It seems rather likely that the work by the IOC (see http://worldbirdnames.org/names.html) will become the new world list of choice for international birders - at least outside North America.

Are there any plans for Birder's Diary to support the IOC list any time soon?

Thank you.

Ulrik Andersen

As the creator of several of the tax lists on BD, I asked Jeff that question several months ago, but at that time there was no interest.

After Jeff got a couple queries in the last couple months, I started work - before i got slightly sidetracked.

I hope to get back on track in the near future.

So, yes, it is coming. No schedule yet, because there are always a few taxonomic unknowns.

Let me add my support for adding this taxonomic list to BD. Clements is now quite up to date for the Western Hemisphere, but it is hopelessly (?) out of date for the rest of the world. It would be great if this taxonomy could become an option in BD.

The time required to create a new list is directly related to one of the great strengths of Birder's Diary - the ability to use different Tax lists and have your personal lists and counts still be accurate.

This requires that each entry on each list be mapped to the correct underlying taxon, so that, for example, the American Robin sighting recorded using the ABA list will be shown as an American Robin if you use the Wells list, the AOU list, the BOU list, the Western Palearctic list, the Clements list, etc. It also required that if the Americal Robin is added to the AOU SACC list, the entry must point to the same underlying taxon.

And it is fairly easy for most of the entries in a list.- although there might be issues with the fact that Clements lists seven subspecies. 

It gets more interesting when a species is split or lumped. If a species is split, the new entry generally must be set to use an existing taxon, usually a named subspecies of the species from which it was split - but not always.  And in the case of the American Robin, the Clements and Howard & Moore lists show the same seven subspecies (not always the case) but Wells and Sibley list only the nominate and the San Lucan (T. m. confinis)  

And a new list always raises new questions - especially if the new list uses different names and has a tendency to split - like the IOC.

That being said - work is progressing.

By the way, Nick - The only OBC Checklist that I can find on the web is at the OBC website, but is dated 2001. Is there a later version anywhere?

Hello Ulrik,

It is in progress. The creator of the IOC checklist is waiting on some needed new functionality from me in order to complete his changes.

However, and just for my knowledge, I don't understand the statement that "Clements seems more and more irrelevant". To my understanding, it is stil the de facto standard for birds of the world. It has the weight of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology behind it. What makes it seem irrelevant to you?

Thanks,

Jeff

This is coming. I apologize for the long delay. These things are complicated to reconcile differences between two World lists.

Stay tuned.

Jeff