taxonomic references [SEC=PERSONAL]

[martin butterfield <>]

The workload of assessing British 'rarities is - by our standards - astonishing.  I cannot remember the exact details but in peak periods (when birds are likely to get blown towards the UK from North America or Eastern Europe) the British Birds Rarity Panel can have to deal with over 100 records a week, so no wonder the BOU handballed the later records!  

Martin

On Fri, Aug 13, 2010 at 12:41 PM, <> wrote:

Hi Geoffrey,

 

I might just be nerdy enough to answer that one. I believe that British Ornithologists Union Rarities Committee assesses the first record of a species for the British Isles and Northern Ireland. This falls within their role as the custodians of the official British bird list. I think they made the decision a long time ago that the workload in assessing any further records of vagrant birds to their geographic area (so 2^nd, 3^rd, 100^th, records etc) was too great a task for them and was not part of their ‘scientific’ role.

 

As such once a bird is already on the British Isles and Northern Ireland list, further records of these vagrant species are assessed by the British Birds Rarities Committee.

 

The British Trust for Ornithology has always focussed on ringing projects, bird population studies, and even the major garden bird surveys in the UK.

 

Cheers Dan

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Geoffrey Dabb [
Sent: Friday, 13 August 2010 11:45
To:
Subject: RE: [canberrabirds] taxonomic references

 

The BOU was formed in 1858 as a scientific organisation.  The RSPB (founded 1889) is essentially a conservation organisation.  The British Trust for Ornithology dates from 1932.  The BOU for more than a century has been the custodian of the British bird list.

 

Only the most learned students of the arcane world of bird organisations will be able to tell you why there is both a British Ornithologists Union Rarities Committee and a British Birds Rarities Committee.