The British Ornithologists' Union (BOU) aims to encourage the study of

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

s (

ornithology Ornithology, from Ancient Greek ὄρνις (''órnis''), meaning "bird", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study", is a branch of zoology dedicated to the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related discip ...

) around the world in order to understand their

biology Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, History of life, origin, evolution, and ...

and aid their conservation. The BOU was founded in 1858 by Professor

Alfred Newton Alfred Newton Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS HFRSE (11 June 18297 June 1907) was an England, English zoologist and ornithologist. Newton was Professor of Comparative Anatomy at Cambridge University from 1866 to 1907. Among his numerous public ...

Henry Baker Tristram Henry Baker Tristram FRS (11 May 1822 – 8 March 1906) was an English clergyman, Bible scholar, traveller and ornithologist. As a parson-naturalist he was an early, but short-lived, supporter of Darwinism, attempting to reconcile evolution an ...

and other scientists. Its quarterly journal, ''

Ibis The ibis () (collective plural ibises; classical plurals ibides and ibes) are a group of long-legged wading birds in the family Threskiornithidae that inhabit wetlands, forests and plains. "Ibis" derives from the Latin and Ancient Greek word f ...

'', has been published continuously since 1859. The Records Committee (BOURC) is a committee of the BOU established to maintain the British List, the official list of birds recorded in Great Britain. BOU is headquartered in

Peterborough Peterborough ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in the City of Peterborough district in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Cambridgeshire, England. The city is north of London, on the River Nene. A ...

and is a

registered charity A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, Religion, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good). The legal definitio ...

in England & Wales and Scotland.

Objectives and activities

* Publishes ''

'' as a leading international journal of ornithological science. * Organizes a program of meetings and conferences. * Awards grants and bursaries for ornithological research. * Encourages liaison between those actively engaged in ornithological research. * Provides a representative body of the scientific community able to provide ornithological information and advice to the government and other policy makers. * Maintains and publishes the official list of birds recorded in Britain – The British List.

Records committee

The British Ornithologists' Union Records Committee (BOURC) is the recognized national bird records committee for

Britain Britain most often refers to: * Great Britain, a large island comprising the countries of England, Scotland and Wales * The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, a sovereign state in Europe comprising Great Britain and the north-eas ...

. It maintains a list of birds in Britain. Its findings are published in ''

'', the house journal of its parent body, the British Ornithologists' Union (BOU). From time to time, BOURC re-reviews records that it has previously accepted to ensure they are acceptable in light of improved knowledge of the species in question. The Committee does not assess records of birds from Ireland; that task is carried out by the Irish Rare Birds Committee, which publishes its decisions in '' Irish Birds''. For many years, records of IRBC-assessed rarities were included in the BOURC's reports, but this ceased in 2002, at the request of IRBC. BOURC is widely recognized as maintaining the most authoritative list of birds in Britain. BOURC has a chairman, a secretary and a number of voting members. It previously had a taxonomic subcommittee set up to advise on taxonomic matters, but the disbanding of this subcommittee was announced on 6 November 2015; the BOU now contemplates relying entirely on one of the available global avian taxonomies with a view to adopting a single system for all its activities.

Committee and taxonomic reports

The Committee publishes an annual report in ''

'' (the BOU's international journal of avian science). All reports can be accessed via th
British List pages of the BOU website
Previously, the Committee's Taxonomic Sub-committee also published regular reports, also in ''

'', and these too can be accessed via th
British List pages of the BOU website

The Druridge Bay curlew

Following a detailed review by the

British Birds Rarities Committee The British Birds Rarities Committee (BBRC), established in 1959, is the national bird rarities committee for Britain. It assesses claimed sightings of bird species that are rarely seen in Britain, based on descriptions, photographs and video re ...

into the controversial identification of a

curlew The curlews () are a group of nine species of birds in the genus ''Numenius'', characterised by their long, slender, downcurved bills and mottled brown plumage. The English name is imitative of the Eurasian curlew's call, but may have been infl ...

seen at

Druridge Bay Druridge Bay is a long bay on the North Sea in Northumberland, England, stretching from Amble in the north to Cresswell in the south. Druridge Bay Country Park is situated on the bay, and part of the bay (the section near the farmstead of D ...

Northumberland Northumberland ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England, on the Anglo-Scottish border, border with Scotland. It is bordered by the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, Cumb ...

in 1998, which came to the conclusion that it was, as had been believed by many observers, a first-summer

slender-billed curlew The slender-billed curlew (''Numenius tenuirostris'') is an extinct species of curlew native to Eurasia and North Africa. Isotope analysis suggests the majority of the former population bred in the Kazakh Steppe despite a record from the Siberia ...

, this identification was accepted by BOURC, leading to the addition of this species to the British List.Steele, Jimmy and Didier Vangeluwe (2002) From the Rarities Committee's files: the Slender-billed Curlew at Druridge Bay, Northumberland, in 1998 '' British Birds'' 95(6):279-299 A subsequent review of the record overturned the original decision ''

'' 156 :236-242.

Awards and lectures

The following are awarded: *

Godman-Salvin Medal The Godman-Salvin Medal is a medal of the British Ornithologists' Union awarded "to an individual as a signal honour for distinguished ornithological work." It was instituted in 1919 in the memory of Frederick DuCane Godman and Osbert Salvin. M ...

