2023 Taxonomy update in Central America
As part of our commitment to data quality, accessibility, and ease of use, we strive to use an integrated taxonomy across eBird, Macaulay Library, Birds of the World, Merlin and other Cornell Lab of Ornithology projects. Worldwide, our 2023 update includes 3 newly-described species, 124 species gained because of splits, and 16 species lost through lumps, resulting in a net gain of 111 species and a new total of 11,017 species recognized worldwide. In this article we present an overview of all 2023 taxonomy changes that pertain to Central America. This includes instances where either the scientific name or the English common name (or both) changed for Central American populations.
Note that we only treat changes that affect Central American taxa directly, not indirectly. An example of an indirect change is Gull-billed Tern (Gelochelidon nilotica), whose Australian populations have now been split as Australian Tern (Gelochelidon macrotarsa). Our own Gull-billed Tern retains both the common English name and the scientific name—only its worldwide range became smaller. There are other such changes: Carmiol’s Tanager (Chlorothraupis carmioli), Blue Seedeater (Amaurospiza concolor), and Black-and-white Becard (Pachyramphus albogriseus) that are not further treated here. Please refer to this article for a full overview of all taxonomy changes worldwide.
Since the common Spanish names that are available in the Lab’s products (such as eBird, Merlin, and Birds of the World) vary by region, we do not provide Spanish common names in this article. To stay with Gull-billed Tern (Gelochelidon nilotica) as an example, this species is called Charrán Piquinegro if you have Spanish for Costa Rica selected as the language for common bird names in eBird or Merlin, Gaviotín Piquigrueso if you have Spanish for Panama selected, Gaviotín Pico Grueso in Spanish for Honduras, and Pagaza piconegro in Spanish for Spain. You get the picture. This variety reflects local usage of bird names in a widely spoken language such as Spanish and has nothing to do with taxonomy. None of these names changed, and the Spanish common names that you see in the Lab’s products such as eBird and Merlin are tied to the personal preferences you set. You can always change these in My eBird > Preferences.
Table 1: Name changes in common and/or scientific name of Central American species
| Previous name of Central American taxon | New name of Central American taxon | Range in Central America |
| Yellow-nosed Albatross (Thalassarche chlororhynchos) | Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatross (Thalassarche chlororhynchos) | PA |
| Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis) | Western Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis) | GT, BZ, SV, HN, NI, CR, PA |
| Black-throated Trogon (Trogon rufus) | Northern Black-throated Trogon (Trogon tenellus) | HN, NI, CR, PA |
| White-fringed Antwren (Formicivora grisea) | Northern White-fringed Antwren (Formicivora intermedia) | PA |
| Buff-throated Foliage-gleaner (Automolus ochrolaemus) | Fawn-throated Foliage-gleaner (Automolus cervinigularis) | GT, BZ, HN, NI, CR, PA |
| Buff-throated Foliage-gleaner (Automolus ochrolaemus) | Ochre-throated Foliage-gleaner (Automolus ochrolaemus) | PA |
| Striped Woodhaunter (Automolus subulatus) | Western Woodhaunter (Automolus virgatus) | HN, NI, CR, PA |
| Royal Flycatcher (Onychorhynchus coronatus) | Tropical Royal Flycatcher (Onychorhynchus conoratus) | GT, BZ, SV, HN, NI, CR, PA |
| Olivaceous Flatbill (Rhynchocyclus olivaceus) | Western Olivaceous Flatbill (Rhynchocyclus aequinoctialis) | PA |
| Green-fronted Hummingbird (Leucolia viridifrons) | Green-fronted Hummingbird (Ramosomyia viridifrons) | GT |
| Ocellated Crake (Micropygia schomburgkii) | Ocellated Crake (Rufirallus schomburgkii) | CR |
| Double-striped Thick-knee (Burhinus bistriatus) | Double-striped Thick-knee (Hesperoburhinus bistriatus) | GT, SV, HN, NI, CR, PA |
| Wilson’s Plover (Charadrius wilsonia) | Wilson’s Plover (Anarhynchus wilsonia) | GT, BZ, SV, HN, NI, CR, PA |
| Collared Plover (Charadrius collaris) | Collared Plover (Anarhynchus collaris) | GT, BZ, SV, HN, NI, CR, PA |
| Snowy Plover (Charadrius nivosus) | Snowy Plover (Anarhynchus nivosus) | GT, BZ, SV, HN, NI, CR, PA |
| Yellow-crowned Night-Heron (Nyctanassa violacea) | Yellow-crowned Night Heron (Nyctanassa violacea) | GT, BZ, SV, HN, NI, CR, PA |
| Black-crowned Night-Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax) | Black-crowned Night Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax) | GT, BZ, SV, HN, NI, CR, PA |
| Yellow-olive Flycatcher (Tolmomyias sulphurescens) | Yellow-olive Flatbill (Tolmomyias sulphurescens) | GT, BZ, SV, HN, NI, CR, PA |
| Yellow-winged Flycatcher (Tolmomyias flavotectus) | Yellow-winged Flatbill (Tolmomyias flavotectus) | NI, CR, PA |
| Ochre-lored Flycatcher (Tolmomyias flaviventris) | Ochre-lored Flatbill (Tolmomyias flaviventris) | PA |
| Northern Mouse-colored Tyrannulet (Nesotriccus incomta) | Northern Mouse-colored Tyrannulet (Nesotriccus incomtus) | CR, PA |
| Yellowish Pipit (Anthus lutescens) | Yellowish Pipit (Anthus chii) | PA |
| Slaty Finch (Spodiornis rusticus) | Slaty Finch (Haplospiza rustica) | GT, SV, HN, NI, CR, PA |
Yellow-nosed Albatross is split into two species
Yellow-nosed Albatross (Thalassarche chlororhynchos) is split into Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatross (T. chlororhynchos) and Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross (T. carteri), following studies by Robertson and Nunn (1998), Flood (2015) and Abeyrama et al. (2021). Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatross is a vagrant to Central America.
