General Provisions; Revised List of Birds Protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act

Open for public comment until Nov. 30, 2026. Comment on Regulations.gov

What it does

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), propose to revise the List of Birds Protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) by both adding and removing species and changing names to conform to accepted use by the scientific community. Reasons for the proposed changes to the list include adding species based on new taxonomy and new evidence of natural occurrence in the United States or U.S. territories, removing species no longer known to occur within the United States or U.S. territories, and changing names to reflect currently accepted taxonomy and nomenclature. The net increase of 25 species (32 added and 7 removed) would bring the total number of species protected by the MBTA to 1,131. We also propose to revise the names of species subject to specific migratory bird permit regulations to reflect currently accepted taxonomy and nomenclature. We are taking this proposed action because an accurate and up-to-date list of species protected by the MBTA is essential for public notification, regulatory, and law-enforcement purposes, and to ensure consistency in the use of common and scientific names across Service regulations.

The Fish and Wildlife Service's summary, as published in the Federal Register.

What it would change

2 parts of Title 50 of the Code of Federal Regulations:

50 CFR 10, 50 CFR 21

Before this

No earlier Federal Register document under regulation identifier 1018-BI13 since Jan. 1, 2025.

What happens next and when

We will accept comments received or postmarked on or before November 30, 2026. Comments submitted electronically using the Federal eRulemaking Portal (see ADDRESSES, below) must be received by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on the closing date.

The agency's dates, word for word.

Check it yourself

• The document in the Federal Register
• Docket FWS-HQ-MB-2026-0133 on Regulations.gov
• Title 50 on eCFR

The record as published

Source: the Federal Register (public domain). The document in the Federal Register