Welcome
Old Chinese Proverb
"Wisdom begins with putting the right name on a thing"
Advisors
Per Alström
Bruce Beehler
Michael Blair
Rauri Bowie
Sally Conyne
Jon Fjeldså
Phil Gregory
Leo Joseph
Peter Kovalik
Adolfo Navarro-Siguenza
David T Parkin
Alan Peterson
J Praveen
Doug Pratt
Thane Pratt
Nigel Redman
Frank Rheindt
Robert Ridgely
Peter Ryan
George Sangster
Richard Schodde
Christophe Streissel
The IOC World Bird List is an open access resource of the international community of ornithologists. Our primary goal is to facilitate worldwide communication in ornithology and conservation based on an up-to-date evolutionary classification of world birds and a set of English names that follow explicit guidelines for spelling and construction.
To keep up with the current industry of taxonomic revisions, the IOC editorial team and advisors update the web-based list each January and June/July. The updates include changes of recommended names or classification, additions of newly described species, corrections of nomenclature, and updates of species taxonomy.
The IOC World Bird List complements three other primary world bird lists that differ slightly in their primary goals and taxonomic philosophy, i.e. The Clements Checklist of the Birds of the World, The Howard & Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World, 4th Edition, and HBW Alive/Bird Life International.
Improved alignment and consolidation of these independent taxonomic works is underway informally and was the topic of a vigorous Round Table discussion at the 2018 International Ornithological Congress in Vancouver, British Columbia. There was broad support for consolidation and improved alignment of global checklists of birds. Update ( 7/31/2020).
Special thanks always to our expert advisors (left panel), to Sally Conyne and Pam Rasmussen for compiling Ranges, to Larry Master, Colin Campbell and Geoff Jones for photos, to Peter Kovalik for spreadsheet magic, to Eric Swanzey for website expertise, and to all volunteer participants. We welcome your corrections and your suggestions for improvement. You can reach us at WorldBirdNames.2@gmail.com.
This Website provides:
- HTML lists of 11,276 species (including 163 extinct) of birds of the world (Version 14.2), with subspecies (19,756) and annotations.
- Spreadsheets in different formats, XML versions of the Master List, and Comparisons with other world lists.
- Classification of 44 Orders, 254 Families, 2392 Genera
- Updates of new species and proposed splits, taxonomic revisions, and changes of names.
- Spelling guidelines for English bird names, including On hyphens and phylogeny (WJO 2009)
Suggested Citation:
Gill F, D Donsker & P Rasmussen (Eds). 2024. IOC World Bird List (v14.2). doi : 10.14344/IOC.ML.14.1.