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The year 2005 in birding and ornithology.
Worldwide
New species
See Bird species new to science described in the 2000s.
Rediscoveries
In April, an announcement is made that the ivory-billed woodpecker has been rediscovered in North America; in July, doubt is cast on this claim. The debate remains unresolved.
Extinctions
The thick-billed ground-dove (Gallicolumba salamonis), last seen in 1927, is officially declared extinct.
Taxonomic developments
- The British Ornithologists' Union Records Committee announce that they have adopted the following species split:
- Common scoter and black scoter
- Velvet scoter and white-winged scoter
- Greater Canada goose and Lesser Canada goose
- Yellow-legged gull (split from herring gull)
Ornithologists
Deaths
- 3 February - Ernst Mayr (born 1904)
- 25 February - Tony Norris (born 1917)
- 23 May – Derek Ratcliffe (born 1929)
- 9 June - James F. Clements (born 1927)
- 3 September - R. S. R. Fitter (born 1913)
World listing
- American Peter Kaestner becomes the fourth person ever to see over 8000 species of bird alive.
Europe
Britain
Breeding birds
- A pair of European bee-eaters makes a nesting attempt in Herefordshire - see Bee-eaters in Britain
Migrant and wintering birds
- The first part of the year sees a large influx of waxwings into southern England.
Rare birds
- Britain's third belted kingfisher was found on 1 April in Staffordshire, and was later seen briefly in east Yorkshire, then in Northeast Scotland; the last was in 1980.
- Britain's second Barrow's goldeneye was found in May in Northeast Scotland.
- Britain's second Audouin's gull was seen briefly at Spurn, east Yorkshire on 1 June.
- An influx of trumpeter finches in Kent and Suffolk in the spring are the first of this species to be seen in Britain since the early 1990s.
- A sooty tern visited the Anglesey tern colonies in North Wales in July - the first ever in Britain to be seen by large numbers of birders.
- Britain's first Swinhoe's storm petrel on a pelagic, 17 km south of the Isles of Scilly on 21 July.
- A yellow warbler on Unst, Shetland in September is Britain's fifth.
- A Siberian rubythroat on Fair Isle, Shetland in October is also Britain's fifth.
- Britain's first magnificent frigatebird is found moribund in Whitchurch, Shropshire following Hurricane Wilma, and dies in care at Chester Zoo
- Britain's fifth green heron is found on Anglesey in November
- Hurricane Wilma also brought an unprecedented influx of laughing gulls to Britain during November
Other Events
- The British Birdwatching Fair has Myanmar as its theme for the year.
Ireland
Rare birds
- Ireland's first green heron is found in County Cork in October
- Ireland's first Barrow's goldeneye is found at Quoile Pondage in County Down in November
References
- "Fifth of bird species 'threatened'". CNN. 1 June 2005. Archived from the original on 25 February 2012. Retrieved 2 March 2011.
- "Obituary: Ernst Mayr". The Economist. 10 February 2005. Retrieved 1 March 2011.
- "Tony Norris". The Times. 26 March 2005. Archived from the original on June 29, 2011. Retrieved 2 March 2011.
- Thompson, Des; Birks, H. J. B. (August 2005). "Derek A Ratcliffe 1929-2005". British Wildlife. 16 (6): 410–2.
- Hudson, D, ed. (2009). Isles of Scilly Bird and Natural History Review 2008. Isles of Scilly Bird Group.
- "Celebrating 30 years of Birdfair: 3 decades of global conservation impact". Society for the Protection of Nature in Lebanon. 31 July 2018. Retrieved 12 December 2022.