Annual taxonomic update nets me nine new species

Northern House Wren, Honey Pot, Hadley, MA, Aug 28, 2015

The annual taxonomic update at eBird is now in the books and with the various splits and lumps I gained nine new species and lost one, giving me a net gain of nine species which brings my life total to 2014.

American Herring Gull, Ridegvale Beach, Chatham, MA, June 19, 2011

The first split that produced a new species for me was Herring Gull, which became four species, two of which I have seen.  The locals in the states became American Herring Gulls and those in Europe became European Herring Gulls (seen during a trip to Europe in 2019.

Brown Booby, At sea off St Vincent, Mar 22, 2023

Cocos Booby, Marino Ballena NP, Costa Rica, Dec 21, 2012

The next split that produced a new species was Brown Booby, which was split into two species with the new species being known as Brown Booby and Cocos Booby.  Brown Booby occurs in the Atlantic and into the Red Sea and Cocos Booby occurs in the Pacific.

Guatemala Flickers, Todos Santos Regional Municipal Park, Guatemala, Feb 9, 2018

Northern Flicker, Quabbin Park, MA, Apr 24, 2021

The next split is Northern Flicker, which was split into two species with the new one being Guatemala Flicker (which I saw during my trip to Guatemala in February of 2018).  I have a feeling there are more splits to come from this area of Guatemala as there are multiple distinct subspecies there.

My next new species came from a split of Plain Xenops into Atlantic Plain Xenops and Northern Plain Xenops.  The Atlantic Plain Xenops occurs in southeast Brazil and I saw the species during my Brazil trip in December of last year.  The Northern Plain Xenops occurs from southern Mexico through central American and into northeast South America and I have seen the species in multiple countries on a variety of trips.

Northern House Wren, Orchard Hill, UMASS Amherst, MA, Sep 14, 2014

Southern House Wren, Rio Magnolia Lodge, Costa Rica, Jan 23, 2018

Kalinago Wren, Morne Diablotin NP, Dominica, Mar 24, 2023

Grenada Wren, Grenada, Dec 15, 2017

The last split that had an effect on my life total was House Wren and it was a big split. The species was split into seven species with those in the north getting a a new name (Northern House Wren) and those from Mexico south becoming known as Southern House Wren.  The remaining splits were on a variety of islands and I had all of these new island endemics during previous trips to the Caribbean and Mexico.  These new species including Cozumel Wren (on Cozumel Island off the Yucantan in Mexico), Kalinago Wren (Dominica), St. Lucia Wren, St. Vincent Wren and Grenada Wren.

The species I lost (Hoary Redpoll) occurred due to a lumping of the species back in with Common Redpoll.

Always fun to gain new species without having to travel anywhere new...an advantage of travelling widely on past birding trips.