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| White-browed Gnatcatcher |
Every year around this time we patiently await the completion of the eBird taxonomic update to match the The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. This year;'s update will cover changes for 2020 and 2021 as there was no updated in 2020.
In this year's update there will be 17 newly described species ( including those from that sweet Rufous Antpitta split) a total of 71 species were split causing 94 species to be gained, and 8 species were lost through lumps. In total we now have 10,824 species world wide. WOW!
Some birders dread when they hear of species being split, which isn't unwarranted as we have to learn the new names, plumage, vocalizations and distributions for these species also field guides that are printed pre-split/lump will have the now archaic names. Personally I enjoy when the supplements are released, it is really interesting to see how these subspecies are elevated to species level due to DNA, geography, plumage, voice etc..
These changes don't happen at random, there is serious research going on. As sated by eBird "Many times new species emerge after years of detective work, examining
museum specimens, genetic data, and audio recordings. Other times
well-known subspecies are separated after stronger data showing
physical, genetic, and/or vocal differences become available."
So how are we affected by this new update? Let's get into that below.
Grass Wren was split from Sedge Wren
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| Grass Wren - Payne's Creek National Park |
Sedge Wren and Grass Wren are now two separate species. They were split due to differences in vocalizations, plumage and movement.
The Grass Wren is non-migratory and occurs from South America north to Mexico whereas the Sedge Wren is migratory, breeding in the north central United States and wintering in the southern United States, the species do overlap in Veracruz, Mexico. So if your are birding in the Bald Hills of the Mountain Pine Ride or the pine savannas of the Payne's Creek National Park you have good chances to come across the highly vocal but shy Grass Wren.
Grayish Saltator was split into 3 species.
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| Cinnamon-bellied Saltator |
The fairly common Grayish Saltator was split into 3 species namely Cinnamon-bellied Saltator, Blue-gray Saltator and Olivaceous Saltator. Here in the Belize the species were have will be called the Cinnamon-bellied Saltator( Not a bad name right? I like it a lot better than Grayish Saltator) the Cinnamon-bellied ranges from northern Mexico to western Costa Rica, the Olivaceous from northern Colombia to Venezuela, Trinidad and the Guianas; and the Blue-gray from eastern Colombia, to Bolivia and Northern Argentina. These were split due to differences in genetics, vocalizations and plumage.
In Belize the Cinnamon-bellied Saltator is widespread found in various habitats from disturbed urban settlements to more mature forests. Be sure to listen for their sweet song.
Mayan Antthrush was split from Black-faced Antthrush.
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| Mayan Antthrush |
This split was long awaited.The Mayan Antthrush is now here. It is split from the Black-faced Antthrush due to the notable differences in the vocalizations. The Mayan Antthrush, which occurs in Mexico, Belize, Guatemala and western Honduras give a songs with multiple notes as heard here Mayan Antthrush in comparison to the Black-faced Antthrush which occurs in eastern Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama and northern South America as heard here Black-faced Antthrush which has less and more spaced notes.
This is such a fitting name for this bird. Finally we have a Mayan bird! The Maya people are a huge part of our culture and heritage in Belize and this region. I mean it's about time they got a bird, we already had birds named for the Inca and Aztec now we can proudly add Mayan.
The Mayan Antthrush can be found wherever there is good patch of primary or secondary forest, hard to see but very vocal.
White-browed Gnatcatcher was split from Tropical Gnatcatcher
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| White-browed Gnatcatcher |
The Tropical Gnatcatcher was split into two species. White-browed Gnatcatcher (not to be confused with White-lored Gnatcatcher) is found in southern Mexico, Central America and drier regions to the west of the Andes in South America. The Tropical Gnatcatcher is found only in South America. The split comes on the basis of plumage, genetics and vocalizations of the White-browed Gnatcatcher.
The White-browed Gnatcatcher is found mainly in broad leaf forests but can be found in pines and pine-oak savannas.
Tawny-throated Leaftosser was split into Middle American Leaftosser and South American Leaftosser
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| Middle American Leaftosser |
Tawny-throated Leaftosser is now split into two species. Here in Belize we will have the Middle American Leaftosser. This species is one of the hardest breeding birds to observe in Belize, it has only been recorded from a few of the highest mountains in the country. An expedition to one of these peaks is need to observe this bird (one day 😔). As the names suggest these two species are split by range, the Middle American is found in the highlands from Mexico south to Panama, the South American does enter into eastern Panama, but from there it ranges southward down to Brazil.
The Rufous-capped Warbler was split.
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| Rufous-capped Warbler |
The Rufous-capped Warbler was split into two species. We here in Belize will stay with name Rufous-capped Warbler its range includes Mexico, Belize and Guatemala. The Chestnut-capped Warbler is found mainly along the pacific coast of Guatemala south to South America so they do overlap at some sites in Guatemala. So for some of us who have birded along the pacific coast of Guatemala we FINALLY got an armchair lifer from this split (about time lol).
This species is quite common in the Mountain Pine Ridge and the pines atop Tiger Fern and Ben's bluff in the Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary.
This was just a quick and simple blog post to give over the main changes that will affect Belize
For more detailed information on these splits you can visit the links below:
https://ebird.org/camerica/news/taxonomy-update-in-progress
https://ebird.org/news/2021-ebird-taxonomy-update
Photo credit:
Mayan Antthrush (Aaron Juan)
Middle American Leaftosser ( Giovanni Martinez)
Rufous-capped Warbler ( Zhawn Poot)
