Well, as expected this week, AOS’ annual conference coincided with the release of the new supplement to the Check-List of North American birds.

First off, the one thing I didn’t entirely expect: the Tufted Titmouse and Black-crested Titmouse remain as two species. For now.

But, in a move that surprises no one, we now have two new species: the Western Warbling-Vireo and the Eastern Warbling-Vireo.

The scientific name of the original Warbling Vireo species is being bestowed upon the Eastern species, while the Western is getting Vireo swainsoni. Not a big surprise there either.

So, I don’t have a lot of extra commentary for this. I forgot that the comments that are typically posted from the voting committee about the reasons for their votes don’t necessarily get posted at the same time. It may be a while for those. So perhaps I’ll have a follow-up someday on this, if it seems interesting enough.

On the supplement itself, you can read changes to the ranges and habitats specified for the species. There’s nothing terribly surprising in it. The notes do state that the splitting was due to a constellation of reasons: differences in genetics, morphology, song, moult, and migration. Additionally, the difference in response to brood parasitism is noted, as well as the low occurance of hybridization.

Given that I have some recordings of both these species, I’ve included them in the audio version of this post. You’ll hear it throughout the commentary in the background, and at the end you’ll hear five minutes of each.

Link to the supplement: https://academic.oup.com/auk/advance-article/doi/10.1093/ornithology/ukaf015/8231021?login=false

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