At Birda we understand that there are different taxonomic authorities and that these should be respected.

When you create an account on Birda, your taxonomic authority will be automatically set based on the taxonomy commonly used in your country. This will make sure that species you see in local bird books will match what you see in the Birda app.

If you don't think the taxonomic authority default is right for your country, please let us know by emailing us at support@birda.org. If you have a particular authority that you prefer to use then you can change this via the settings in the Birda app here: Profile > Settings > Taxonomic Authority.

We use three widely used birding taxonomic authorities on Birda and these are IOC, Clements and Birdlife. It’s worth noting that there is no ‘right’ choice – the convention you choose to use could be driven by the birding community you interact with, and/or the bird book you use.

In most instances, a particular authority may be more relevant to the birds in your region. For example, Clements is often used in much of the United States, whereas the IOC is more commonly used in the UK. Therefore, Birda will default to these if you are from those countries.

To read more about taxonomy in Birda read our blog post: Bird Taxonomy Explained.