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British birds relegated to subspecies under shake up

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A pair of green winged teal ducks fly gracefully over the pond on their return to Ontario after a long winter.

Six wild birds recorded in Britain and Ireland are to be relegated to subspecies status, as ornithologists from the Working Group on Avian Checklists (WGAC) work to produce a global checklist of bird species, which will unify the three main global taxonomies.

The British and Irish national lists currently follow the International Ornithological Community (IOC) World Bird List. The other two lists are produced by Clements/eBird and BirdLife International

It is thought the hooded crow might be reclassified as a subspecies of the carrion crow and the Eurasian teal could be relisted with the green-winged teal. Cabot’s tern may also be getting the chop, becoming a subset of the Sandwich tern.

Mike Swan, technical adviser to the GWCT, said: “Most of us will hardly be bothered by this, but I do feel the standardisation of English names that has pervaded ornithology risks losing sight of tradition.

“To me curlew, lapwing and teal are all just that, and none of them need the word ‘Eurasian’ added to their name. And what of ‘tookee’? How many birdwatchers or taxonomists would recognise the North Kent marshmen’s name for a redshank?” he asked.