I've gotten a couple recent inquiries about weird things on eBird alerts in
the last day or two. eBird is doing their annual taxonomic update, which
happens every August. These updates are posted as articles on the eBird
home page and elsewhere on social media, so when in doubt, check it out :)
Anyway, Red-eyed Vireo and Mallard/Mexican Duck and others are coming up in
your Needs Alert emails. The review queue is full of Red-eyed/Chivi Vireo
and Mallard/Mexican Ducks, etc. These species are being split in eBird.
Note - Mexican Mallard was NOT accepted as a separate species by AOS this
year (no arm chair lifer for many of you!), but eBird is splitting it out
in their taxonomy.
Wait a couple days and things should be all cleared up. It takes time for
all these changes to be made through the steps in eBird.
***If you are a mobile app user, please make sure you are using the latest
version of the app. AND try to submit a list from a new location that you
haven't used before, this will help ensure updates are complete, species
lists are accurate, etc.
I also found a pile of changes in the 36 TN filters, which will hopefully
revert after the taxonomic update. If not, you'll see a pile of the
unnecessary subspecies on the expected list of species. If they remain,
I'll eventually remove them.
Cheers,
Scott Somershoe
Co-Author of *Birds of Tennessee: A New Annotated Checklist
<http://www.amazon.com/Birds-Tennessee-New-Annotated-Checklist/dp/1507815751/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1453317221&sr=8-3>*
