Introducing {avilistr}: The AviList Global Bird Taxonomy is Now Available in R
The {avilistr} hex sticker features a scientific-style illustration of a Barn Swallow perched on a global checklist, with a soft-rendered Earth in the background. The swallow — a symbol of migration, connection, and return — reflects the mission of the AviList Global Avian Checklist, the first taxonomy to unify IOC, Clements, and BirdLife standards. This design captures the global reach and collaborative spirit behind {avilistr}: bringing together the world’s birds through shared data, structure, and purpose.
Five days ago, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology announced the release of AviList—the first unified global bird taxonomy. Today, I'm excited to share that this groundbreaking dataset is now available to R users through the avilistr package on CRAN.
🌎 The AviList Achievement
After decades of using different bird taxonomies—IOC, Clements, BirdLife—the ornithological community finally has a unified standard. Released in June 2025, AviList represents four years of collaboration by the world's leading ornithologists to create the first consensus global bird taxonomy.
As Marshall Iliff from Cornell Lab noted: "In trying to protect birds at a global scale, it is important to ensure that everyone is talking the same language and the data match,”
AviList delivers:
🐦 11,131 bird species across 252 families
🌍 First-ever unified global taxonomy
📊 End to conflicting IOC/Clements/BirdLife checklists
🆓 Free and publicly available
🦉 Why This Matters
Before AviList, researchers faced constant headaches:
"Is it Larus argentatus or split into multiple species?"
"Which checklist should I use for my analysis?"
"How do I reconcile data from different sources?"
AviList solves this by providing one authoritative global standard that major organizations (BirdLife International, Cornell Lab, IOC) are adopting.
🦜 The avilistr Package is Ready for Research
The avilistr package makes this unified taxonomy instantly accessible to R users:
# Install from CRAN
install.packages("avilistr")
library(avilistr)
# Load the complete global bird checklist
data(avilist_2025)
# Or use the streamlined version for faster analysis
data(avilist_2025_short)The hard work was done by the AviList Core Team. This package simply makes their achievement accessible to the R community.
🔗 Links:
Huge thanks to the AviList Core Team for four years of collaborative work to create this unified global standard. The avilistr package is my small contribution to making their achievement easily accessible to R users everywhere.
