Birds Ireland > Irish list

The Complete Checklist
of Irish Birds

Updated 8/10/2000
Colin McNamee

Introduction
To date, there are 438 species on the main Irish list, excluding those extinct, not fully established or of uncertain origin.

The following list is designed to be an at-a-glance guide to the status of birds in Ireland. It includes records up to the end of September 2000.

In some cases, records that have not yet been assessed by the Irish Rare Birds Committee and The Northern Ireland Birdwatcher's Association Rarities Committee are included. This is done in order to ensure that the list is as up to date as possible. All of those records will be subject to the NIBARC & IRBC's final decisions.

Photo: Anthony McGeehan

Greater Yellowlegs (Anthony McGeehan)
An American vagrant to Ireland, with only five records.

For major rarities, the last known year of occurrence is given, along with the number of records for species that have occurred 100 times or less. The folowing symbols will appear in the right hand margin of each page to allow for quick reference.

Species origins for rarities
Eu - Europe
Am - America
As - Asia
Af - Africa
Oc - Oceanic
Ar - Arctic

Species status in Ireland
C - Common
U - Uncommon
P - Passage migrant
L - Localised
S - Summer
W - winter
A - All year
% - Variable numbers
R - Rare
V - Vagrant
F - Feral
n. - number not known
c. - circa
> - Increasing
< - Decreasing
* - Breeds
(*) - Has bred

! - Indicates the 12 most threatened breeding species, as identified in Birdwatch Ireland's Conservation Strategy.

The original version of this checklist was modelled on the format used in A Checklist of Irish Birds (1979, J.Fitzharris et al.) The following references were used extensively in the preparation of this version of the checklist, and should be regarded as essential sources of references.
Irish Rare Birds Committee. 1998. Checklist of the Birds of Ireland. BirdWatch Ireland,Dublin.
Clive Hutchinson. 1989. Birds in Ireland . Poyser.
Irish Birds. Annual Journal of Birdwatch Ireland, (All Volumes.).
R.F.Ruttledge. A list of the Birds of Ireland.

Thanks
The original version of this checklist was published in 1995, and I would like to thank the IRBC for their comments on the original drafts, most particularly Killian Mullarney and Jim Fitzharris. Particular thanks are to due to Paddy O'Keeffe for his help and encouragement in the preparation of the first drafts. Thanks also to Pete Marsh for information on satellite tracking of Bitterns in Britain.