We’ve recently made some substatial updates to the online BFS Bird List. Here they are (with a sampling of photos of BFS bird life:
- Two new species have been added added to the list:
- Brewer’s Sparrow
- White-faced Ibis
- The taxonomy has been updated to current usage according to the latest AOU Checklist of North and Middle American Birds. The changes include:
- The ordering of some families and species has been changed.
An Anna’s Hummingbird perches on a cattail at pHake Lake. © Nancy Hamlett.
- Some scientific names have been changed.
The House Finch, which was formerly Carpodacus mexicanus, is now Haemorhous mexicanus. © Nancy Hamlett.
- Some species have been moved to different families.
A Green Heron skulks through the cattails at pHake Lake. © Nancy Hamlett.
- Western Scrub-Jays were split into two species. The one at the BFS still retains the same scientific name, but is now the “California Scrub-Jay”.
This California Scrub-Jay participated in a study and apparently hopes that the photographer is coming to fill up its seed bowls. © Nancy Hamlett.
- The ordering of some families and species has been changed.
- BFS photo links now connect to the photo database rather than to individual species pages, and lots of new photos of BFS bird life have been added – a sampling is scattered throughout this post.
- The “Source” column has been eliminated. When the online bird list was first created, a variety of sources were used to document the presence of a species at the BFS – hence “Source” column. Since then, however, Prof. Cathy McFadden has collected data from 16+ (!) years of monthly systematic bird surveys, so the original varied sources are no longer relevant.
- Conservation status listings have been limited to designations established by US Fish & Wildlife Service, California Department of Fish & Wildlife, the North American Bird Conservation Initiative, or Partners in Flight. Bureau of Land Management and California Department of Forestry designations have been removed since they only apply to the lands managed by those agencies.
A Band-tailed Pigeon, which is on the North American Bird Conservation Initiative and Partners in Flight watch lists, does acrobatics whilte reaching for elderberries. © Nancy Hamlett.
- The introductory notes have been modified to reflect the various changes and to place important information in a more prominent position.
A Bewick’s Wren takes a crane fly to the nest for its young. © Nancy Hamlett.
- Links to the BFS photo database, All About Birds, Birds of North America, and CalPhotos have all been checked and updated as needed.
An American Coot feeds its chicks. © Nancy Hamlett.
One of the newly added photos – an Ash-throated Flycatcher sits on the fence by College Avenue. © Nancy Hamlett.
An immature Red-Shouldered Hawk flies by. © Nancy Hamlett.