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Getting Started with avilistr

Introduction

The avilistr package provides access to the AviList Global Avian Checklist, the first unified global bird taxonomy. This vignette demonstrates how to work with the data for common ornithological and biodiversity analyses.

library(avilistr)
library(dplyr)
#> 
#> Attaching package: 'dplyr'
#> The following objects are masked from 'package:stats':
#> 
#>     filter, lag
#> The following objects are masked from 'package:base':
#> 
#>     intersect, setdiff, setequal, union
library(ggplot2)
library(tidyverse)
#> ── Attaching core tidyverse packages ──────────────────────── tidyverse 2.0.0 ──
#> ✔ forcats   1.0.0     ✔ stringr   1.5.1
#> ✔ lubridate 1.9.4     ✔ tibble    3.2.1
#> ✔ purrr     1.0.4     ✔ tidyr     1.3.1
#> ✔ readr     2.1.5
#> ── Conflicts ────────────────────────────────────────── tidyverse_conflicts() ──
#> ✖ dplyr::filter() masks stats::filter()
#> ✖ dplyr::lag()    masks stats::lag()
#> ℹ Use the conflicted package (<http://conflicted.r-lib.org/>) to force all conflicts to become errors

Loading the Data

The package provides three main datasets:

# Load the datasets
data(avilist_2025)         # Complete dataset (26 fields)
data(avilist_2025_short)   # Essential fields (~12 fields)  
data(avilist_metadata)     # Field descriptions

# Check data dimensions
cat("Full dataset:", nrow(avilist_2025), "records,", ncol(avilist_2025), "fields\n")
#> Full dataset: 33684 records, 26 fields
cat("Short dataset:", nrow(avilist_2025_short), "records,", ncol(avilist_2025_short), "fields\n")
#> Short dataset: 33684 records, 14 fields

Basic Data Exploration

Dataset Overview

# Count records by taxonomic rank
avilist_2025_short %>%
  count(Taxon_rank, sort = TRUE)
#> # A tibble: 5 × 2
#>   Taxon_rank     n
#>   <chr>      <int>
#> 1 subspecies 19879
#> 2 species    11131
#> 3 genus       2376
#> 4 family       252
#> 5 order         46

Taxonomic Diversity

# Count species by order (top 10)
species_by_order <- avilist_2025_short %>%
  filter(Taxon_rank == "species") %>%
  count(Order, sort = TRUE) %>%
  head(10)

print(species_by_order)
#> # A tibble: 10 × 2
#>    Order               n
#>    <chr>           <int>
#>  1 Passeriformes    6705
#>  2 Apodiformes       472
#>  3 Psittaciformes    406
#>  4 Charadriiformes   392
#>  5 Piciformes        385
#>  6 Columbiformes     350
#>  7 Galliformes       307
#>  8 Accipitriformes   252
#>  9 Strigiformes      245
#> 10 Coraciiformes     185
# Visualize most diverse orders
ggplot(species_by_order, aes(x = reorder(Order, n), y = n)) +
  geom_col(fill = "steelblue", alpha = 0.8) +
  coord_flip() +
  labs(
    title = "Most Species-Rich Bird Orders",
    subtitle = "Top 10 orders by number of species",
    x = "Order",
    y = "Number of Species",
    caption = "Data: AviList Global Avian Checklist v2025"
  ) +
  theme_minimal()

Family-Level Diversity

# Most diverse bird families
family_richness <- avilist_2025_short %>%
  filter(Taxon_rank == "species") %>%
  count(Family, Family_English_name, sort = TRUE) %>%
  head(15)

