News Release 

In with the old, out with the mew

Update to the check-list of North American birds publishes today in Ornithology

American Ornithological Society Publications Office

Research News

Keep your checklists handy because the 62nd Supplement to the American Ornithological Society's Check-list of North American Birds, publishing today in Ornithology, includes numerous updates to the classification of the continent's bird species. A few highlights from this year's supplement, detailed below, include species splits for Mew Gull, Barred Owl, and Sedge Wren, among quite a few others; a transfer back to an old genus for Ruby-crowned Kinglet; and a revision of the linear sequence of passerine families. The Check-list, published since 1886, is updated annually by the AOS's North American Classification Committee (NACC), the official authority on the names and classification of the region's birds, and is consulted by birders and professional ornithologists alike. 

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