The IOC World Bird List is an open access resource of the international community of ornithologists. Our goal is to facilitate worldwide communication in ornithology and conservation based on an up-to-date classification of world birds and a set of English names that follows explicit guidelines for spelling and construction (Gill & Wright 2006).
To keep up with the active industry of taxonomic revisions, the IOC editorial team and advisors update the web-based list quarterly. The updates include changes of recommended names or classification, additions of newly described species, corrections of nomenclature, and updates of species taxonomy.
The IOC World Bird List complements three other primary world bird lists that differ slightly in their primary goals and taxonomic philosophy, i.e. The Clements Checklist of the Birds of the World, The Howard & Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World, 4th Edition, and HBW Alive/Bird Life International. Improved alignment of these independent taxonomic works is a goal of the newly structured International Ornithologists Union, including a Round Table discussion at the 2018 meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Special thanks always to our expert advisors (left panel), to Sally Conyne for compiling Ranges, to Eng-Li Green for website management, to Larry Master and Colin Campbell for photos, to Peter Kovalik for spreadsheet magic, and to all volunteer participants. We welcome your corrections and your suggestions for improvement. You can reach us at worldbirdnames@gmail.com.
International Ornithologists Union (IOU) (2025). IOC World Bird List, v. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/anfqn6 accessed via GBIF.org on 2026-06-14.