print(family_richness)
#> # A tibble: 15 × 3
#>    Family         Family_English_name                               n
#>    <chr>          <chr>                                         <int>
#>  1 Tyrannidae     Tyrant Flycatchers and Allies                   441
#>  2 Thraupidae     Tanagers and Allies                             390
#>  3 Trochilidae    Hummingbirds                                    363
#>  4 Muscicapidae   Chats, Old World Flycatchers, and Allies        352
#>  5 Columbidae     Doves and Pigeons                               350
#>  6 Furnariidae    Ovenbirds and Woodcreepers                      321
#>  7 Accipitridae   Kites, Old World Vultures, Eagles, and Hawks    250
#>  8 Thamnophilidae Antbirds, Antshrikes, Antwrens, and Antvireos   239
#>  9 Picidae        Woodpeckers                                     237
#> 10 Fringillidae   Finches, Euphonias, and Allies                  236
#> 11 Strigidae      Owls                                            228
#> 12 Psittaculidae  Old World Parrots                               200
#> 13 Meliphagidae   Honeyeaters                                     195
#> 14 Turdidae       Thrushes and Allies                             194
#> 15 Phasianidae    Partridges, Pheasants, Grouse, and Allies       187
# Visualize family diversity
ggplot(family_richness, aes(x = reorder(Family_English_name, n), y = n)) +
  geom_col(fill = "darkgreen", alpha = 0.8) +
  coord_flip() +
  labs(
    title = "Most Species-Rich Bird Families",
    subtitle = "Top 15 families by number of species",
    x = "Family",
    y = "Number of Species",
    caption = "Data: AviList Global Avian Checklist v2025"
  ) +
  theme_minimal() +
  theme(axis.text.y = element_text(size = 10))

Species Search and Filtering

Finding Specific Groups

# Get all thrush species
thrushes <- avilist_2025_short %>%
  filter(Family == "Turdidae", Taxon_rank == "species") %>%
  select(Scientific_name, English_name_AviList)

cat("Number of thrush species:", nrow(thrushes), "\n")
#> Number of thrush species: 194
head(thrushes)
#> # A tibble: 6 × 2
#>   Scientific_name     English_name_AviList  
#>   <chr>               <chr>                 
#> 1 Grandala coelicolor Grandala              
#> 2 Sialia sialis       Eastern Bluebird      
#> 3 Sialia mexicana     Western Bluebird      
#> 4 Sialia currucoides  Mountain Bluebird     
#> 5 Pinarornis plumosus Boulder Chat          
#> 6 Stizorhina finschi  Finsch's Rufous Thrush
# Get all raptors (birds of prey)
raptor_families <- c("Accipitridae", "Falconidae", "Strigidae", "Tytonidae")

raptors <- avilist_2025_short %>%
  filter(Family %in% raptor_families, Taxon_rank == "species") %>%
  count(Family, Family_English_name, sort = TRUE)

print(raptors)
#> # A tibble: 4 × 3
#>   Family       Family_English_name                              n
#>   <chr>        <chr>                                        <int>
#> 1 Accipitridae Kites, Old World Vultures, Eagles, and Hawks   250
#> 2 Strigidae    Owls                                           228
#> 3 Falconidae   Falcons and Caracaras                           65
#> 4 Tytonidae    Bay Owls and Barn Owls                          17

Pattern Matching

# Find species with "Robin" in their name
robins <- avilist_2025_short %>%
  filter(str_detect(English_name_AviList, "Robin"), Taxon_rank == "species") %>%
  select(Scientific_name, English_name_AviList, Family) %>%
  arrange(Family)

print(robins)
#> # A tibble: 100 × 3
#>    Scientific_name         English_name_AviList      Family      
#>    <chr>                   <chr>                     <chr>       
#>  1 Tychaedon coryphoeus    Karoo Scrub Robin         Muscicapidae
#>  2 Tychaedon leucosticta   Forest Scrub Robin        Muscicapidae
#>  3 Tychaedon signata       Brown Scrub Robin         Muscicapidae
#>  4 Tychaedon quadrivirgata Bearded Scrub Robin       Muscicapidae
#>  5 Tychaedon barbata       Miombo Scrub Robin        Muscicapidae
#>  6 Cercotrichas podobe     Black Scrub Robin         Muscicapidae
#>  7 Cercotrichas galactotes Rufous-tailed Scrub Robin Muscicapidae
#>  8 Cercotrichas paena      Kalahari Scrub Robin      Muscicapidae
#>  9 Cercotrichas hartlaubi  Brown-backed Scrub Robin  Muscicapidae
#> 10 Cercotrichas leucophrys White-browed Scrub Robin  Muscicapidae
#> # ℹ 90 more rows
# Explore a specific genus (Turdus)
turdus_species <- avilist_2025_short %>%
  filter(str_detect(Scientific_name, "^Turdus "), Taxon_rank == "species") %>%
  select(Scientific_name, English_name_AviList) %>%
  arrange(Scientific_name)

