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Hello and welcome to the American Birding Podcast from the American Birding Association. I'm your host, Nate Swick. Burders sometimes think of taxonomy as a niche interest, the splits and lumps

that we obsess over because it means more species or less commonly fewer species on our individual

life lists. But taxonomy is a critical conservation tool as well. And some birders might not be as aware of this angle.

Take, for example, the California gnat catcher, the little songbird found throughout Baja,

in Mexico, and into the ABA area in Southern California.

Birds who have been around a while might remember that the California nat catcher used to be

considered a subspecies

of the black-tailed gnat catcher and it was split by the AOS, well then it was the AOU, back in

1989, almost 35 years ago, feels like yesterday.

At the moment where the California nat catcher became a species in its own right in the eyes

of the U.S. government. It was, as a threatened

species, given instant protections by the Endangered Species Act. A lot of the sage scrub habitat

in Southern California was designated as critical habitat for this species. And as Southern

California is one of the most highly developed parts of the nation. The populations of the species are small

and fragmented and what habitat remains is always under threat from real estate development

...