MD/DC Records Committee News (long)

[Phil Davis]

Hi MD/DC Birders:

A records committee status report was just submitted to the editor of the MOS newsletter, The Maryland Yellowthroat. This next issue will appear around the beginning of November. This status report includes almost 70 recent record decisions.

The committee status report also addresses the recent taxonomy updates that affect the species of our region and our checklists. That portion of the status report is copied, below. All of the records committee web products ( https://mdbirds.org/records-committee/) have been updated to conform to the new taxonomy.


Committee News

Taxonomy Update
The MOS follows the taxonomy of the American Ornithological Society’s (AOS) North American Classification and Nomenclature Committee’s (NACC) Checklist of North and Middle American Birds, 7^th edition. Every July the NACC releases its Annual Checklist Supplement. This year, the 65^th Supplement was published. The following taxonomic changes (order, splits, lumps, changes to common and scientific names) affect our regional, Maryland and District of Columbia, checklists:

Passenger Pigeon
This extinct regional species was moved within the checklist. It now follows Rock Pigeon.


Small Ringed Plovers Genus Change
Some of our small ringed-plovers were placed in a new genus. New regional species scientific names are:

Wilson’s Plover    (Charadrius wilsonia --> Anarhynchus wilsonia)

Snowy Plover      (Charadrius nivosus --> Anarhynchus nivosus)

Plovers Sequence Change
The new order of our regional plovers is:

    Black-bellied Plover
    American Golden-Plover
    Killdeer
    Semipalmated Plover
    Piping Plover
    Northem Lapwing
    Wilson's Plover
    Snowy Plover


Least Bittern Genus Change
Least Bittern was absorbed into the same genus as American Bittern:

Least Bittern (lxobrychus exilis --> Botaurus exilis)

Cory’s Shearwater Split
The AOS NACC split Scopoli’s Shearwater from Cory’s Shearwater. The resulting species and order are:

Cory’s Shearwater         (Calonectris borealis)

Scopoli’s Shearwater    (Calonectris diomedea)

The ABA (2024) stated, “Both occur off eastern North America, but Cory's is by far more common. Identification is difficult and based mostly on underwing pattern (e.g., the bases of the primaries below are paler on Scopoli's) and behavioral and structural differences.” The ABA also commented on the pronunciation: “Note that Scopoli refers to Italian naturalist Giovanni Antonio Scopoli (SKOH-poh-lee), so the accent falls on the first syllable, and the Os are not pronounced "ah" as in "stop".”

Maryland has previously accepted records of Scopoli’s Shearwater as a recognizable and unusual subspecies to Maryland waters. Therefore, this new species is automatically added to the Official List of the Birds of Maryland. The species is common enough on Maryland pelagic trips that it is no longer reviewed by the committee.


Audubon’s Shearwaters Split
The AOS NACC split the former Audubon’s Shearwaters into several species including species found outside of the region. In this splitting process, the former Audubon’s Shearwater’s common name was changed to:

Sargasso Shearwater (Puffinus lherminieri)

Cattle Egret Split
Cattle Egret was split into two species. Birds from the Americas are now known as:

Western Cattle-Egret (Ardea ibis)

Night-Herons Common Name Change
The common names of the Night-Herons were changed to remove the hyphens:

Black-crowned Night Heron

Yellow-crowned Night Heron

Herons Reordered
The herons and egrets were reordered. The new order of our regional herons is:

Least Bittern

American Bittern

Little Blue Heron

Tricolored Heron

Reddish Egret

Snowy Egret

Little Egret

Yellow-crowned Night Heron

Black-crowned Night Heron

Green Heron

Great Egret

Western Cattle-Egret

Great Blue Heron

Barn Owl Split
The wide-ranging Barn Owl was split into three species. Our North American birds are (with no hyphen):

American Barn Owls (Tyto furcata)

Split of House Wren
The (also) wide-ranging House Wren has been split into seven species. Our North American species is now:

Northern House Wren (Troglodytes aedon)

Redpoll Lump
The AOS has (finally!) lumped all redpolls species into one species:

Redpoll (Acanthis flammea)

This lump assumes Common Redpoll and Hoary Redpoll from across North American and Europe, as well as Lesser Redpoll from Europe. In summary, the genetics of the Redpolls do not differentiate species and do not prevent interbreeding. The AOS NACC (Chesser et al. 2024) states, “Geographic variation in phenotype is linked to a large chromosomal inversion that does not prevent reproduction, but instead maintains variation through a combination of environmental and sexual selection pressures.” The American Birding Association (ABA) (Retter 2024) adds, “The differences in size and melanin-deposition seem to be clinal and a textbook example of Bergmann's Rule” [organisms in colder climates are typically larger than those in warmer climates]. The impact of this lump is that Maryland loses Hoary Redpoll as a species. The AOS NACC had diverging opinions on and did not reach a consensus position on the status of Redpoll subspecies. Maryland has two reports of the larger “Greenland” or “Greater” [Common] Redpoll (Acanthis flammea rostrata) that was previously reviewable as a regionally unusual Common Redpoll subspecies. We will continue to hold these reports in abeyance until (if?) the Redpoll subspecies taxonomy becomes settled.


Notable Proposals Not Accepted by the AOS
There are several other taxonomic authorities worldwide, with differing taxonomic positions. The AOS NACC, once again, declined to not split the American Green-winged Teal and the Eurasian Common Teal. They also declined to split the Herring Gull complex into two or more species, unlike the prevailing eBird/Clements/IOC approach.



MD/DCRC Web Products
All of the records committee’s PDF web products (MD and DC Official Lists, Review Lists, Abridged Databases, etc.) have been updated to conform to the AOS 65^th Supplement and can be found on the committee’s website:

https://mdbirds.org/records-committee/maryland-bird-records/

Literature Cited:

R Terry Chesser, Shawn M Billerman, Kevin J Burns, Carla Cicero, Jon L Dunn, Blanca E Hernández-Baños, Rosa Alicia Jiménez, Oscar Johnson, Andrew W Kratter, Nicholas A Mason, Pamela C Rasmussen, and J V Remsen. 2024. Sixty-fifth Supplement to the American Ornithological Society’s Check-list of North American Birds, Ornithology, Volume 141, Issue 3, 1 July 2024, ukae019, https://doi.org/10.1093/ornithology/ukae019

Retter, Michael L. P., 2024. Checklist Redux 2024. ABA [blog]. July 18, 2024. https://www.aba.org/aos-supplement-2024/ . Last accessed September 30, 2024.

===================================================
Phil Davis, Secretary
MD/DC Records Committee
2549 Vale Court
Davidsonville, Maryland  21035     USA
web: https://mdbirds.org/records-committee/
email: pda...@ix.netcom.com
phone: 301-261-0184
===================================================