The following changes to the Checklist of Alaska Birds primarily reflect systematic changes imposed by the Sixtieth Supplement to the Check-list of North American Birds (2019; doi.org/10.1093/auk/ukz042):
ADD Stejneger’s Scoter Melanitta stejnegeri. Following 60th Supplement, in the family Anatidae (Ducks, Geese, & Swans), the White-winged Scoter Melanitta fusca is split into three species. Formerly maintained in Alaska as a subspecies, the (Asiatic) taxon stejnegeri is now maintained as a full species (Stejneger’s Scoter), and the (North American) White-winged Scoter is separated from the (European) Velvet Scoter. The earliest-named species of these three, the Velvet Scoter retains the epithet fusca; the next-available name for the (North American) White-winged Scoter is deglandi. Thus the two of these species on the Alaska list are now White-winged Scoter Melanitta deglandi and Stejneger’s Scoter Melanitta stejnegeri, in that order. For published discussion of the occurrence of Stejneger’s Scoter in Alaska, see Dunn et al. 2012 (Alaska records of the Asian White-winged Scoter. Western Birds 43:220-228) and Gibson and Withrow 2015 (Inventory of the species and subspecies of Alaska birds. Western Birds 46:111). For online access to those publications go to ‘Journal’ at westernfieldornithologists.org.
ADD Snowy Plover Charadrius nivosus. In the family Charadriidae (Lapwings and Plovers), Snowy Plover C. nivosus is added to the Alaska list founded on one bird observed 7 June 2019 at Egg Island, Copper River Delta, by Mary Anne Bishop, Kirsti Jurica, and Anne Schaefer (photos AKCLC). Following 60th Supplement, species in the genus Charadrius are reorganized; this species is listed last.
ADD Pallas’s Gull Ichthyaetus ichthyaetus. In the family Laridae (Gulls and Terns), Pallas’s Gull is added to the Alaska list founded on an adult observed 2-4 May 2019 at Shemya Island, Aleutian Islands, by Richard A. Fischer, who found the bird dead on 14 May 2019 and salvaged the specimen (UAM, ad. ♀). Following Dickinson and Remsen (2013), the genus Ichthyaetus is listed immediately preceding the genus Larus.
Following 60th Supplement, in the family Hydrobatidae (Northern Storm-Petrels), the two species in Alaska are transferred from the (feminine) genus Oceanodroma to the (masculine) genus Hydrobates, and their (adjectival) species epithets must now agree in gender with the latter. (In the Unsubstantiated List, note as well Swinhoe’s Storm-Petrel, also removed from Oceanodroma to Hydrobates.)
In the family Sulidae (Boobies and Gannets), Red-footed Booby Sula sula, now with a third Alaska record, is maintained as Casual, not Accidental.
In the family Picidae (Woodpeckers), the Eurasian Wryneck Jynx torquilla, now with a third Alaska record, is maintained as Casual, not Accidental.
Following 60th Supplement, in the family Hirundinidae (Swallows), the sequence of genera is reorganized.
Following 60th Supplement, in the family Acrocephalidae (Reed Warblers), the Thick-billed Warbler is moved to the genus Arundinax. Until this species was accepted by AOU/AOS, in 2019, AKCLC followed Dickinson and Christidis 2014 (The Howard and Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World, 4th ed., Vol. 2: Passeriformes. Aves Press, Eastbourne, England) in maintaining this species in the genus Acrocephalus.
Following 60th Supplement, in the family Locustellidae (Grassbirds), River Warbler L. fluviatilis immediately follows L. ochotensis. Until River Warbler was accepted by AOU/AOS, in 2019, AKCLC followed Dickinson and Christidis (2014) for linear placement in the genus.
Following 60th Supplement, in the family Passerellidae (New World Sparrows), the sequence of genera is reorganized, as is the sequence of species that constitute the genus Zonotrichia. Following 60th Supplement, in the family Parulidae (Wood-Warblers), Tennessee, Orange-crowned, and Nashville warblers are moved from the genus Oreothlypis to the genus Leiothlypis.