The Official List of the Birds of Pennsylvania

CLASSIFICATION OF RECORDS

The Pennsylvania Ornithological Records Committee is tasked with keeping the Official List of the Birds of Pennsylvania and associated abundance codes revised every five years for publication in Pennsylvania Birds. This current version of the list was reviewed and compiled during 2023-2024 by Julia Plummer, Chair, and Committee Members: Carl Engstrom, Corey Husic, and Scott Stoleson. The next revision will begin in 2028. A recent version of the list (click to view) was published in July 2018. This was an update to the 2011 version of the list (click to view). 
This seventh edition of the Official List contains 457 species — 447 accepted as Class I and 10 on the Provisional List. Since it was last published in 2018, there are 13 additions to the Official State List. One addition to the Provisional List was Wilson’s Storm-Petrel, Class III (2012), overlooked on the previously published list. Since the last published list, the AOS has split some species; this has resulted in some names having been updated (e.g., Common Gull, Western Cattle-Egret, American Goshawk, American Barn Owl, and Northern House Wren) but no new species were added to the state list by a split. However, Hoary Redpoll has been lumped with Common Redpoll, and thus no longer appears on the list.

Each record is classified by the committee based on the voting record of all members, on each record. Classifications are as follows:

Class I: An accepted species documented by identifiable specimen, diagnostic photograph, or diagnostic recording.
Class II: An accepted sight record documented independently by two, or more, observers.
Class III: An accepted sight record documented independently by one observer. Per the PORC Bylaws, the records must meet the Class I criteria to be included on the Official State List of the Birds of Pennsylvania. Species that are accepted as Class II and III are accepted on the Provisional List until they are promoted to Class I through supporting documentation of physical evidence (see Class I criteria).

Status Definition and Numerical Abundance

In 2024, the committee combined Status Definition and Numerical Abundance Codes to create a single system for describing abundance of birds in Pennsylvania. Codes 4, 5, and 6 are considered review list species.

1 – Regular: common 

2 – Regular: uncommon, local, or hard-to-find

3 – Regular: rare but annual, or highly restricted/irregular breeder

4 – Casual: occasional or increasing vagrant, six or more records in the last 30 years (review list)

5 – Accidental: Generally five or fewer records in the last 30 years (review list)

6 – Extirpated: A previously regularly occurring species that has not been recorded in fifty years (review list)

6 – Extinct: Extinct or probably extinct (review list)

Note on the above: Records refers to distinct instances of a bird or group of birds in a region. For example, if multiple reviewers observed the same species as it moved throughout a region, this would still count as a single record. Additionally, these occurrences only reflect PORC reviewed records.

Nomenclature: The taxonomic treatment and species sequence follows the 24th supplement of the 7th edition of the Checklist of North American Birds (American Ornithologists’ Union (AOU), 1998) and represents the order of the 65th supplement to the American Ornithological Society’s Check-list of North American Birds (Chesser et al., 2024).

Note– Bold and underlined species and any species not already on the list are classified as rarities, and sightings of these species therefore require a specimen, photograph, recording, or one or more written descriptions for considerations of acceptance by PORC. Species with an asterisk ‘*’ indicate those that are no longer on the review list due to their increased abundance in the state.

Official List (Class I Records)

Records accepted on the basis of a photograph, video, audio, or identifiable specimen.

Class I Additions to the Pennsylvania List since 2018:

Class I – 447 SPECIES 

Provisional List

Records accepted by the committee as Class II or Class III (sight record with written description), but lacking documentation with photograph, audio recording, or specimen, are held on the Provisional List until other documentation is provided for that species. The official State List is a record of species documented with a photograph, audio recording, or as a specimen, but, the committee can accept a sight-record with written evidence only, and these remain on a Provisional State List:

Recognizable forms and subspecies:

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The PORC would like to give gratitude to the many birders who contributed records to our database over the years. Without these contributions, we would not be able to paint a more accurate picture of the birdlife across the Commonwealth.

Additionally, acknowledgement is given to James Whitacre, for his time in editing this essay, and Emily Ritter, for her time organizing records for the committee to reveiw.

REQUESTS FOR CORRECTIONS AND RECORDS

The Official State List, and status and abundance listed in this essay, is not entirely conclusive for the avian occurrences in Pennsylvania. With other reporting outlets available, details are limited to what has been presented to this committee. Pending records may be accepted prior to the publishing of this essay.

It is possible that there will be errors in this list, whether typographical or technical, and potentially omissions. If you note these, please alert the committee by contacting the committee chair at: julia@juliaplummer.com

For recently reviewed records, please see:

PORC Recently Completed Records

Current and former PORC members who have served on the committee since the 2018 report:

George Armistead – 1st term (2020 – 2023)

Amy Davis (2022-2024)

Dave DeReamus (2012-2020)

Carl Engstrom (2023-2025)

Devich Farbotnik – 4th term (2019 – 2022)

Mike Fialkovich – 4th term (2019 – 2022)

Greg Grove (2018-2021)

Corey Husic (2022-2024)

Nick Liadis (2023-2025)

Annie Lindsay (2022-2024)

Holly Merker (2015-2021), Chair (2018-2021)

Julia Plummer – 1st term (2021-2023), Chair (2023), non-voting Chair (2024)

Tessa Rhinehart – Secretary, non-voting (2020-2022)

Emily Ritter – Secretary, non-voting (2023 – present)

Scott Stoleson – 1st term (2021-2023), 2nd term (2024 – 2026)

Billy Weber -4th term (2019 – 2022)

David Yeany II (2020-2022) – Voting Chair, 1st term (2021 – 2022)

Eric Zawatski (2024-2026)

References

Chesser, R. T., S. M. Billerman, K. J. Burns, C. Cicero, J. L. Dunn, B. E. Hernández-Baños, R. A. Jiménez, A. W. Kratter, N. A. Mason, P. C. Rasmussen, J. V. Remsen, Jr., and K. Winker. 2023. Check-list of North American Birds (online). American Ornithological Society. https://checklist.americanornithology.org/taxa/

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