Checklist Redux 2025

Every summer, birders anxiously await publication of the “Check-list Supplement” by the American Ornithological Society’s (AOS) Committee on Classification and Nomenclature of North and Middle American Birds (NACC). The Supplement details revisions to the NACC’s Check-list of North American Birds. Presented here is a rundown of 2025’s more significant revisions. You can read all the proposals on which the NACC voted this year here, and you can read the supplement itself in Ornithology.

Nowadays, it can be assumed that any change in taxonomy is due (at least partly) to analysis of new genetic data, so that is not mentioned here. As a general policy, the NACC accepts as additions to its Check-list any species the ABA’s Checklist Committee (ABA CLC) adds to its list. Those changes are generally not listed here. In instances where new species appear on the Check-list because of a split, the sequence in which they are listed here is the sequence in which they appear on the Check-list. Species marked below with a single asterisk (*) are those which do not appear on the ABA Checklist. Those which do not appear on AOS’s North American Check-list are marked with double asterisks (**). Extinct species are marked with daggers (†).

Many of the changes this year “catch up” with changes already made to the Clements/eBird checklist last fall (e.g., splitting Herring Gull, splitting Charadrius, splitting Corvus, splitting Accipiter, splitting Silvia, calling Amazona amazons instead of parrots). For details on these changes, see “2024 Clements/eBird Updates” (Retter 2024) in Vol. 25, No. 2 of North American Birds. While other changes within the ABA Area this year are few, the split of Warbling Vireo is a major development. Other changes will be little noticed by most ABA-Area birders. Further south, in Middle America and the West Indies, splits of Squirrel Cuckoo, Plain Xenops, and Black-throated Trogon are noteworthy as they all result in new English names.

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Split of Warbling Vireo

Western Warbling-Vireo  (Vireo swainsoni)

Eastern Warbling-Vireo  (Vireo gilvus, sensu stricto)

Western Warbling-Vireo

Eastern Warbling-Vireo

Western Warbling-Vireo

Eastern Warbling-Vireo

By far the biggest news for birders in the ABA Area is the split of Warbling Vireo. For most of us, geography alone will be enough to identify a warbling-vireo to species. However, birders living in areas of contact (Great Plains and Alberta) or who happen across a vagrant and/or out-of-season bird will want to scrutinize them closely. While Western Warbling-Vireo averages more colorful than Eastern, seasonal and geographic variation make using that trait alone problematic. Fortunately, there are structural clues.

Western Warbling-Vireo winters almost exclusively in Mexico, presumably north of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, as is the case for many migratory western North American species (e.g., Black-throated Gray Warbler, Virginia’s Warbler, Dusky Flycatcher, Lazuli Bunting). Eastern Warbling-Vireo winters in North America mostly south of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec as far south as Costa Rica, where it is scarce. Compared to Eastern, Western averages shorter- and smaller-billed, darker-crowned, and shorter tailed. These combined with the more colorful plumage may invite confusion with Philadelphia Vireo, but warbling-vireos never have dark lores, and their yellow is never brightest on the center axis of the body below.

The two warbling-vireos differ in song. Eastern’s usually ends on an upslurred high note; Western’s song averages burrier and more disjointed, and it often ends on a buzzy descending note. In the Black Hills, where both species seem to breed, Eastern favors riparian cottonwoods in lowlands while Western favors aspen thickets in foothills and mountains (pers. obvs.). Besides the breeding range in the ABA Area that most readers will be acquainted with, Western Warbling-Vireo also breeds in much of western and interior Mexico, south to Oaxaca.

Split of White Tern

Blue-billed White-Tern  (Gygis candida)

Little White-Tern  (Gygis microrhyncha)

Atlantic White-Tern**  (Gygis alba, sensu stricto)

Details of bill morphology in white-terns from Pratt 2020, which also includes more details about field identification. Artwork © Doug Pratt, used with permission.

The feathered fairy of tropical oceans, White Tern, is now three species. Blue-billed White-Tern is the one that delights visitors to Honolulu and Waikiki. It is found in much of the northern tropical portions of the Pacific and Indian oceans. There is a 100-year-old specimen record of Little White-Tern from O‘ahu, but it is otherwise unknown from ABA-Area and North American waters, likely making it one of the rarest species to appear on the ABA Checklist. It currently breeds on the Marquesas Islands and formerly did so on Kiribati. Some hybridization seems to occur between the two aforementioned species in the Marquesas Is. The two differ in structure (Little having shorter, rounder wings and less deeply forked tail), facial pattern (Little having a large, full black ring around the eye, giving it a very different “personality”), and primary shaft color (pale in Blue-billed, black in Little).