cat("Number of Turdus species:", nrow(turdus_species), "\n")
#> Number of Turdus species: 105
head(turdus_species, 10)
#> # A tibble: 10 × 2
#>    Scientific_name       English_name_AviList     
#>    <chr>                 <chr>                    
#>  1 Turdus abyssinicus    Abyssinian Thrush        
#>  2 Turdus albicollis     White-necked Thrush      
#>  3 Turdus albocinctus    White-collared Blackbird 
#>  4 Turdus amaurochalinus Creamy-bellied Thrush    
#>  5 Turdus ardosiaceus    Eastern Red-legged Thrush
#>  6 Turdus arthuri        Campina Thrush           
#>  7 Turdus assimilis      White-throated Thrush    
#>  8 Turdus atrogularis    Black-throated Thrush    
#>  9 Turdus aurantius      White-chinned Thrush     
#> 10 Turdus bewsheri       Comoro Thrush

Data Quality and Validation

Checking Data Completeness

# Summary of data completeness
data_completeness <- avilist_2025 %>%
  summarise(
    total_records = n(),
    missing_scientific_names = sum(is.na(Scientific_name)),
    missing_families = sum(is.na(Family)),
    missing_orders = sum(is.na(Order)),
    missing_avilist_names = sum(is.na(English_name_AviList))
  )

print(data_completeness)
#> # A tibble: 1 × 5
#>   total_records missing_scientific_names missing_families missing_orders
#>           <int>                    <int>            <int>          <int>
#> 1         33684                        0               46              0
#> # ℹ 1 more variable: missing_avilist_names <int>

Comparing Name Sources

# Compare AviList vs Clements naming
name_comparison <- avilist_2025 %>%
  filter(Taxon_rank == "species") %>%
  summarise(
    total_species = n(),
    has_avilist_name = sum(!is.na(English_name_AviList)),
    has_clements_name = sum(!is.na(English_name_Clements_v2024)),
    has_both_names = sum(!is.na(English_name_AviList) & !is.na(English_name_Clements_v2024)),
    names_differ = sum(English_name_AviList != English_name_Clements_v2024, na.rm = TRUE)
  )

print(name_comparison)
#> # A tibble: 1 × 5
#>   total_species has_avilist_name has_clements_name has_both_names names_differ
#>           <int>            <int>             <int>          <int>        <int>
#> 1         11131            11131             11026          11026         1906
# Examples where names differ between sources
name_differences <- avilist_2025 %>%
  filter(
    Taxon_rank == "species",
    !is.na(English_name_AviList),
    !is.na(English_name_Clements_v2024),
    English_name_AviList != English_name_Clements_v2024
  ) %>%
  select(Scientific_name, English_name_AviList, English_name_Clements_v2024) %>%
  head(10)

