Herring Gull has been split into four species, and the exciting part of this is that gulls are well-known for wandering long distances, and so there are now multiple species that can be found in Oregon. The common winter migrant we are familiar with is now American Herring Gull, but keen-eyed observers have already documented Vega Gull in Oregon, including in NW Portland, and it is unlikely but possible that Mongolian or European Herring Gull (which round out the four “new” species) could turn up in Oregon. The latter has occurred on the east coast a number of times. In any event, now that they are full-fledged species, more birders will certainly be looking.
American Pipit has also been split, with the common form we have keeping its name, but you may also notice chatter about Siberian Pipit which is now a new species, and again has already been documented in the state, including at Rooster Rock.
Brown Boobies, an uncommon stray to Oregon, are gone from your life list if you’ve only seen them in Oregon, now that Cocos Booby, the form that visits the western seaboard, has been split off. Brown Booby is the name for the birds seen in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, as well as tropical parts of the Pacific. If you’ve visited Hawaii, you’ve likely seen Brown, but Cocos is also possible there. The fact that they don’t mix in places like Hawaii where they meet was a big piece of evidence in favor of splitting them.
House Wrens are no longer a pan-American species, having been split into seven species, mostly in the Caribbean. In Oregon we now have Northern House Wren.
Barn Owl is also split into three species, with American Barn Owl being the only expected species in the United States.
Northern Goshawk is now two species, with the only one to be found in North America being the American Goshawk, and, in a move that has exasperated longtime hawkwatchers, Cooper’s Hawks and American Goshawks are no longer accipiters! Molecular evidence revealed that despite their very close appearance to Sharp-shinned Hawks, “Coops” are actually more closely related to Goshawks, and both have been moved to the new genus Astur.
The last change to Oregon’s bird list is the loss of a species, the Hoary Redpoll, which was found to be the same species as Common Redpoll, with both reverting to the older, simpler name Redpoll. The committees giveth, and the committees taketh away…
At a glance:
New species for Oregon:
Vega Gull (rare)
Siberian Pipit (rare)
Lost species:
Hoary Redpoll (rare)
Name changes:
Cocos Booby
Northern House Wren
American Goshawk
American Herring Gull
American Barn Owl
*Taxonomy is the system we use to categorize life, wherein we give an organism a scientific name (often called a “Latin name”), and embedded in that name is a a marker of how it is related to other species. For instance, an American Robin is Turdus migratorius, with the second part being the “specific epithet”, and Turdus being the genus, so that we know it is in the same genus as European Blackbird, but not the same genus as Hermit Thrush (Catharus guttatus) or Varied Thrush (Ixoreus naevius).
There’s a lot to learn about the taxonomic system, but for this article, suffice to say that figuring out where something is placed in the taxonomic tree is only part of the challenge. The bigger issue is trying to decide just what exactly a species is. For instance, Red-shafted and Yellow-shafted Flickers look different, and used to be considered different species, but based on a whole lot of research, it seems they are the same species, but different subspecies.
So, every year, ornithologists propose changes to the taxonomic system, both in where birds are put (which genus, eg), and which species are valid (“splitting” them to elevate multiple forms to species level) and which are not (“lumping” two forms we previously thought were separate species, as happened with Thayer’s Gull and Iceland Gull a few years ago). The reason this matters to you is that when you look up a bird in a bird book, or on eBird, or Merlin, or any resource, the names might look different! And using shared names is how we are able to converse about these with each other, and learn about them.