Malaysia

Text by Dave Bakewell

Each year, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology publishes an update to the Clements Checklist, which incorporates some of the latest published and peer-reviewed research into the taxonomy of the world’s birds. It is published every August, and this year’s update can be found at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/august-2017/. A up to date world checklist can be downloaded from this site, as well as a summary of the changes for 2017.

Inevitably, some of the changes affect bird species which occur in Malaysia, which means that, each year, following the publication of the Clements update, the Malaysian list also needs to be updated. When complete, this will be available at https://sites.google.com/site/mnsbccrc/Home/malaysia-bird-checklist-2010.

To help you enter species correctly onto eBird Malaysia, below is a summary of the 2017 changes affecting us:

1. Gray-breasted Partridge (Malaysian) is now recognized as a full species – Malaysian Partridge Arborophila campbelli.

Malaysian Partridge (Picture Credit: Yeo Yee Ling)

2. Northern Harrier (Hen) is now recognized as a full species – Hen Harrier Circus cyaneus.

3. Glossy Swiftlet (race cyanoptila) is now known as Plume-toed Swiftlet Collocalia affinis. The name “Glossy Swiftlet” is now reserved for a species which occurs in eastern Indonesia, and not Malaysia, so take care to use Plume-toed Swiftlet when submitting records of what used to be called Glossy Swiftlet in Malaysia!

4. Drongo-Cuckoos. Fork-tailed Drongo-Cuckoo has been removed from the Malaysian list. This is because the migratory race which occurs in Malaysia in the northern winter (barusarrum) was formerly treated as a race of Fork-tailed. It has now been reassigned to Square-tailed Drongo-Cuckoo, which means that both the migratory and resident forms occuring in Malaysia belong to this species.

5. Streak-eared Bulbul now has a new scientific name – Pycnonotus conradi (formerly P. blanfordi)– after a species split.

6. Buff-vented Bulbul has been split into two species. Under the new arrangement, Buff-vented Bulbul Iole crypta (note the new scientific name) occurs in the Thai-Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Bangka and Belitung, Anambas Islands, and Natuna, while the form occurring in Borneo becomes a new endemic species – Charlotte’s Bulbul Iole charlottae.

Buff-vented Bulbul (Picture Credit: Choy Wai Mun)

7. Blue-throated Flycatcher (Chinese) is now recognized as a full species – Chinese Blue Flycatcher Cyornis glaucicomans. Blue-throated Flycatcher has not been recorded in Malaysia.

8. Additionally, there are a few minor changes to English names, as follows:

Mountain Warbler becomes Mountain Leaf Warbler
Large-billed Blue Flycatcher becomes Sunda Blue Flycatcher
Pygmy Blue Flycatcher becomes Pygmy Flycatcher

A Reminder of Some Earlier Changes to the Malaysian List
Some eBird users continue to enter incorrect names for Malaysian species. When this happens, reviewers must then take time to email the observer to ask them to make the correction, or else invalidate the record.

The majority of these mistakes involve the use of outdated names such as occur in most commonly-used field guides. To prevent this, do make use of the freely-available downloadable national checklist at https://sites.google.com/site/mnsbccrc/Home/malaysia-bird-checklist-2010.

Some of the commonest errors and their correct forms are given below:

Sunda Scops Owl (Picture Credit: Wilbur Goh)

We hope this explanation is helpful. Good birding, and keep those eBird lists coming!