Long-time readers will recall WC, asked the seemingly simple question of how many different bird species he had photographed, has been struggling for the last four years to provide an answer. WC, as recently as July of this year, had the illusion he was making progress.

Then the American Ornithological Society released the latest update to its world list of birds.

What’s the problem? Let’s look at some examples:

The Collared Inca, a beautiful hummingbird of the Neotropics, was split into three species. WC will have to look at each of his Collared Inca photographs (102 of them) and check where each was taken, and then try to match those with the three species. There are photos from at least three countries and probably a dozen different habitats.

The Gray Elaenia…