The A.B.A. Check-list of North American Birds, Sixth Edition

showing species seen, with date and location of first observation added

List of the 957 Bird Species (With Scientific and English Names)
Known From the A.B.A. Check-list Area

[563 observed, as of May 14, 2009]

Back to main page - See chronologic ABA list

The ABA Checklist includes native North American breeding species, regular visitors, casuals and accidentals from other regions that are believed to have strayed here without direct human aid, and well-established introduced species that are now part of our avifauna.

The geographic area covered (sometimes referred to as the ABA Checklist Area) is essentially North America north of Mexico. Specifically, the area encompassed is the 49 continental United States, Canada, the French islands of St. Pierre et Miquelon, and adjacent waters to a distance of 200 miles from land or half the distance to a neighboring country, whichever is less. Excluded by these boundaries are Bermuda, the Bahamas, Hawaii, and Greenland. A subarea of the ABA Checklist Area, or other prescribed area, is as defined by its legal boundaries. If not legally defined otherwise, it includes adjacent water (rivers, lakes, bays, sounds, etc.) out to half the distance to a neighboring area, but not beyond 200 miles. Birds observed on or over an ocean are counted for the area having jurisdiction over the nearest land, if within 200 miles.

Author notes: for the purposes of my list, I have in a couple cases separated out families which the AOU currently considers subfamilies, or has placed into INCERTAE SEDIS. (The ABA follows AOU guidance in family designation.) I believe there is reasonable justification for doing so, although this isn't the place to provide it - suffice it to say, the taxonomy is very largely in line with AOU with only a few exceptions, motivated mostly by an interest like that expressed by Don Roberson at his Creagrus site. Notable examples of the liberties I've taken with AOU definitions are the monotypic families COEREBIDAE and PANDIONIDAE, currently treated quite differently in the actual AOU checklist.

When no date is listed, it means either I am still trying to track down the date I first identified the bird, or that the bird was seen so long ago that the first ID date is not too important to me.

Brackets beside the family names indicate the number of species I've seen out of all the possible species in that family. As of the latest update the list includes 85 families.

Notes: "(A)" = accidental/casual in ABA area; "(I)" = introduced into ABA area; "(N)" = has not bred in ABA area, but occurs regularly as nonbreeding visitor; "" preceding name = extinct. "" preceding name = observed. (Mouse over the checkmark when present to see date and location of first-ever observation.) Species without symbols are non-introduced species that have nested at least once in the ABA area. The symbol "*" preceding name indicates a species that is probably misplaced in the current phylogenetic listing but for which data indicating proper placement are not yet available.

Expandable Check-list

Trivia: The most species I've observed in any family is 43, in the family Parulidae. Also, I've seen species now in 75 out of a possible 85 ABA families.