By Abdullahi Lukman
A single, standardized global checklist of bird species, called AviList, has been published for the first time, marking a major milestone for avian science and conservation efforts worldwide.
Released on June 12, 2025, AviList consolidates years of research and international collaboration, listing 11,131 bird species, 19,879 subspecies, 2,376 genera, 252 families, and 46 orders.
It replaces the previously used International Ornithological Committee (IOC) and Clements checklists and will now serve as the global reference for bird taxonomy.
Conservationists say the unified list will eliminate confusion caused by competing classification systems and improve the ability to monitor and protect bird populations.
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“The adoption of a single unified global taxonomic list for birds will benefit conservation, removing confusion and helping to align global data and research,” said Dr. Stuart Butchart, Chief Scientist at BirdLife International.
The checklist is the result of nearly four years of work by the Working Group on Avian Checklists, comprising experts from BirdLife International, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, American Ornithologists’ Society, International Ornithologists’ Union, and Avibase.
Dr. Paul Donald, BirdLife’s representative on AviList, said, “Resolving hundreds of taxonomic differences gave us a new perspective on global bird diversity. AviList should be the global standard for decades.”
BirdLife International will gradually transition its conservation work to align with AviList, ensuring compatibility with the IUCN Red List, eBird, Birds of the World, and other major databases.
Marshall Iliff, an AviList team member and eBird project leader, emphasized the importance of data alignment: “To protect birds globally, we must speak the same scientific language.”
AviList is publicly available for free download at [avilist.org](https://www.avilist.org), in both full and simplified formats (.xlsx and .csv).