There are as of yet no accepted records of Atlantic White-Tern in North American waters; however, a very recent white-tern record from Bermuda (Jun 2025) may pertain to this species. A white-tern photographed in St. Croix in Aug 2024 seems not identifiable to species. A white-tern record from The Bahamas (Jun 2010) may pertain to Blue-billed White-Tern.

Details of bill morphology in white-terns from Pratt 2020, which also includes more details about field identification. Artwork © Doug Pratt, used with permission.

Split of Nutting’s Flycatcher

Nutting’s Flycatcher  (Myiarchus nuttingi, sensu stricto)

Salvadoran Flycatcher*  (Myiarchus flavidior)

Nutting’s Flycatcher (sensu stricto)

Salvadoran Flycatcher

This split has been anticipated for many years now, as the two species sound very different, and indeed, voice is the best way to differentiate the two in areas of overlap. Frequently heard vocalizations of Salvadoran include a querulous, two-parted dee-DEEEEE; a querulous single downslurred note that trails off at the end (WHEEEeeeeee, recalling a high-pitched Dusky-capped Flycatcher); trills; and an upslurred note followed by a descending series that may recall a fast Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet. All of these vocalizations are quite different compared to those of Nutting’s (sensu stricto), which include a bright, upslurred, monosyllabic whip! and a bickering kwiddik, often repeated.

Visually, Salvadoran may average paler-faced than Nutting’s sensu stricto, suggesting the goggled look of Flammulated Flycatcher.

Salvadoran Flycatcher is found mostly on the Pacific slope, from the Soconusco Plain of Chiapas south to at least Nicaragua and Honduras (where found in dry interior valleys).

Hello, Spilopelia!
Streptopelia chinensis ➛ Spilopelia chinensis

A genus-level split of Streptopelia, sensu lato, has resulted in a change in genus for Spotted Dove, an Asian species which is well established in Hawaii and, except for a population on Santa Catalina I., quickly dwindling or vanished from California.

Welcome back, Euthlypis!

Basileuterus lachrymosa ➛ Euthlypis lachrymose

A genus-level split of Basileuterus, sensu lato, has resulted in a change in genus for Fan-tailed Warbler. This reverses a change from 10 years ago or so.

Hello, Tachymarptis!

Apus melba ➛ Tachymarptis melba

A genus-level split of Apus, sensu lato, has resulted in a change in genus for Alpine Swift.

Split of Eurasian Hoopoe

Common Hoopoe  (Upupa epops)

Madagascar Hoopoe**  (Upupa marginata)

Eurasian Hoopoe (Upupa epops, sensu lato) has been split into Common and Madagascar hoopoes. The latter is found where you think it would be.

Hello, Pterorhinus!

Garrulax pectoralis ➛ Pterorhinus pectoralis

A genus-level split of Garrulax, sensu lato, has resulted in a change in genus for Greater Necklaced Laughingthrush.

Goodbye, Cyanecula!

Bluethroat  (Cyanecula svecica ➛ Luscinia svecica)

The genus Cyanecula, which contained Bluethroat, has been merged into Luscinia, which contains nightingales and Siberian Blue Robin.

Split of Willow Ptarmigan

Willow Ptarmigan  (Lagopus lagopus)

Red Grouse**  (Lagopus scotica)

Willow Ptarmigan, known as Willow Grouse in British Isles, has been split. The heath-dwelling population endemic to the British Isles, which lacks a white winter plumage, is called Red Grouse.

Split of Eurasian Collared-Dove

Eurasian Collared-Dove (Streptopelia decaocto, sensu stricto)

Burmese Collared-Dove** (Streptopelia xanthocycla)

The southeast Asian population of Eurasian Collared-Dove has been split off as Burmese Collared-Dove.

Split of Bank Swallow

Bank Swallow (Riparia riparia, sensu stricto)

Pale Martin (Riparia diluta)

Bank Swallow, known as Sand Martin in the Old World, has been split. Pale Martin is found central and eastern Asia.

Split of White-throated Thrush

White-throated Thrush  (Turdus assimilis)

Dagua Thrush**  (Turdus daguae)

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The AOS-NACC automatically accepts additions made by ABA Checklist Committee. Among these are Monticola solitarius, which AOS-NACC calls Blue Rock-thrush. The T in thrush is not capitalized because the species is not in the thrush family (Turdidae); however, note that eBird (incorrectly, only if applying that criterion) calls it Blue Rock-Thrush.

