British list increases to 634
The British Ornithologists' Union Records Committee (BOURC) has announced that Stejneger's Scoter has been admitted to the British list.
The decision was made on account of the male seen with wintering Velvet Scoter at Gullane Point and Ferny Ness, Lothian, in December 2022, which was discovered by Keith Gillon. What was presumably the same bird was later seen in Fife in spring 2023, sometimes alongside up to four White-winged Scoter.
Stejneger's Scoter is a highly migratory species. The first Western Palearctic record came from France in 1886 and since then it has been reported from 10 other European countries, including in Ireland in 2011. Given this established pattern of vagrancy, this species was overdue in Britain and has presumably been historically overlooked due to observer unfamiliarity.
The addition of the East Asian seaduck takes the list total to 634 species.
Stejneger's Scoter, Lower Largo, Fife, 29 April 2023 (Steve Nuttall).
New first record of Taiga Flycatcher
In October 2022, a photograph was posted online of an apparent Taiga Flycatcher, which was taken at Spurn, East Yorkshire, on 19 October 1976. The bird was discovered by Niall Machin in a mistnet erected for a routine ringing session at the Warren, where it was identified as a Red-breasted Flycatcher before being quickly processed, photographed in the hand and released. The bird's true identity went unrealised for 46 years, but the new identification was suggested shortly after Niall's image was circulated on social media.
BOURC has now formally accepted this bird as a retrospective first for Britain.
Taiga Flycatcher was formerly treated as a subspecies of Red-breasted Flycatcher and was only elevated to specific status in 2004 following the identification of the first accepted record at Flamborough Head, East Yorkshire, from 26-29 April 2003. With the acceptance of this record from 1976, there are now six British records.
Taiga Flycatcher, Spurn, East Yorkshire, 19 October 1976 (Niall Machin).
Trindade Petrel fails to make the grade
An additional recent decision from BOURC concerns a record of Trindade Petrel that was observed at Porthgwarra, Cornwall, on 29 July 2018, which was found to be not proven. A BOURC statement said that it "could not reconcile inconsistencies between different descriptions in plumage characteristics, flight style and observation conditions which collectively did not permit ruling out other rare seabirds, including Herald Petrel and Tahiti Petrel", adding that the record "bore comparisons with a previous unaccepted record of this taxon seen off Dungeness, Kent, in January 1998." In both cases, BOURC felt that the observers had likely seen an amazing seabird, but the documentation was not strong enough for a British first.
