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:
- Variable Chachalaca->Variable/Chestnut-headed Chachalaca
- Dusky-legged Guan->Dusky-legged/Yungas Guan
- Crested Argus->Vietnamese/Malayan Crested Argus
- Vaux's Swift->Vaux's/Ashy-tailed Swift
- African Palm-Swift->African/Malagasy Palm-Swift
- Festive Coquette->Butterfly/Festive Coquette
- Broad-billed Hummingbird->Broad-billed/Turquoise-crowned Hummingbird
- Gray-breasted Sabrewing->Gray-breasted/Diamantina Sabrewing
- Kentish Plover->Kentish/White-faced Plover
- South American Snipe->Paraguayan/Magellanic Snipe
- Mew Gull->Common/Short-billed Gull
- Royal Tern->Royal/West African Crested Tern
- Eurasian Scops-Owl->Eurasian/Cyprus Scops-Owl
- Spotted Eagle-Owl->Arabian/Spotted Eagle-Owl
- Collared Owlet->Collared/Sunda Owlet
- Tawny Owl->Tawny/Maghreb Owl
- Barred Owl->Barred/Cinereous Owl
- Southern Boobook->Southern/Rote/Timor/Alor Boobook
- Hantu Boobook->Seram/Buru Boobook
- Yellow-and-green Lorikeet->Yellow-cheeked/Sula Lorikeet
- Blue-winged Parrotlet->Turquoise-winged/Riparian/Cobalt-rumped Parrotlet
- Elegant Pitta->Ornate/Elegant/Banda Sea Pitta
- Rufous-winged Antwren->Rusty-winged/Rufous-margined Antwren
- White-backed Fire-eye->Western/Tapajos/East Amazonian Fire-eye
- Rufous Antpitta->Sierra Nevada/Perija/Muisca/Urubamba/Puno/Bolivian/Chami/Equatorial/Cajamarca/Chachapoyas/Panao/Junin Antpitta
- Chestnut Antpitta->Oxapampa/Ayacucho/Chestnut Antpitta
- Paramo Tapaculo->Loja/Paramo Tapaculo
- Blackish Tapaculo->Utcubamba/Blackish Tapaculo
- Black-faced Antthrush->Mayan/Black-faced Antthrush
- Tawny-throated Leaftosser->Middle/South American Leaftosser
- Red-billed Woodcreeper->Red-billed/Uniform Woodcreeper
- Necklaced Spinetail->Necklaced/Chinchipe Spinetail
- McConnell's Flycatcher->McConnell's/Sierra de Lema Flycatcher
- Tawny-crowned Pygmy-Tyrant->Fulvous-headed/Rufous-crowned Pygmy-Tyrant
- Vermilion Flycatcher->Vermilion/Brujo Flycatcher
- Graceful Honeyeater->Graceful/Cryptic Honeyeater
- Little Shrikethrush->Variable/Waigeo/Mamberamo/Sepik-Ramu/Arafura/Tagula/Rufous Shrikethrush
- Chinese Gray Shrike->Chinese Gray/Giant Shrike
- Dunn's Lark->Dunn's/Arabian Lark
- Lesser Short-toed Lark->Mediterranean/Turkestan Short-toed Lark
- Striated/Brown Prinia->Himalayan/Striped/Burmese/Annam/Brown Prinia
- Graceful Prinia->Graceful/Delicate Prinia
- Chestnut-backed Bush Warbler->Sulawesi/Seram/Buru Bush Warbler
- Little Rush-Warbler->Little/Highland Rush Warbler
- Gray-cheeked Bulbul->Gray-cheeked/Brown-cheeked Bulbul
- Ochraceous Bulbul->Penan/Ochraceous Bulbul
- Island Leaf Warbler->Island/Numfor/Biak Leaf Warbler
- Subalpine Warbler->Western/Eastern Subalpine Warbler
- Abyssinian White-eye->Abyssinian/Socotra White-eye
- African Yellow White-eye->Forest/Green/Northern Yellow/Southern Yellow White-eye
- Lemon-bellied White-eye->Lemon-bellied/Wakatobi White-eye
- Solomons White-eye->Solomons/Dark-eyed White-eye
- Limestone Wren-Babbler->Annam/Rufous/Variable Limestone Babbler
- Brown-headed Nuthatch->Brown-headed/Bahama Nuthatch
- Tropical Gnatcatcher->Tropical/White-browed Gnatcatcher
- Sedge Wren->Sedge/Grass Wren
- Spotted Nightingale-Thrush->Yellow-throated/Speckled Nightingale-Thrush
- Hill Blue Flycatcher->Hill/Javan/Dayak Blue Flycatcher
- Narcissus Flycatcher->Narcissus/Ryuku Flycatcher
- Siberian Stonechat->Siberian/Amur Stonechat
- Black-eared Wheatear->Western/Eastern Black-eared Wheatear
- Streak-headed Munia->Streak-headed/White-spotted Munia
- Long-billed Pipit->Long-billed/Nicholson's Pipit
- Scrub Euphonia->West Mexican/Scrub Euphonia
- Gray-headed Bullfinch->Gray-headed/Taiwan Bullfinch
- Stripe-capped Sparrow->Yungas/Chaco Sparrow
- Saffron-billed Sparrow->Moss-backed/Saffron-billed Sparrow
- Rufous-capped Warbler->Rufous-capped/Chestnut-capped Warbler
- Puerto Rican Bullfinch->Puerto Rican/St. Kitts Bullfinch
- Grayish Saltator->Olivaceous/Cinnamon-bellied/Blue-gray Saltator
- Eurasian/Vaurie's Nightjar->Eurasian Nightjar
- Chapman's/Amazonian Swift->Chapman's Swift
- Scarce/Schouteden's Swift->Scarce Swift
- Tawny/Ochraceous Piculet->Ochraceous Piculet
- Crested/Southern Caracara->Crested Caracara
- Rondonia/Layard's Woodcreeper->Dusky-capped Woodcreeper
- Pilbara/Sandhill Grasswren->Rufous Grasswren
- American/Northwestern Crow->American Crow