2024 update

BirdLife South Africa's List & Rarities Committee

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In early 2024, BirdLife South Africa restructured the BirdLife South Africa National Rarities Committee and the BirdLife South Africa List Committee into a single, more streamlined and efficient entity, the BirdLife South Africa List and Rarities Committee.

Chaired by Dr Chris Lotz of Birding Ecotours and facilitated by Dr David Ehlers Smith of BirdLife South Africa, this committee comprises 18 nationally and internationally renowned ornithologists, academics, leading bird guides and conservationists. It serves to vet and ratify records of new bird species in South Africa, Lesotho and Eswatini; question changes in bird species' names that are 'suggested' by the International Ornithological Congress (IOC) (worldbirdnames.org); and preside over these possible changes in bird species' names that reflect the best interests of South Africa's birding community while remaining scientifically sound in the face of ever-changing taxonomies.

2024 was a busy year in the world of taxonomy, as the IOC introduced two taxonomic updates to the world's birds at the beginning (v14.1) and middle (v14.2) of the year. There were many taxonomic changes that affected the checklist of South African species, with one species being lost to a 'lump' (the subsuming of one species into another, as was the case for our Barlow's Lark being lumped with the Dune Lark). Others were split into separate species on the global stage, necessitating name changes to reflect which split species occur within our region (Intermediate Egret became Yellow-billed Egret, Red-fronted Tinkerbird became Southern Red-fronted Tinkerbird, Crested Guineafowl became Southern Crested Guineafowl and Rock Martin became Large Rock Martin).