* Union Medal (known as the "Janet Kear Union Medal" from 2019) *

Alfred Newton Lecture The Alfred Newton Lecture is an academic prize lecture awarded by the British Ornithologists' Union. It is named for Alfred Newton. Lecturers * 1994 Ian Newton * 1995 Janet Kear * 1998 Jared Diamond * 2003 Chris Perrins * 2009 Tim Birkhead * 2 ...

List of presidents

* 1858–1867: Henry Maurice Drummond-Hay (1814–1896) * 1867–1896: Lord Lilford (1833–1896) * 1896–1913:

Frederick DuCane Godman Frederick DuCane Godman (15 January 1834 – 19 February 1919) was an English lepidopterist, entomology, entomologist and ornithology, ornithologist. He was one of the twenty founding members of the British Ornithologists' Union. Along with Osb ...

(1834–1919) * 1913–1918: Robert George Wardlaw-Ramsay (1852–1921) * 1918–1921:

William Eagle Clarke Dr William Eagle Clarke ISO FLS FRSE PBOU Doctor of Laws, LL.D. (16 March 1853 – 10 May 1938) was a British ornithologist. Life Clarke was born in Leeds where his father William Clarke was a solicitor and educated at the Grammar School and at ...

(1853–1938) * 1921–1922: Henry John Elwes (1846–1922) * 1923–1928: Lord Walter Rothschild (1868–1937) * 1928–1933:

William Lutley Sclater William Lutley Sclater (23 September 1863 – 4 July 1944) was a British zoologist and museum director. He was the son of Philip Lutley Sclater and was named after his paternal grandfather, also William Lutley Sclater. Life William's mother, ...

(1863–1944) * 1933–1938: Harry Witherby (1873–1943) * 1938–1943: Sir Norman Boyd Kinnear (1882–1957) * 1943–1948: Percy Roycroft Lowe (1870–1948) * 1948–1955: Sir Arthur Landsborough Thomson (1890–1977) * 1955–1960:

William Homan Thorpe William Homan Thorpe Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (1 April 1902 – 7 April 1986) was Professor of Animal Ethology at the University of Cambridge, and a significant United Kingdom, British zoologist, ethologist and ornithologist.Alan Costall, ...

(1902–1986) * 1960–1965: Reginald Ernest Moreau (1897–1970) * 1965–1970: V. C. Wynne-Edwards (1906–1997) * 1970–1975:

Guy Mountfort Guy Mountfort (4 December 1905 – 23 April 2003) was an English advertising executive, amateur ornithologist and conservationist. He is known for writing the pioneering ''A Field Guide to the Birds of Britain and Europe'', published in 19 ...

(1905–2003) * 1975–1979: Sir Hugh Elliott (1913–1989) * 1979–1983:

Stanley Cramp Stanley Cramp (24 September 1913 – 20 August 1987) was a British civil servant and ornithologist best known as the first Chief Editor of the encyclopaedic nine-volume handbook '' The Birds of the Western Palearctic'' (BWP). Cramp was born in S ...

(1913–1987) * 1983–1987: James F. Monk (1915–2014) * 1987–1990: David Snow * 1990–1994:

Janet Kear Janet Kear (13 January 1933 – 24 November 2004) was an English ornithologist and conservationist who worked extensively on waterfowl and wrote several major works on ducks. She was the first woman to become president of the British Ornithol ...

(1933–2004) * 1994–1999:

John Croxall John Patrick Croxall (born 19 January 1946 in Birmingham) is a British biologist, and was Head of Conservation Biology at the British Antarctic Survey. He is Chair of Global Seabird Programme, of BirdLife International. Life Croxall completed a ...

* 1999–2003:

Ian Newton Ian Newton (born 17 January 1940) is an England, English ornithologist. Education and early life Newton was born and raised in north Derbyshire and was educated at Chesterfield Grammar School. He graduated from the University of Bristol.

* 2003–2007: Christopher Perrins * 2007–2011: Alistair Dawson ( Centre for Ecology & Hydrology) * 2011–2015:

Jenny Gill Jennifer Mary Gill (born 1951) is a semi-retired executive from New Zealand who works in philanthropy. She was New Zealand's first full-time paid employee working in philanthropy, and the chair of Philanthropy New Zealand. Biography Jennifer ...

(

University of East Anglia The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a Public university, public research university in Norwich, England. Established in 1963 on a campus university, campus west of the city centre, the university has four faculties and twenty-six schools of ...

) * 2015–2019: Keith Hamer (

University of Leeds The University of Leeds is a public research university in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was established in 1874 as the Yorkshire College of Science. In 1884, it merged with the Leeds School of Medicine (established 1831) and was renamed Y ...

) * 2019–2023: Juliet Vickery ( RSPB/BTO)

Honorary life members

The following have been elected as honorary life members: * (Germany) * (France) * Paul F. Donald (UK) * Urs N. Glutz von Blotzheim (Switzerland) * Andrew G. Gosler (UK) * Soekarja Somadikarta (Indonesia) * (Sweden)

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Bird rarities committees Charities based in England Huntingdonshire 1858 establishments in the United Kingdom Organisations based in Cambridgeshire Organizations established in 1858