David Sibley has a good overview of the current status of trends in species-splitting at http://www.sibleyguides.com/2010/04/the-next-10-north-american-bird-splits/#more-2168 For the most part, splits are proposed between forms in the east versus those in the west, perhaps those separated by the shape of the last glaciation. Actually, Ohio is far enough west to have records of only the western subspecies of willet (which Sibley regards as the 'most splittable'), and not the eastern form. The AOU committee which acts as the authority has recent actions on some of these possible splits, which can be read at http://www.aou.org/committees/nacc/proposals/pending.php Worth a look. Bill Whan Columbus ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]