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Browse the full list of bird species in a traditional hierarchical format.
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Download
You can download a complete list of all bird species in the North and Middle America Checklist in CSV format. Please be patient as this is large!
Note on French names in spreadsheet.
If your spreadsheet editor is having difficulty displaying diacritics properly for French names, please use the following instructions to create a sheet that should display them properly:
1) Download file as CSV
2) Open Excel
3) File ---> New ---> Blank Workbook
4) Data ---> External Data ---> From Text
5) Select the downloaded file
6) Text Import Wizard:
-- keep as delimited
-- change file origin to Unicode (UTF8)
-- click "next"
-- check "comma" under delimiters
-- click "next"
-- click "finish"
7) Import Data: hit "ok" (leave defaults)
The American Ornithological Society's (AOS) Checklist is the official source on the taxonomy of birds found in North and Middle America, including adjacent islands. This list is produced by the North American Classification and Nomenclature Committee (NACC) of the AOS. The complete printed version of the 7th edition of the Checklist and its supplements are available to download. A hard copy of the 7th edition may be ordered from Buteo Books.
This checklist incorporates changes through the 65th supplement.
Recommended citation: Chesser, R. T., S. M. Billerman, K. J. Burns, C. Cicero, J. L. Dunn, B. E. Hernández-Baños, R. A. Jiménez, Oscar Johnson, A. W. Kratter, N. A. Mason, P. C. Rasmussen, and J. V. Remsen, Jr. 2024. Check-list of North American Birds (online). American Ornithological Society. https://checklist.americanornithology.org/taxa/
Geographic Area Covered
The geographic area covered includes North and Central America from the North Pole to the boundary of Panama and Colombia, including the adjacent islands under the jurisdiction of the included nations; the Hawaiian Islands; Clipperton Island; Bermuda; The West Indies, including the Bahama Islands, the Greater Antilles, Leeward and Windward Islands in the Lesser Antilles (ending with Grenada); and Swan, Providencia, and San Andrés Islands in the Gulf of Mexico. Greenland is not included in the coverage of the Seventh Edition of the Check-list, although it was included in earlier editions and will be in the next edition.
Proposals
The NACC operates on a proposal basis. Proposals are submitted and reviewed for taxonomic changes, English name changes, acceptance of distributional records, and other items related to the charge of the committee. Anyone may submit a proposal for consideration by the committee. Proposals must receive a 2/3 positive vote by committee members to pass. Proposals and votes may be subject to change pending further data or discussion. Thus, the outcome of proposals is not final until published in the annual supplement to the Checklist. Read more about the committee's philosophy and how it operates.