British Bird Lists - Rarity Order (1 Viewer)

[Lawts]

Does anyone know if there are any lists out there in rarity order, starting with the once only birds leading right up to the residents?

 

[Phil Andrews]

Does anyone know if there are any lists out there in rarity order, starting with the once only birds leading right up to the residents?

No but I am pretty sure it would be easy to compile the first 300+ species from BB records and the (updated) Scarce Migrant Report). My Excel spreadsheet of sightings incorporates this sort of data (to be updated).

 

[JWN Andrewes]

There was a (December?) Birding World years ago (pre colour photos even) in a green cover depicting a Snowy Owl (an Ian Lewingto I think) in which Lee had compiled a rarity league table. Premier division was one-offs, with the longest ago at the top (forget the species, Red-necked Nightjar maybe), first division was two records with that whose most recent record was longest ago at the top, next was three records and so on. Would be easy to complile an updated version, but colossaly time-consuming!

James

 

[StevePreddy]

There was a (December?) Birding World years ago (pre colour photos even) in a green cover depicting a Snowy Owl (an Ian Lewingto I think) in which Lee had compiled a rarity league table. Premier division was one-offs, with the longest ago at the top (forget the species, Red-necked Nightjar maybe), first division was two records with that whose most recent record was longest ago at the top, next was three records and so on. Would be easy to complile an updated version, but colossaly time-consuming!

James

Although, sadly, I have done it. Actually it wasn't that time-consuming. PM me if you want a copy.

 

[MSA]

If you subscribe to BUBO, you can make a list of "target species", which lists in the order of how many other subscribers have seen a given species. If you create a list with no entries and look at targets, this could be close to what you are looking for (albeit thrown out if there's a one-off rarity that was seen by lots of people!).

 

[Richard Klim]

Not what you're after, but for regular British breeding and/or wintering species, I amused myself by creating an ordered list of population size (attached) based upon Musgrove et al 2013 (Population estimates of birds in GB & UK, BB 106(2): 64–100). It's completely simplistic and unscientific – I took whichever estimate was greater (breeding or winter, although obviously not directly comparable), used an average wherever the estimates were given a min/max range, and treated all of the various alternative units for estimating breeding populations (ie, pairs, males, nests, territories etc) as 'two'. Quite interesting nevertheless...

 

[Phil Andrews]

If you subscribe to BUBO, you can make a list of "target species", which lists in the order of how many other subscribers have seen a given species. If you create a list with no entries and look at targets, this could be close to what you are looking for (albeit thrown out if there's a one-off rarity that was seen by lots of people!).

Long-billed Murrelet is a good example

 

[Richard Klim]

Here's an ordered version of BBRC's statistics file (to 2011)...

 

[Phil Andrews]

Here's an ordered version of BBRC's statistics file (to 2011)...

Presumably this states number of records only up until when a species was withdrawn as a BB rarity eg Rose-coloured Starling, Subalp W etc?

 

[Richard Klim]

Presumably this states number of records only up until when a species was withdrawn as a BB rarity eg Rose-coloured Starling, Subalp W etc?

Indeed, Phil. So not a totally true picture at the top of the list.

PS. Here's a version including only current, full species BB rarities...

 

[West End Birder]

Somewhat related to this thread, I have watched with interest some of the outstanding birds arriving in the UK this year. Is there a 'best year' table in terms of rarities - and if so how is 2013 shaping up? Were I a twitcher I think I would be close to 400 by now!

Rob S

 

[Phil Andrews]

Indeed, Phil. So not a totally true picture at the top of the list.

PS. Here's a version including only current, full species BB rarities...

I am sure you will be updating when the latest tranches of Scarce Migrant Report are published

 

[Farnboro John]

Somewhat related to this thread, I have watched with interest some of the outstanding birds arriving in the UK this year. Is there a 'best year' table in terms of rarities - and if so how is 2013 shaping up? Were I a twitcher I think I would be close to 400 by now!

Rob S

BW has in the past compared years to previous in terms of total rarities in its review of the year, but you have to look out for their idiosyncratic view of taxonomy and avoid "forms" where these are listed rather than "species".

John

 

[West End Birder]

Thanks

 

[Zheljko]

Long-billed Murrelet is a good example

Or in our case we all flocked in to see the scoters; they were on January list of almost everyone from our city and their guests. We were lucky that they were in the most accessible hotspot.

 

[Cheshire Birder]

There was a (December?) Birding World years ago (pre colour photos even) in a green cover depicting a Snowy Owl (an Ian Lewingto I think) in which Lee had compiled a rarity league table. Premier division was one-offs, with the longest ago at the top (forget the species, Red-necked Nightjar maybe), first division was two records with that whose most recent record was longest ago at the top, next was three records and so on. Would be easy to complile an updated version, but colossaly time-consuming!

James

52 Premiership teams but only 31 in the first division. Imagine if it was real football teams!

CB