Talk:List of birds of Ontario

Neotropic cormorant

Neotropic cormorant, Phalacrocorax brasilianus is listed as an Ontario bird, yet it's page on WIkipedia indicates it is rarely found beyond the southern United States. Seems like the two pages contradict each other. 23.28.152.60 (talk) 16:30, 18 July 2015 (UTC)

This list is based on the Checklist of the Birds of Ontario maintained by the Ontario Field Ornithologists organization, and that list includes the neotropic cormorant. It is marked on our list as (A) for "accidental", meaning: occurrence based on one or two (rarely more) records and unlikely to occur regularly. So it's been seen there, but you are right that it is well outside of its normal range. Thanks for asking.  SchreiberBike | ⌨  17:23, 18 July 2015 (UTC)

Groove-billed ani

The Groove-billed ani among other birds is definitely not found in Ontario, what is going on?? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.52.231.4 (talk) 19:50, 21 October 2018 (UTC)

This list is based on the Checklist of the Birds of Ontario maintained by the Ontario Field Ornithologists organization, and that list includes the groove-billed ani. It is marked on our list as (A) for "accidental", meaning: occurrence based on one or two (rarely more) records and unlikely to occur regularly. So it's been seen there, but you are right that it is well outside of its normal range. Thanks for asking.  SchreiberBike | ⌨  20:00, 21 October 2018 (UTC)

Accidental Species

@Craigthebirder: re: [[1]] you are misunderstanding either the source or how the rest of this list is set up. Compare House Sparrow, just above the pipits. It is marked as (L)/C/S, meaning that it is normal in the Central and South zones, and accidental in the Lowlands zone. So in the list on Wikipedia, it is marked as (L). The Sprague's Pipit is marked as (L)(C), meaning that it is accidental in the Lowland and Central zones, and *unrecorded* in the South Zone. Therefore it is accidental in the whole province.

Actually the current setup of this list is kind of strange. For example Common Gallinule (unrecorded in the lowlands), and Pomarine Jaeger (common in the lowlands) both have the same designation (C). The current list is very prone to the exact misinterpretation you've just done. I think either the regional statuses should be removed entirely (so only species that are accidental to the whole province are labelled as such), or the full status from the OFO website should be included - listing regions where the species is common as well as where it is accidental. Either way though, White Wagtail and Sprague's Pipit are accidental anywhere in Ontario and should be marked as such.Somatochlora (talk) 21:09, 6 December 2019 (UTC)

@Somatochlora: Be my guest to delete or revise all of the tags. Craigthebirder (talk) 21:17, 6 December 2019 (UTC)

July 7, 2020 revisions

Because of the large number of changes necessitated by the update to the Check-list of North and Middle American Birds which the American Ornithological Society published on June 30, 2020, the revisions to this article are presented here rather than in a long series of edit summaries. Changes are per the AOS unless otherwise noted.

• Revise the references, counts, and text in the introduction.
• Revise multiple families' common names per Clements.
• Revise the sequence of species in family Phasiannidae (Pheasants, grouse, and allies).
• Revise the sequence of species in genus Selasphorus (Hummingbirds).
• Revise the sequence of species in family Rallidae (Rails, gallinules, and coots).
• Revise the sequence of families in order Suliformes.
• Revise the sequence of species in family Phalacrocoracidae (Cormorants and shags).

Craigthebirder (talk) 02:16, 8 July 2020 (UTC)

August 2021 revision

These are the changes made to update this list to the 2021 Check-list of North and Middle American Birds published by the American Ornithological Society (AOS) on June 29, 2021.

• Revise the sequence of families in Order Passeriformes.
• Revise the genus of spruce grouse.
• Split mew gull into common gull and short-billed gull and revise entries accordingly.
• Revise binomials of cormorant species.
• Revise the specific epithet of crested caracara.
• Revise the genus of ruby-crowned kinglet.
• Revise text, counts, and references as appropriate.

Craigthebirder (talk) 13:32, 13 August 2021 (UTC)