The following families in Gruiformes are now placed in this sequence:

Aramidae (limpkins)

Gruidae (cranes)

Heliornithidae* (sungrebe)

Rallidae (rails)

The following subfamilies of Laridae are now placed in this sequence:

Anoinae (noddies)

Gyginae (white-terns)

Sterninae (terns)

Rhynchopinae (skimmers)

Larinae (gulls)

The following families in Pelicaniformes are now placed in this sequence:

Threskiornithidae (ibises and spoonbills)

Pelicanidae (pelicans)

Ardeidae (herons)

Columbidae (pigeons and doves) is rearranged as follows:

Claravinae (American ground-doves)

Blue Ground Dove*

Maroon-chested Ground Dove*

Inca Dove

Common Ground Dove

Plain-breasted Ground Dove*

Ruddy Ground Dove

Starnoenadinae* (Blue-headed Quail-Dove)

Blue-headed Quail-Dove*

Columbinae (typical doves)

Crested Quail-Dove*

Ruddy Quail-Dove

Violaceous Quail-Dove*

Gray-fronted Quail-Dove*

White-fronted Quail-Dove*

Key West Quail-Dove

Bridled Quail-Dove*

Olive-backed Quail-Dove*

Caribbean Dove*

White-tipped Dove

Granada Dove*

Gray-chested Dove*

Gray-headed Dove*

White-winged Dove

Zenaida Dove

Eared Dove*

Mourning Dove

Socorro Dove*

Tuxtla Quail-Dove*

Buff-fronted Quail-Dove*

Purplish-backed Quail-Dove*

White-faced Quail-Dove*

Chiriquí Quail-Dove*

Russet-crowned Quail-Dove*

Passenger Pigeon XXXX

Band-tailed Pigeon

Ring-tailed Pigeon*

Ruddy Pigeon*

Plumbeous Pigeon*

Short-billed Pigeon*

Dusky Pigeon*

Scaled Pigeon*

Scaly-naped Pigeon

White-crowned Pigeon

Plain Pigeon*

Red-billed Pigeon

Pale-vented Pigeon*

Spotted Dove

Oriental Turtle-Dove

European Turtle-Dove

Eurasian Collared-Dove

African Collared-Dove*

Common Wood-Pigeon

Rock Pigeon

Raphinae (Australasian doves)

Zebra Dove

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Changes below do not affect the ABA Area, and asterisks are no longer used to denote species not on the ABA Checklist. Double asterisks still denote species not found in North America.

Split of Squirrel Cuckoo

Mexican Squirrel-Cuckoo  (Piaya mexicana)

Common Squirrel-Cuckoo  (Piaya cayana)

Mexican Squirrel-Cuckoo

Common Squirrel-Cuckoo

Mexican Squirrel-Cuckoo is found on the Pacific slope of Mexico from Sonora south to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. There seems to be little to no interbreeding in the very narrow contact zone in eastern Oaxaca. Mexican Squirrel-Cuckoo averages larger and paler than Common and shows rufous on the undertail, which is all black-and-white on Common Squirrel-Cuckoo. Mexican’s vocalizations average higher and sharper—so much so that the first note of its “piss off!” call sounds much like a “zebra-backed” Melanerpes (Golden-cheeked Woodpecker in most of range).

Split of Black-throated Trogon

Graceful Black-throated Trogon (Trogon tenellus)

Kerr’s Black-throated Trogon** (Trogon cupreicauda)

Amazonian Black-throated Trogon**  (Trogon chrysochloros)

Atlantic Black-throated Trogon**  (Trogon rufus, sensu lato)

Split of Plain Xenops

Northern Plain-Xenops  (Xenops mexicanus)

Amazonian Plain-Xenops**  (Xenops genibarbaris)

Atlantic Plain-Xenops**  (Xenops minutus, sensu stricto)

Hello, Neophilydor!

Philydor fuscipenne ➛ Neophilydor fuscipenne

A genus-level split of Philydor, sensu lato, has resulted in a change in genus for Slaty-winged Foliage-gleaner.

Split of Bran-colored Flycatcher

Bran-colored Flycatcher  (Myiophobus fasciatus, sensu stricto)

Mouse-gray Flycatcher**  (Myiophobus crypterythrus)

Rufescent Flycatcher** (Myiophobus rufescens)

Split of Black-and-white Becard

Black-and-white Becard  (Pachyramphus albogriseus, sensu stricto)

Cryptic Becard**  (Pachyramphus salvini)

Cryptic Becard is endemic to the western slope of the western Andes, from southwestern Colombia to northern Peru.

Split of Mouse-colored Tyrannulet

Mouse-colored Tyrannulet  (Nesotriccus murinus, sensu stricto)

Tumbesian Tyrannulet**  (Nesotriccus tumbezanus)

Marañón Tyrannulet**  (Nesotriccus maranonicus)

Among the West Indian endemic “tanagers”, Nesospingidae (Puerto Rican Tanager) and Spindalidae (spindalises) are subsumed into Phaenicophilidae.

Within Piciformes, Galbulidae (jacamars) and Bucconidae (puffbirds) trade places

Finally, Black Catbird and Gray Catbird switch places in the sequence.

Recommended citation: Retter, Michael L. P. 2025. 2025 Checklist Redux. North American Birds. 76(2).