The recent taxonomic update for 2022 at eBird has added a few warbler species to the official eBird list and I will take a look at them below and how these changes impact my quest to see them all.
The first splits involve Masked Yellowthroat which has been split into three separate species: Masked Yellowthroat (Northern South America from Colombia through Brazil including the southern Lesser Antilles...hopefully I can catch up with this species when I head to Trinidad in March), Black lored Yellowthroat (primarily eastern Ecuador through the mid section of Peru), and Southern Yellowthroat (a widespread section of central South America). I have seen Black lored Yellowthroat in Ecuador including the Maranon subspecies. The entire yellowthroat complex is in a word, complex. The various species and subspecies have been moved around over the years and many are likely unique species and I expect to see more splits as additional study reveal more details.
The next split involves the widespread Three striped Warbler that has many subspecies that could be elevated to full species at some point. A couple of species were broken off from the main group a few years ago and became Costa Rican Warbler (in Costa Rica and Panama) and Tacarcuna Warbler (in the very remote area of the Darian on the border of Panama and Colombia). The newest split is Yungas Warbler which occurs in the Andes of southeast Peru to eastern Bolivia. I have seen Three striped Warbler in Ecuador and Colombia and have had Costa Rican Warbler in Costa Rica.
The final split involves Golden bellied Warbler which has been split into two species. The first species is Cuzco Warbler which occurs on the east slope of the Andes from central Peru down to eastern Bolivia. The second newly named species is Choco Warbler, which occurs in western Colombia down to northwest Ecuador. I have seen Choco Warbler in a few spots in Ecuador but sadly no photos.
The splits give me more species to go after as I continue on my quest to see all the new world warbler species.
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