Swedish Taxonomic Committee - BirdLife Sverige

BirdLife Sweden’s Taxonomic Committee

Welcome to the condensed information in English from BirdLife Sweden’s Taxonomic Committee, or the Swedish Taxonomic Committee (STC).

About the committee

The Swedish Taxonomic Committee reports to the board of BirdLife Sweden, but is tasked to independently assess taxonomy and naming issues. The specific mission for STC is to maintain taxonomically up-to-date lists for all taxa found in the Western Palearctic, establish Swedish names on all bird species of the world, and – together with the Swedish Rarities Committee – maintain the official Swedish list, including all taxa down to subspecies level. An annual report is published in Swedish on our website, with an abridged version published in BirdLife Sweden’s member journal Vår Fågelvärld.

With multiple competing global bird taxonomies, the STC has previously independently adjudicated taxonomic questions and determined the taxonomic status of taxa within the Western Palearctic, reflected in the Swedish and Western Palearctic lists. Together with the board of BirdLife Sweden, we have decided though to fully adopt and endorse the unified global avian taxonomy of AviList from its release 2025. In addition, members of the STC have been involved with aspects of AviList v2025 and the STC members are now part of the newly formed Regional Advisory Group – Palearctic.

Current members of STC are Erling Jirle (convener), Markus Lagerqvist, Gustav Asplund and Martin Stervander.

Previous members, from the formation in 2001, include Björn Anderson, Lars Svensson, Urban Olsson, Tommy Tyrberg and Johan Fromholtz. The STC can be contacted via email: tk@birdlife.se

The Swedish List – Official list of bird taxa recorded in Sweden

The official Swedish list is jointly administered by the STC (systematics, taxonomy, names) and the Swedish Rarities Committee (status and categorization, number of records, etc.). Only species and subspecies in categories A–C constitute Sweden’s official bird list, but category D and E taxa are listed as well. (For an explanation in English of AERC’s categories, see IRBC.)

The taxonomy follows AviList v2025 and, notably, all subspecies recorded in Sweden also have official Swedish names. English subspecies names that are publicly available have been implemented, but in cases where we have not been able to find such names, the STC has provided tentative English names (clearly indicated as such by an asterisk).

Download the latest version of the official Swedish list:

Excel format (.xlsx) PDF format (200 kB)

Checklist of the Birds of the Western Palearctic

The STC maintains a list of all bird species recorded in the Western Palearctic, with status information, notes about endemism, whether a species is introduced, and taxonomic updates. The list follows the AviList taxonomy. As of the 2026 edition, the list is English-based and expanded with explicit notes on rarities. The checklist is available in two formats, PDF and Excel. The pdf version also includes a detailed introduction.

Download the latest version:

Excel format (.xlsx) PDF including introduction

Official Swedish names of all bird species of the world

Traditionally, Swedish names have existed for most bird species in the Western Palearctic, but until relatively recently, no such names were available for species in the rest of the world. The STC has helped develop and, since 2013, maintained a list of Swedish names of all bird species. The list has previously followed IOC, and has been updated with each IOC update.

From June 2025, the taxonomy instead follows AviList, and Swedish names will update with each annually updated version of AviList. The principles of the linear sequence are explained by AviList and expanded somewhat by the STC. For international readers, it may be worth to note a few aspects of Swedish names of bird species:

All names consist of either one or two (non-compound or compound) words, never three or more.
The initial letters of species names are never capitalized (unless the name starts a sentence).
Swedish bird names are descriptive and traditionally included rather few eponyms. In the initial naming of species outside of Western Palearctic in 2013, quite a few were translated from English names, introducing more eponyms. Over time, new names have been given to some species, and since 2022 the STC has strived to replace the remaining four hundred eponyms, a project that concluded in 2025. For all its consistency, there was strong consensus in Sweden to make a single exception, namely to let the Eleonora’s Falcon Falco eleonorae (eleonorafalk in Swedish) retain its name, in the honor of the Sardinian judge Eleonora d’Arborea (1347–1404), who protected hawk and falcon nests from illegal hunters through the introduction of a law in 1392.

As an aid to the reader of the list, the STC maintains a glossary [Ordlista] of names and words that are reflected in Swedish bird species names. These include geographic sites or areas, specific habitats, ethnic groups, etc. While this glossary is maintained in Swedish only, an auto-translation to English may still be useful to non-Swedish speakers.

Download the latest version of the Official list of Swedish names for the birds species of the world, following AviList version 2, published 20 Oct 2026, including scientific, English, and Swedish names:

Excel format (.xlsx) PDF format (2,1 MB)

List of extinct bird species in the Holocene

The STC has developed a unique list of bird species that have become extinct during the last 11,700 years of the Holocene, including English and Swedish names, as well as references to the formal descriptions of the taxa. This is a work in progress and any additions or comments are welcome (email).

The taxonomy and linear sequence of the list currently largely follows IOC, when applicable, with priority given to the latest research for those genera and families unique to extinct birds. In forthcoming versions, this will be updated to reflect the linear sequence of AviList.

Download the latest version of the List of extinct bird species in the Holocene: