->Dusky-legged/Yungas Guan
3. Crested Argus->Vietnamese/Malayan Crested Argus
4. Vaux's Swift->Vaux's/Ashy-tailed Swift
5. African Palm-Swift->African/Malagasy Palm-Swift
6. Festive Coquette->Butterfly/Festive Coquette
7. Broad-billed Hummingbird->Broad-billed/Turquoise-crowned Hummingbird
8. Gray-breasted Sabrewing->Gray-breasted/Diamantina Sabrewing
9. Kentish Plover->Kentish/White-faced Plover
10. South American Snipe->Paraguayan/Magellanic Snipe
11. Mew Gull->Common/Short-billed Gull
12. Royal Tern->Royal/West African Crested Tern
13. Eurasian Scops-Owl->Eurasian/Cyprus Scops-Owl
14. Spotted Eagle-Owl->Arabian/Spotted Eagle-Owl
15. Collared Owlet->Collared/Sunda Owlet
16. Tawny Owl->Tawny/Maghreb Owl
17. Barred Owl->Barred/Cinereous Owl
18. Southern Boobook->Southern/Rote/Timor/Alor Boobook
19. Hantu Boobook->Seram/Buru Boobook
20. Yellow-and-green Lorikeet->Yellow-cheeked/Sula Lorikeet
21. Blue-winged Parrotlet->Turquoise-winged/Riparian/Cobalt-rumped Parrotlet
22. Elegant Pitta->Ornate/Elegant/Banda Sea Pitta
23. Rufous-winged Antwren->Rusty-winged/Rufous-margined Antwren
24. White-backed Fire-eye->Western/Tapajos/East Amazonian Fire-eye
25. Rufous Antpitta->Sierra Nevada/Perija/Muisca/Urubamba/Puno/Bolivian/Chami/Equatorial/Cajamarca/Chachapoyas/Panao/Junin Antpitta
26. Chestnut Antpitta->Oxapampa/Ayacucho/Chestnut Antpitta
27. Paramo Tapaculo->Loja/Paramo Tapaculo
28. Blackish Tapaculo->Utcubamba/Blackish Tapaculo
29. Black-faced Antthrush->Mayan/Black-faced Antthrush
30. Tawny-throated Leaftosser->Middle/South American Leaftosser
31. Red-billed Woodcreeper->Red-billed/Uniform Woodcreeper
32. Necklaced Spinetail->Necklaced/Chinchipe Spinetail
33. McConnell's Flycatcher->McConnell's/Sierra de Lema Flycatcher
34. Tawny-crowned Pygmy-Tyrant->Fulvous-headed/Rufous-crowned Pygmy-Tyrant
35. Vermilion Flycatcher->Vermilion/Brujo Flycatcher
36. Graceful Honeyeater->Graceful/Cryptic Honeyeater
37. Little Shrikethrush->Variable/Waigeo/Mamberamo/Sepik-Ramu/Arafura/Tagula/Rufous Shrikethrush
38. Chinese Gray Shrike->Chinese Gray/Giant Shrike
39. Dunn's Lark->Dunn's/Arabian Lark
40. Lesser Short-toed Lark->Mediterranean/Turkestan Short-toed Lark
41. Striated/Brown Prinia->Himalayan/Striped/Burmese/Annam/Brown Prinia
42. Graceful Prinia->Graceful/Delicate Prinia
43. Chestnut-backed Bush Warbler->Sulawesi/Seram/Buru Bush Warbler
44. Little Rush-Warbler->Little/Highland Rush Warbler
45. Gray-cheeked Bulbul->Gray-cheeked/Brown-cheeked Bulbul
46. Ochraceous Bulbul->Penan/Ochraceous Bulbul
47. Island Leaf Warbler->Island/Numfor/Biak Leaf Warbler
48. Subalpine Warbler->Western/Eastern Subalpine Warbler
49. Abyssinian White-eye->Abyssinian/Socotra White-eye
50. African Yellow White-eye->Forest/Green/Northern Yellow/Southern Yellow White-eye
51. Lemon-bellied White-eye->Lemon-bellied/Wakatobi White-eye
52. Solomons White-eye->Solomons/Dark-eyed White-eye
53. Limestone Wren-Babbler->Annam/Rufous/Variable Limestone Babbler
54. Brown-headed Nuthatch->Brown-headed/Bahama Nuthatch
55. Tropical Gnatcatcher->Tropical/White-browed Gnatcatcher
56. Sedge Wren->Sedge/Grass Wren
57. Spotted Nightingale-Thrush->Yellow-throated/Speckled Nightingale-Thrush
58. Hill Blue Flycatcher->Hill/Javan/Dayak Blue Flycatcher
59. Narcissus Flycatcher->Narcissus/Ryuku Flycatcher
60. Siberian Stonechat->Siberian/Amur Stonechat
61. Black-eared Wheatear->Western/Eastern Black-eared Wheatear
62. Streak-headed Munia->Streak-headed/White-spotted Munia
63. Long-billed Pipit->Long-billed/Nicholson's Pipit
64. Scrub Euphonia->West Mexican/Scrub Euphonia
65. Gray-headed Bullfinch->Gray-headed/Taiwan Bullfinch
66. Stripe-capped Sparrow->Yungas/Chaco Sparrow
67. Saffron-billed Sparrow->Moss-backed/Saffron-billed Sparrow
68. Rufous-capped Warbler->Rufous-capped/Chestnut-capped Warbler
69. Puerto Rican Bullfinch->Puerto Rican/St. Kitts Bullfinch
70. Grayish Saltator->Olivaceous/Cinnamon-bellied/Blue-gray Saltator
    

Lumps

1. Eurasian/Vaurie's Nightjar->Eurasian Nightjar
2. Chapman's/Amazonian Swift->Chapman's Swift
3. Scarce/Schouteden's Swift->Scarce Swift
4. Tawny/Ochraceous Piculet->Ochraceous Piculet
5. Crested/Southern Caracara->Crested Caracara
6. Rondonia/Layard's Woodcreeper->Dusky-capped Woodcreeper
7. Pilbara/Sandhill Grasswren->Rufous Grasswren
8. American/Northwestern Crow->American Crow