Talk:List of birds of Great Britain

message: rename this "Birds of the United Kingdom", in line with the other "stuff in the UK" pages? Or maybe "Birds of the British Isles", since we maybe want a geographical rather than political thing. Link to Conservation in the United Kingdom too  -- Tarquin 11:21 Apr 16, 2003 (UTC)
:No. Were this a list of UK Prime Ministers or some such, sure, moving it to "Birds of the UK" would be appropriate. "Birds of the British Isles" would be OK though. (Or I think so - but I'm Australian, and I don't know that we colonials are entitled to a vote!) That there is an ephemeral human political organisation called the "United Kingdom", however, is utterly irrelevant to the birds. In the case of this topic, it is clearly correct to use a geographical term ("Britan", or possibly "British Isles", but not the political one. This precisely politically correct fetish is alright in its place - and indeed a good thing in many places - but at some point we have to bow to the reality of common usage. This is that point. Tannin
::As the initial contributor to this article, I gave it the present title for consistency with European birds and Australian birds, and because there seems little logic in using a political rather than geographical framework. I did consider British Isles, but I seem to remember that unit is non-PC now. 
::Furthermore, the article is based on the British list. There are a number of groups where I would not be sure whether they have occurred in Ireland, such as the parrots, nuthatches, and Wallcreeper --   jimfbleak 12:38 Apr 16, 2003 (UTC)
Where does the statement that the Little Egret is "rare" come from?  Is that an official statement from the BUO or something?  If not it should be deleted - in the last 15 years or so they have become quite common on the estuaries of SW England (and I believe further north too, as far as South Wales, but I haven't seen them myself there).  I think they are beginning to breed in England now but we'd need an authority to say that.
I will note the above facts on the Little Egret page but will leave adjustment of the list of British Birds to someone who knows its provenance.
seglea at 0816 UTC on 031104
:I've removed the rare comment Little Egret, they are fairly common and do breed in the south now. jimfbleak 08:26, 4 Nov 2003 (UTC)
thread_title: Untitled

message: British avifauna seems to be covering the same topic. It might be possible to merge it into this list. Snowman (talk) 19:32, 20 December 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  "British avifauna" article 

message: If the grey partridge is a non migratory species how did it arrive in Britain? Dennis the mennis 18:33 31 March 2017 (UTC)
:Dennis the mennis, I don't understand partridge question, it doesn't need to migrate because it's resident here, no question of "arrival" Jimfbleak - talk to me?
::I presume Dennis the mennis is referring to my reverting of his removal of Category C ("Species that, although introduced, now derive from the resulting self-sustaining populations.") from the Grey Partridge entry. Grey Partridge is both native (Category A) and introduced (Categories C2 and E*). The official British List is at this link (see page 2 for Grey Partridge) and the categories are explained here. Just as with Pheasant and Red-legged Partridge, the UK population is supplemented by birds released for shooting each year. Unlike those species, it's also native. The categories are nothing to do with migration; I think Dennis the mennis may be confusing migration with introduction. Dave.Dunford (talk) 19:52, 31 March 2017 (UTC)
thread_title: Grey Partridge

message: Do you have a source for the bearded vulture being a "B rare vagrant" to Great Britain? It's not on the list of the British Ornithologists' Union. Thank you and welcome to Wikipedia. SchreiberBike | ⌨  22:28, 16 July 2020 (UTC)
thread_title:  Bearded vulture 

message: Would the capercaillie really count as a C class? It was reintroduced and originally native, not introduced and invasive (like the Canada goose, for example). Ddum5347 (talk) 16:50, 4 April 2021 (UTC)
replies: text: It's correct. The article follows the official BOURC British list, and they have it listed as Class C3 ("Naturalized re-established species – species with populations successfully re-established by Man in areas of former occurrence, e.g. Red Kite Milvus milvus.") and E* ("Species recorded as introductions, human-assisted transportees or escapees from captivity, and whose breeding populations (if any) are thought not to be self-sustaining. Species in Category E that have bred in the wild in Britain are designated as E*."). Class C is correct for native species that went extinct and were reintroduced; the BOURC classes are not concerned with whether or not a species is invasive. Dave.Dunford (talk) 12:54, 6 April 2021 (UTC)
thread_title:  Capercaillie? 

message: This article reflects the official British List, compiled by the BOURC. Rhea is not on that list. The fact that a handful of escaped birds – probably from the same source – are running around an estate does not automatically place Rhea in Cat C, any more than cows escaping from a field makes them part of the British fauna. Category C is for "Species that derive from translocation(s) (i.e. human-mediated movement and release (IUCN/SCC 2013)) resulting in the establishment of self-sustaining populations within Britain..." (my emphasis). There is no evidence that Rhea populations are self-sustaining. Numerous feral species (e.g. Indian Peafowl, Black Swan, Bar-headed Goose) have better credentials but aren't included. If we're including Rhea, why not Helmeted Guineafowl, Zebra Finch, Budgerigar, etc., which are almost certainly commoner escapes from captivity than Rhea? Dave.Dunford (talk) 10:01, 2 May 2023 (UTC)
replies: text: Then there should be a category for escaped birds which have confirmed sightings. Chumzwumz68 (talk) 02:16, 5 May 2023 (UTC)
replies: text: There is, but only if it forms a self-sustaining population. Otherwise the category could include any cagebird, ornamental duck, tropical owl, fancy pheasant, flamingo, falconer's bird of prey or other domestic bird that happened to escape, which would be daft. I saw a zebra running down the road once (it had escaped from a nearby safari park) – but I won't be adding zebra to List of mammals of Great Britain. Dave.Dunford (talk) 12:27, 6 May 2023 (UTC)
replies: text: We'll see if there are any further analyses into these birds in the UK Chumzwumz68 (talk) 17:43, 6 May 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  Rhea