Hello all, CFO has updated its State and County checklists to include recent revisions in avian taxonomy. You can find the new checklists at: http://www.coloradocountybirding.com/checklists/index.php I wish to thank Rachel Hopper for doing her dedicated web magic in getting the checklists updated in such a short fashion! For those not yet aware of the changes (there are not many), a brief explanation is necessary. Some of this information may have been presented to Cobirds earlier. The American Ornithologists' Union (AOU) is the largest organization in the New World devoted to the scientific study of birds. A committee of the AOU, the North American Classification Committee (NACC), keeps abreast of the systematics and distribution of North and Middle American birds, with the purpose of creating standard classification and nomenclature for all species within the area. The NACC maintains the "Check-list of North American Birds" , which is the official source on the taxonomy of birds found in North and Middle America. Based on various genetics and morphological studies that arise, the NACC reviews the research to determine if the current taxonomy as published is contemporary. Periodically, the NACC publishes changes to the taxonomic sequence of species. The most current version of that just came out this month (Chesser et al. 2009) and a few changes have occurred that affect the taxonomic sequence and scientific names of some Colorado birds. Those changes include: Removal of all Piranga tanagers from the family Thraupidae and placement instead into the family Cardinalidae. Thus the four species of tanagers that occur in Colorado (Hepatic, Summer, Scarlet, and Western) are now listed under "Cardinals"; The name of Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrow has been shortened to "Nelson's Sparrow"; The redpolls (of which Common is the only species to be documented from Colorado) have been placed in the genus Acanthis instead of its previously designated genus "Carduelis"; and The goldfinches and Pine Siskin have been placed in the genus Spinus instead of Carduelis. I hope that helps. If anyone has any questions, please feel free to write. Larry Semo Chesser, T.R., R.C. Banks, F.K. Barker, C.Cicero, J. Dunn, A.W. Kratter, I.J. Lovette, P.C. Rasmussen, J.V. Remsen Jr., J.D. Rising, D.F. Stotz, and K. Winker. 2009. Fiftieth Supplement to the American Ornithologists' Union Check-List of North American Birds. The Auk 126(3):705-714.
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