print(name_differences)
#> # A tibble: 10 × 3
#>    Scientific_name        English_name_AviList         English_name_Clements_v…¹
#>    <chr>                  <chr>                        <chr>                    
#>  1 Apteryx rowi           Okarito Kiwi                 Okarito Brown Kiwi       
#>  2 Eudromia formosa       Quebracho Crested Tinamou    Quebracho Crested-Tinamou
#>  3 Eudromia elegans       Elegant Crested Tinamou      Elegant Crested-Tinamou  
#>  4 Tinamus tao            Grey Tinamou                 Gray Tinamou             
#>  5 Crypturellus duidae    Grey-legged Tinamou          Gray-legged Tinamou      
#>  6 Dendrocygna guttata    Spotted Whistling Duck       Spotted Whistling-Duck   
#>  7 Dendrocygna eytoni     Plumed Whistling Duck        Plumed Whistling-Duck    
#>  8 Dendrocygna viduata    White-faced Whistling Duck   White-faced Whistling-Du…
#>  9 Dendrocygna autumnalis Black-bellied Whistling Duck Black-bellied Whistling-…
#> 10 Dendrocygna arborea    West Indian Whistling Duck   West Indian Whistling-Du…
#> # ℹ abbreviated name: ¹​English_name_Clements_v2024

Working with Performance

Memory and Speed Considerations

# For large analyses, use the short dataset when possible
system.time({
  short_analysis <- avilist_2025_short %>%
    filter(Taxon_rank == "species") %>%
    count(Order)
})
#>    user  system elapsed 
#>   0.011   0.001   0.012

# Filter early to reduce data size
songbirds <- avilist_2025_short %>%
  filter(Order == "Passeriformes", Taxon_rank == "species")

cat("Songbird species:", nrow(songbirds), "\n")
#> Songbird species: 6705

# Select only needed columns to reduce memory usage
essential_fields <- avilist_2025 %>%
  select(Scientific_name, English_name_AviList, Family, Order, Taxon_rank)

cat("Memory usage reduced from", ncol(avilist_2025), "to", ncol(essential_fields), "columns\n")
#> Memory usage reduced from 26 to 5 columns

Integration with Other R Packages

Using with taxize

library(taxize)

# Get a sample of species for validation
sample_species <- avilist_2025_short %>%
  filter(Family == "Turdidae", Taxon_rank == "species") %>%
  pull(Scientific_name) %>%
  head(5)

# Validate names with GBIF (commented out to avoid API calls in vignette)
# gbif_validation <- get_gbifid(sample_species)

Using with rebird for eBird Integration

library(rebird)

# Get Cornell Lab species codes from full dataset
thrush_codes <- avilist_2025 %>%
  filter(Family == "Turdidae", Taxon_rank == "species") %>%
  select(Scientific_name, Species_code_Cornell_Lab) %>%
  filter(!is.na(Species_code_Cornell_Lab))

# Example: Get recent observations (commented out to avoid API calls)
# recent_thrushes <- ebirdregion("US-NY", species = thrush_codes$Species_code_Cornell_Lab[1])

Advanced Analyses

Taxonomic Patterns

# Find monotypic genera (genera with only one species)
monotypic_genera <- avilist_2025_short %>%
  filter(Taxon_rank == "species") %>%
  mutate(genus = str_extract(Scientific_name, "^[A-Z][a-z]+")) %>%
  count(genus, Family) %>%
  filter(n == 1) %>%
  arrange(Family)

cat("Number of monotypic genera:", nrow(monotypic_genera), "\n")
#> Number of monotypic genera: 890

# Genera per family
monotypic_summary <- monotypic_genera %>%
  count(Family, name = "monotypic_genera") %>%
  arrange(desc(monotypic_genera)) %>%
  head(10)

print(monotypic_summary)
#> # A tibble: 10 × 2
#>    Family         monotypic_genera
#>    <chr>                     <int>
#>  1 Thraupidae                   48
#>  2 Trochilidae                  40
#>  3 Accipitridae                 37
#>  4 Tyrannidae                   35
#>  5 Anatidae                     32
#>  6 Furnariidae                  28
#>  7 Thamnophilidae               26
#>  8 Fringillidae                 21
#>  9 Meliphagidae                 20
#> 10 Sturnidae                    20

Geographic Patterns (using Type Locality)

