Thank you Kim. There has been some confusion about the Intermediate Egret. Without looking it up, I think it was about 4 years ago that the Australian list (‘WLAB’) recognized Gould’s
plumifera as the common ‘Intermediate’ egret (to be known as ‘Plumed Egret’) in Australia. This meant that reports of ‘Intermediate Egret
E. intermedia’ referred to a vagrant species from north of Australia. There was certainly some confusion about this. The Australian Bird Guide did not recognise the split, and the COG list was not brought into line with it. The eBird split will
probably be influential in promoting recognition of the split. No more Intermediate Egrets at Kelly Swamp then. The original rationale for the split was fairly slight, as I recall - had to do with breeding colour of the bare parts.
From: Canberrabirds <>
On Behalf Of Kim Farley via Canberrabirds
Sent: Tuesday, October 24, 2023 6:04 PM
To: Canberra birds <>
Subject: [Canberrabirds] For eBirders! The annual taxonomy update is starting 24 October
There are multiple taxonomies for the world's birds, with eBird and other projects of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology using the Clements
Checklist of Birds of the World.
Clements is updated annually to reflect changes in avian taxonomy and these changes are currently being incorporated into eBird.
As an eBirder you don't need to do anything. Any changes, and there may be none for you, automatically flow through to your
lists and stats. One change of interest to local eBirders who have also birded in Africa and parts of Asia is the chance to pick up an armchair tick through the split of Intermediate Egret into three species. Our local Intermediate Egret is one of the three.
Lots more interesting info is on eBird's 2023
Taxonomy Update page
Kim
ACT eBird reviewer
