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The highly-anticipated unified bird taxonomy (AviList) is now slated for release on the 10th of June. Our good friends at iGoTerra have confirmed that within a couple of weeks they will be switching their primary taxonomic database into AviList from the old IOC taxonomy, and we will of course be following suit with all our iGoTerra-generated checklists and eventually website itineraries going forward. This exciting move will eventually see the exact same taxonomy being used across eBird and BirdLife for all species, and we are much looking forward to this future simplicity!

On the 10th of June, AviList will be available to view and download here: https://www.avilist.org/

Are you a skilled birdwatcher aged 18-30 who wants to rediscover a species lost to science? We’re now funding grants of up to $5000 USD to inspire driven young birders to seek out and document the world’s most poorly-known avifauna from unknown and far-flung locales.

Our team is beyond excited to be collaborating with The Search for Lost Birds on this project, and truly believe that it will help the next generation of birders turn their passion into impactful work which helps fill some major gaps in global ornithology.

Submissions close on the 20th December 2025. Please share this with any young birders or birding groups that you know! We have also opened our new webstore, from which all proceeds are directed into the grants. 

During our February tour covering the winter specialties of eastern China, we ended up with some extra time on Hainan which allowed us to visit the north-western corner of the island to search for Spoon-billed Sandpiper. Some individuals of this Critically Endangered shorebird are almost tame at one particular site, which is well-known amongst the Chinese birding and photography community but perhaps not so much internationally! We had wonderful encounters with this awesome bird as three different individuals fed mere metres in front of our awe-struck group!

Spoon-billed Sandpiper (Calidris pygmaea) by Joshua Bergmark

During our recent tour to Senegal, some welcome surprises joined the list. First of all, at Campement de Wassadou, we unexpectedly sighted a Brown-backed Honeybird (formerly known as Wahlberg’s Honeyguide) visiting a flowering tree. With a small handful of other records at this site since the first documented record for the country here in 2017, the localised presence in Niokola-Koba Park of the species is certainly confirmed.

The following week, near Dindefelo in the far south, we were staking out Black-faced Firefinch at a small waterhole. One bunting which came to visit was not the expected Brown-rumped Bunting, but proved to be a Cabanis’s Bunting, only the 2nd record for Senegal! The previous record was from this exact same waterhole in 2023, however multiple recent sightings of the otherwise scarce western cabanisi subspecies in surrounding countries (especially with Guinea-Bissau having recently acquired its first few records too), the species might regularly occur further to the northwest than previously thought.

Cabanis's Bunting (Emberiza cabanisi cabanisi) from southern Senegal by Joachim Bertrands