Our understanding of avian evolutionary relationships constantly evolves. As this understanding grows, avian taxonomy must keep pace – bird names and classifications, such as the families to which they belong, are under constant revision. To date, these changes have been parallel but somewhat disconnected processes, where phylogenetic (evolutionary) information eventually (hopefully) results in taxonomic changes.

We present early results on a project that seeks to more directly unite emerging evolutionary understanding with taxonomic revisions. By collaborating with the Open Tree of Life, we have created a modern phylogeny that can be readily updated as new evolutionary results are published, one that will one day directly link to the taxonomy and data resources used by Birds of the World.

We’ll discuss our methods for creating the phylogeny, why it's important, as well as exciting ways to combine these new tools with birdwatching itself.

Birds of the World is a powerful resource that brings deep, scholarly content from four celebrated works of ornithology into a single platform where biologists and birders can find comprehensive life history information on birds. Every bird has a story. Discover them all with Birds of the World. https://birdsoftheworld.org

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#aviantaxonomy #ornithology #science #birds #phylogeny #treeoflife