April 2014
The Official List of the Birds of Tennessee is compiled by the Tennessee Bird Records Committee. The sequence and nomenclature follow the American Ornithologists’ Union Check-list of North American Birds, Seventh Edition (1998) and more recent supplements.
The checklist includes 409 species that have been recorded in the state of Tennessee and are deemed to be naturally occurring or established, introduced species. Each species is assigned a status code according to the recent relative frequency with which it is recorded in the state. These status codes are defined as follows:
Regular – expected to occur every year in appropriate season and habitat;
Casual – occurs with some frequency but not every year;
Accidental – very rare and unpredictable vagrant;
Extirpated – no longer occurs within the state;
eXtinct – no longer occurs anywhere; and
Provisional – less than 3 accepted records within the state without photographs or a specimen.
The Committee requests documentation for all species on the Review List and any species not currently on the list. In general, reports of Regular species are considered valid records without documentation. However, some of these Regularspecies only occur in very specific or local habitat, and should be documented when seen away from their normal range. Occasionally other species classified Regular occur unexpectedly (for example, out of season) and the Committee may request documentation of details.
Species denoted with an asterisk (*) are documented to have bred within Tennessee in accordance with the classification of ‘confirmed breeder’ as defined in the Atlas of the Breeding Birds of Tennessee (documented evidence of a nest or young). The Committee requests documentation of breeding for any species not previously known to have bred in Tennessee .
As a special note, the recent reports of Whooping Crane in Tennessee represent birds from as-yet un-established reintroduction efforts in northern states. The TBRC encourages everyone to continue documenting such sightings and reporting them to the regional editors of the seasonal reports in The Migrant; however, the TBRC will not act on these reports unless these populations should become established and self-sustaining.
OFFICIAL LIST OF THE BIRDS OF TENNESSEE
Order Anseriformes
| Column Black-bellied Whistling-Duck, Dendrocygna autumnalis, A, * Fulvous Whistling-Duck, Dendrocygna bicolor, C Greater White-fronted Goose, Anser albifrons, R Snow Goose, Chen caerulescens, R Ross’s Goose, Chen rossii, R Brant, Branta bernicla, A Barnacle Goose, Branta leucopsis, A Cackling Goose, Branta hutchinsii, R Canada Goose, Branta canadensis, R, * Mute Swan, Cygnus olor, C Trumpeter Swan, Cygnus buccinator, A Tundra Swan, Cygnus columbianus, R Wood Duck, Aix sponsa, R, * Gadwall, Anas strepera, R Eurasian Wigeon, Anas penelope, A American Wigeon, Anas americana , R American Black Duck, Anas rubripes, R, * Mallard, Anas platyrhynchos, R, * Mottled Duck, Anas fulvigula, A Blue-winged Teal, Anas discors, R, * Cinnamon Teal, Anas cyanoptera, A Northern Shoveler, Anas clypeata, R, * |
Northern Pintail, Anas acuta, R 1
Garganey, Anas querquedula, A |
|---|
Order Galliformes (Grouse, Quails, and Allies)
Northern Bobwhite, Colinus virginianus, R, *
Ruffed Grouse, Bonasa umbellus, R, *
Greater Prairie-Chicken, Tympanuchus cupido, E
Wild Turkey, Meleagris gallopavo, R, *
Order Gaviiformes (Loons)
Red-throated Loon, Gavia stellata, R
Pacific Loon, Gavia pacifica , C
Common Loon, Gavia immer, R
Yellow-billed Loon, Gavia adamsii, A