List of Birds of Canada and The United States - Taxonomy

Taxonomy

The taxonomic treatment (designation and sequence of orders, families, and species) and nomenclature (common and scientific names) used in the accompanying bird lists adhere to the conventions of the AOU's (1998) Check-list of North American birds, the recognized scientific authority on the taxonomy and nomenclature of North America birds. The AOU's Committee on Classification and Nomenclature, the body responsible for maintaining and updating the Check-list, "strongly and unanimously continues to endorse the biological species concept (BSC), in which species are considered to be genetically cohesive groups of populations that are reproductively isolated from other such groups" (AOU 1998). See Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy for an alternative phylogenetic arrangement based on DNA-DNA hybridization.

Unless otherwise noted, all species listed below are considered to occur regularly in North America as permanent residents, summer or winter residents or visitors, or migrants. The following codes are used to denote certain categories of species:

• (A) = Accidental occurrence; based on one or two (rarely more) records, and unlikely to occur regularly.

• (C) = Casual occurrence; based on two or a few records, with subsequent records not improbable.

• (E) = Extinct; a recent member of the avifauna that no longer exists.

• (Ex) = Extirpated; no longer occurs in area of interest, but other populations still exist elsewhere.

• (I) = Introduced population; established solely as result of direct or indirect human intervention; synonymous with non-native and non-indigenous.

This list follows the ABA for determination of rarity. The markings (A) and (C) correspond to the ABA birding codes 5 and 4 respectively.

Summary of 2006 IUCN Red List categories.

Conservation status - IUCN Red List of Threatened Species:

EX - Extinct, EW - Extinct in the Wild

CR - Critically Endangered, EN - Endangered, VU - Vulnerable

NT - Near Threatened, LC - Least Concern

DD - Data Deficient, NE - Not Evaluated

(v. 2012.1, the data is current as of June 19, 2012)

and Endangered Species Act:

E - endangered, T - threatened

XN, XE - experimental non essential or essential population

E(S/A), T(S/A) - endangered or threatened due to similarity of appearance

(inluding taxa not necessarily found in the USA, the data is current as of June 8, 2012)