The initial goal of the IOC World Bird List project was to compile a set of unique English-language names for the extant species of the birds of the world.

Launched initially in 1990 and restarted in 1994 after the loss of our colleague Burt L. Monroe Jr,  the project took 15 years to complete. All participants gave freely and generously of their valuable time and resources. This was a volunteer effort of the ornithological community on behalf of the International Ornithological Congress (IOC).

The first product – a list of  English names  in Birds of the World, Recommended English Names (Princeton University Press, 2006) – was based on a consensus of leading ornithologists worldwide and conformed to standard rules of construction, namely

• based on explicit guidelines and spelling rules
• selected to involve minimal use of hyphens for group names
• anglicized without glottal stops, accents, and the like
• based on interregional agreement and global consensus, with compromises
• selected with deference to long-established names
• aligned with current species taxonomy
• available for general adoption
• sponsored and endorsed by the IOC and by committee members

To keep up with the current industry of taxonomic revisions, the IOC editorial team and advisors update the web-based list each January and June/July.  The updates include changes of recommended names or classification, additions of newly described species, corrections of nomenclature, and updates of species taxonomy.

The IOC World Bird List complements three other primary world bird lists that differ slightly in their primary goals and taxonomic philosophy, i.e. The Clements Checklist of the Birds of the World, The Howard & Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World, 4^th Edition, and HBW Alive/Bird Life International.

Improved alignment and consolidation of these independent taxonomic works is underway informally and was the topic of a vigorous Round Table discussion at the  2018 International Ornithological Congress in Vancouver, British Columbia.  There was broad support for consolidation and improved alignment of  global checklists of birds.  Update ( 7/31/2020).

Important notice on relationship between the IOC World Bird List and the IOU Global Checklist (2 August 2020): The IOU Working Group on Avian Checklists (see https://www.internationalornithology.org/working-group-avian-checklists, WGAC) has chosen to adopt the IOC World Bird List as the template for the building of its consolidated Global Checklist. The consolidated IOU Global Checklist will be an independent benchmark work with broader taxonomic coverage compiled by the IOU teams, which include the IOC World Bird List co-editors. Meanwhile, the IOC World Bird List will continue to be actively updated on a semiannual basis, including changes recommended by the IOU Global Checklist.  It is expected that the IOU Global Checklist will eventually supersede the IOC World Bird List. Stay tuned!

Frank Gill & David Donsker 2007, 2012, 2020