Cattle Egret is split into two species
Following a 2011 article in Dutch Birding (Ahmed 2011), Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis) is divided into Western Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis) and Eastern Cattle Egret (Bubulcus coromandus). The latter is found throughout Australasia, and shows a more reddish color in alternate plumage, and has a longer bill and tarsus, but a shorter tail, than the former. Eastern Cattle Egret is unlikely in Central America, where Western Cattle Egret is found in open areas everywhere.
Black-throated Trogon is split into four species
Following a comprehensive integrative taxonomic study by Dickens et al. (2021), Black-throated Trogon (Trogon rufus) is split into four species, with all Central American populations now being called Northern Black-throated Trogon (Trogon tenellus), and the remaining three species occurring in South America.
White-fringed Antwren is split into two species
White-fringed Antwren (Formicivora grisea) is split into Northern White-fringed Antwren (F. intermedia), which is found on the Panamanian Pearl Islands and in northwest South America, and Southern White-fringed Antwren (F. grisea) east of the Andes. While the males are quite similar in plumage, the females are not. Pronounced vocal and genetic differences support the split (Harvey et al. 2020).
Buff-throated Foliage-gleaner is split into two species
After a 2018 split of Chiriqui Foliage-gleaner (Automolus exsertus) from Buff-throated Foliage-gleaner (Automolus ochrolaemus), the latter is now further split into Fawn-throated Foliage-gleaner (Automolus cervinigularis) found from Mexico to northern Panama and Ochre-throated Foliage-gleaner (A. ochrolaemus), found in Panama and South America, based on vocal differences (Freeman and Montgomery 2017).
Striped Woodhaunter is split into two species
Striped Woodhaunter (Automolus subulatus) is split into Western Woodhaunter (A. virgatus) of Central America and northwestern South America and Eastern Woodhaunter (A. subulatus) of the western and central Amazon and Orinoco regions in South America. This aligns the Clements/eBird taxonomy with other taxonomies, and does justice to the marked vocal differences between these two taxa (Derryberry et al. 2011).
Royal Flycatcher is split into two species
Royal Flycatcher (Onychorhynchus coronatus) is split into Tropical Royal Flycatcher (O. coronatus), found in Central America and much of northern South America, and Atlantic Royal Flycatcher (O. swainsoni) from the Brazilian Atlantic Forest (Whittingham and Williams 2000). The Tropical Royal Flycatcher may yet prove to comprise multiple species, although the vocal differences among its populations are relatively minor in comparison to Atlantic Royal Flycatcher, which sounds quite different.
Olivaceous Flatbill is split into two species
Olivaceous Flatbill (Rhynchocyclus olivaceus) is split into Western Olivaceous Flatbill (R. aequinoctialis) and Eastern Olivaceous Flatbill (R. olivaceus). In Central America, Western Olivaceous Flatbill only occurs in eastern Panama, while Eastern Olivaceous Flatbill occurs from Venezuela east to southeastern Brazil (Boesman 2016, Simões et al. 2021).
Name changes
- The scientific name of the Green-fronted Hummingbird is changed from Leucolia viridifrons to Ramosomyia viridifrons (Bruce and Stiles 2021).
- The scientific name of the Ocellated Crake is changed from Micropygia schomburgkii to Rufirallus schomburgkii (Gill et al. 2023).
- The Double-striped Thick-knee’s scientific name Burhinus bistriatus becomes Hesperoburhinus bistriatus (Černý et al. 2023).
- Three of the region’s Charadrius plovers are now grouped under Anarhynchus: Wilson’s Plover (Anarhynchus wilsonia), Collared Plover (A. collaris) and Snowy Plover (A. nivosus). Three others occurring in the region remain in Charadrius: Semipalmated Plover (Charadrius semipalmatus), Killdeer (C. vociferus), and Piping Plover (C. melodus) See Černý and Natale 2022.
- Night Herons are now known to not be a monophyletic group (Hruska et al. 2023), and hence the hyphen between Night and Heron is now dropped in the English names of all species of Nycticorax, Nyctanassa, Gorsachius, Calherodias, and Oroanassa. In our region, this affects Yellow-crowned Night Heron (Nyctanassa violacea) and Black-crowned Night Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax).
- The group names of all species of Tolmomyias are changed from Flycatcher to Flatbill. In Central America, this affects Yellow-olive Flatbill (Tolmomyias sulphurescens), Yellow-winged Flatbill (Tolmomyias flavotectus), and Ochre-lored Flatbill (Tolmomyias flaviventris).
- The genus name Nesotriccus is masculine and thus the only representative on mainland Central America—Northern Mouse-colored Tyrannulet (Nesotriccus incomta) now becomes Northern Mouse-colored Tyrannulet (Nesotriccus incomtus).
- The Yellowish Pipit Anthus lutescens was long ago known as Anthus chii, and although Zimmer (1953) argued for the use of this name, it has long been known as lutescens. Smith and Clay (2021) reevaluated the issue and concluded that Yellowish Pipit (Anthus chii) is the valid name, as now agreed by SACC.
- The Slaty Finch Spodiornis rusticus gets its old name back: Slaty Finch (Haplospiza rustica).
We hope you will find this overview of recent advances in our knowledge of the region’s avifauna and the implications for avian taxonomy useful. There is still much to be learned about the Central American avian community, and new species still await description. Remember that your observations, photos, and (especially!) sound recordings of the region’s birds are important contributions to our better understanding of avian taxonomy. So thank you!