# Analyze type localities (where species were first described)
type_localities <- avilist_2025 %>%
  filter(Taxon_rank == "species", !is.na(Type_locality)) %>%
  mutate(
    continent = case_when(
      str_detect(Type_locality, regex("Australia|New Zealand", ignore_case = TRUE)) ~ "Australasia",
      str_detect(Type_locality, regex("Europe|European", ignore_case = TRUE)) ~ "Europe",
      str_detect(Type_locality, regex("Africa|African", ignore_case = TRUE)) ~ "Africa",
      str_detect(Type_locality, regex("Asia|Asian|China|Japan|India", ignore_case = TRUE)) ~ "Asia",
      str_detect(Type_locality, regex("America|Brazil|Peru|Mexico|Canada|USA", ignore_case = TRUE)) ~ "Americas",
      TRUE ~ "Other"
    )
  ) %>%
  count(continent, sort = TRUE)

print(type_localities)
#> # A tibble: 6 × 2
#>   continent       n
#>   <chr>       <int>
#> 1 Other        8233
#> 2 Americas     1459
#> 3 Asia          411
#> 4 Australasia   263
#> 5 Africa        257
#> 6 Europe        145

Exploring Field Metadata

# Understand the available fields
print(avilist_metadata)
#> # A tibble: 26 × 6
#>    field_name      in_full_version in_short_version description data_type source
#>    <chr>           <lgl>           <lgl>            <chr>       <chr>     <chr> 
#>  1 Authority       TRUE            TRUE             Author and… character AviLi…
#>  2 AvibaseID       TRUE            TRUE             Avibase da… character Aviba…
#>  3 Bibliographic_… TRUE            TRUE             Bibliograp… character AviLi…
#>  4 BirdLife_DataZ… TRUE            FALSE            BirdLife D… characte… BirdL…
#>  5 Birds_of_the_W… TRUE            FALSE            Birds of t… characte… Corne…
#>  6 Decision_summa… TRUE            TRUE             Data field… character AviLi…
#>  7 English_name_A… TRUE            TRUE             English co… character AviLi…
#>  8 English_name_B… TRUE            FALSE            Name field… character BirdL…
#>  9 English_name_C… TRUE            FALSE            English co… character Cleme…
#> 10 Extinct_or_pos… TRUE            TRUE             Data field… character AviLi…
#> # ℹ 16 more rows

# Fields available in short vs full dataset
cat("Fields in short dataset:\n")
#> Fields in short dataset:
short_fields <- avilist_metadata %>%
  filter(in_short_version) %>%
  pull(field_name)
cat(paste(short_fields, collapse = ", "), "\n\n")
#> Authority, AvibaseID, Bibliographic_details, Decision_summary, English_name_AviList, Extinct_or_possibly_extinct, Family, Family_English_name, IUCN_Red_List_Category, Order, Range, Scientific_name, Sequence, Taxon_rank

cat("Additional fields in full dataset:\n")
#> Additional fields in full dataset:
full_only_fields <- avilist_metadata %>%
  filter(in_full_version & !in_short_version) %>%
  pull(field_name)
cat(paste(full_only_fields, collapse = ", "), "\n")
#> BirdLife_DataZone_URL, Birds_of_the_World_URL, English_name_BirdLife_v9, English_name_Clements_v2024, Gender_of_genus, Original_description_URL, Proposal_number, Protonym, Species_code_Cornell_Lab, Title_of_original_description, Type_locality, Type_species_of_genus

Summary

The avilistr package provides comprehensive access to the unified AviList Global Avian Checklist. Key takeaways:

  1. Use the short dataset for most analyses to improve performance
  2. Filter early in your analysis pipeline to reduce memory usage
  3. Leverage the metadata to understand field contents and sources
  4. Integrate with other packages like taxize and rebird for enhanced functionality
  5. Take advantage of the unified taxonomy to avoid conflicts between different checklist authorities

For more advanced functionality, future versions of the package may include dedicated search and validation functions.

These binaries (installable software) and packages are in development.
They may not be fully stable and should be used with caution. We make no claims about them.