09-24: 2025 Splits and Lumps with Nick Block

The American Birding Podcast

naswick

Science, Birding, Hobbies, Travel, Birdwatching, Leisure, Aba, Ornithology, Nature, Birds

4.7 • 632 Ratings

🗓️ 12 June 2025

⏱️ 59 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Break out your checklists and get ready for another summer of splits and lumps from the AOS North American Classification Committee. It’s time for our annual look at the proposed changes to the bird lists, the longest running segment on this podcast. And for every single one of those episodes, we've turned to biologist and birder Dr Nick Block of Stonehill College in Massachusetts. It's an interesting set of proposals this year, with Warbling Vireo splits, titmouse lumps, and lots of genetic mayhem.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	I've got some exciting news to share.
0:03.6	National Geographic has totally reimagined their popular and best-selling East and West field guides.
0:09.3	They've renovated them with the modern birder in mind,
0:12.5	burders who are carrying smartphones into the field and sharing their sightings online with birders from around the world.
0:18.2	The updated editions include all new text,
0:22.4	organized by the latest taxonomy, refreshed art, and design, and all new range maps developed in partnership with
0:27.9	Ebert. And they've included Hawaii in the West Guide. That's over 60 new species added to the
0:33.9	National Geographic Field Guide. But they have not changed the features that people love.
0:38.7	It's still a convenient paper bag.
0:40.2	It still has the navigational info on the front and back flaps and the thumb tabs.
0:45.0	The National Geographic Field Guide to the birds of the United States and Canada, east and west, are available.
0:50.4	Wherever books are sold, these updated guides are perfect for novice and experienced birders alike.
1:00.7	Hello and welcome to the American Birding Podcast from the American Birding Association.
1:04.8	I am Nate Swick. It's a big, big taxonomy week here in the bird world.
1:14.9	Not only does this episode feature our annual conversation with biologist Nick Block about the North American Classification Committee's annual report, which will be revealed
1:20.2	in a month or so here.
1:22.4	But this week saw the release of the long-awaited Avalist, the results of many, many years
1:27.2	of conversation and collaboration between birded Ava list, the results of many, many years of conversation and
1:28.2	collaboration between bird taxonomy authorities from around the world to finally create a
1:33.7	standardized global checklist of birds. So I'm recording this intro section on Tuesday.
1:40.3	I've just seen the list, and it is something. Still working on my opinion here.
1:46.2	Probably for the best that Nick and I hadn't seen it when we recorded this because
	...

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