When I created the GreatBirdPics.com website I used the current eBird/Clements taxonomy. That was 2019. Since then scientists have continued to refine the list by combining two similar species into one, or splitting one species into two distinct species. Unfortunately I haven’t updated the database so once in a while someone tries to enter a species that isn’t recognized. This came up last week when Kaur tried to enter Short-billed Gull for the picture below:
Usually the species’ name pops right up when it is being entered but this one wasn’t in the database. I looked it up on Cornell’s All About Birds website and found that in 2021 the Mew Gull was split into the Short-billed Gull and the Common Gull of Eurasia. Kaur had to use Mew Gull as the species name in order to enter the picture.
I have to get ahold of the programmer for the database and see how I can add and subtract species names. Until then if you find you can’t enter a species (after checking your spelling a punctuation) contact me and I’ll look into it.
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