The Clements Checklist

The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World, 6th Edition was published and released by Cornell University Press in June 2007. The book was produced from a nearly completed manuscript left by James Clements upon his death in 2005.

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology has accepted the job of maintaining the ever-changing list of species, subspecies, English names, and approximate distributions, beginning with publication of the 6th Edition. Our procedures for accomplishing this ongoing task include using the considerable expertise of our research ornithologists on staff, aided enormously by input from knowledgeable professional and amateur cooperators worldwide. We invite input on known or suspected errors or updates at any time.

This website serves as the clearinghouse for keeping your Clements Checklist up to date. We will post all corrections once a year in August. At the same time, we’ll post updates to the taxonomy, scientific and English nomenclature, and range descriptions, to incorporate changes that have made their way into the literature and are generally accepted by the appropriate scientific body or community. In the future, we will also be posting a list of alternative English names.