Irish Birds

The scientific journal of BirdWatch Ireland, Irish Birds, comes as part of a key membership or can be purchased seperately from the BirdWatch Ireland shop.

The journal has been published annually since 1977 and contains a range of scientific studies, reports, notes, reviews and observations relating to birds in Ireland. In recent years the journal has published the annual ‘Irish Rare Bird Report’ from the Irish Rare Birds Committee, and the ‘Irish Ringing Report’ summarising those birds ringed and caught in Ireland the previous year. The book of abstracts from the Ornithological Research Conference is also included when the conference is held in UCC, every four or five years.

Submissions for consideration for Irish Birds are welcome all year round. The deadline for consideration for the next issue of Irish Birds is 15th January 2024. The editor of Irish Birds is Dr. Tom Gittings, who can be emailed at tgittings@gmail.com. Guidelines for authors can be found here.

The most recent issue (Number 45) was published in September 2023 and is available to purchase here. The contents are listed below.

Papers

• Status of Icelandic-breeding and feral Greylag Geese Anser anser in the Republic of Ireland, 2017/18-19/20. Brian Burke, Niamh Fitzgerald, S.B.A. Kelly & L.J. Lewis
• Site-level trends and national trends for wintering waterbirds in Ireland 1994/95-2019/20. J. Kennedy, B. Burke, N Fitzgerald, S.B.A. Kelly, A. Walsh & L.J. Lewis
• The status of birds in County Cork: a brief review. P. Smiddy, M. Shorten & R. Heselden
• Mapping of Farmland Bird Hotspots: a method to assist targeting of agri-environment measures. J. Kennedy, K. Finney, J. Lusby, D. Moloney, O. Duggan & A. Donaghy
• Irish Rare Bird Report 2021. G. Clarke & A. O’Donaill (on behalf of the Irish Rare Birds Committee)
• Irish Ringing Report for 2021. A. Copland & K. Collins

Notes

• Beginning of widespread surveillance of emerging infectious diseases in Irish garden birds, with a focus on trichomonosis in finch species. B. Burke
• Nocturnal migration recording (nocmig) at a suburban site in Cork City. M. Shorten
• Waterbird responses to a novel form of avian disturbance: Great White Pelicans Pelecanus onocratulas at Harper’s Island Wetlands, Cork Harbour. T. Gittings
• An example of contextual vocal mimicry by Eurasian Jay Garrulus glandarius in response to seeing a dog Canus lupus familiaris. S. Ronayne

Abstracts

• Current ornithological research in Ireland: the eighth Ornithological Research COnference, UCC, March 2023. J. L. Quinn, P. Smiddy, T.C. Kelly, S. Irwin & J. O’Halloran

Reviews

• New Survey of Clare Island – Volume 9: Birds. By T.C. Kelly
• The Birds of County Cork: A review of history, status, distribution and migration. By P. Smiddy, M. Shorten & R. Hesselden.