List of birds of Wales

This list of birds of Wales includes every species of bird that has been recorded in a wild state in Wales. Compared to the avifauna of Britain as a whole, Wales has fewer breeding species but these include a number of moorland species such as Red Grouse and Black Grouse, large numbers of seabirds (particularly on offshore islands such as Skomer, Grassholm and Bardsey) and good populations of several species typical of Welsh Oak woods including Redstart, Pied Flycatcher and Wood Warbler.[2][3] Among the birds of prey is the Red Kite which had become extinct in other parts of Britain until being reintroduced recently.[1] In winter many wildfowl and waders are found around the coast, attracted by the mild temperatures.[2] In spring and autumn a variety of migrant and vagrant birds can be seen, particularly on headlands and islands.[2]

The list is based on Birds in Wales (Lovegrove et al. 1994), Birds in Wales 1992-2000 (Green 2002) and the list of the Welsh Ornithological Society (Prater & Thorpe 2006) with updates from the Welsh Records Panel's annual reports. The taxonomy and scientific names follow the official list of the British Ornithologists' Union (BOU).[4] The English names are the vernacular names used in the 7th edition of the BOU list with the standardized names from that list given in brackets where they differ.[5] The family introductions are based on The New Encyclopedia of Birds (Perrins 2004) except where otherwise stated. The number of species in each family is approximate due to differing opinions on classification; the numbers given in the list are based on The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World (Clements 2007).

Certain categories of birds are noted with the following tags:

* BR - British Rarity. A species which occurs only as a rare visitor to Great Britain with fewer than 100 records in the last 10 years or less than 200 records ever. Records of these species are adjudicated by the British Birds Rarities Committee (BBRC).[6]
* WR - Welsh Rarity. A species which occurs, on average, 5 times or less each year in Wales and is not considered by the BBRC. Records of these species are adjudicated by the Welsh Records Panel of the Welsh Ornithological Society.[7]
* I - Introduced. A non-native species whose presence in Wales is a result of accidental or deliberate release of birds into the wild by humans. They have either formed an established, self-sustaining breeding population in the country or have wandered from established populations in England.

The total number of species on the list is 435 including 133 British rarities, 65 Welsh rarities and 10 introduced species. About 150 species breed annually.

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