What happens if a species is split into multiple species?

From time to time species are split into multiple species. For example, following Rheindt et al. (2017), the species Glossy Swiftlet Collocalia esculenta was split into multiple species in revision 7.3 of the IOC World Bird List. So how does Chirp account for species splits?

Chirp will do the following for species splits in the IOC World Bird List:

1. Chirp will add the new species to our list and allocate them to the relevant region.
2. All sightings of the original species will remain as is and continue to count towards their life lists.
3. Chirp will then make an effort to contact all users with records of the species to notify them of the change and how they should edit their sightings. In the future we will try to automate some of these changes.

If you have any feedback regarding the above process, please feel free to comment below or send us feedback by clicking on the 'Feedback' button on the right of your screen (desktop only).