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- See also 1996 in birding and ornithology
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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 recordings submitted by observers. Its findings are published in an annual report in the journal British Birds.
The year 2005 in birding and ornithology.
The year 2003 in birding and ornithology.
Many species of North American landbird have been recorded in Great Britain as vagrants. Most occur in autumn; southwest England attracts the greatest proportion, but northern and western Scotland comes a close second. Occasionally birds overwinter, and some species are more prone to this than others. Vagrancy also occurs in spring, and some species do in fact have more records at this time than in autumn. Weather systems are thought to be the primary reason for the occurrence of birds in autumn; some birds seen in spring may simply be overshoots, although ship-assistance may also play a part.
A bird hybrid is a bird that has two different species as parents. The resulting bird can present with any combination of characteristics from the parent species, from totally identical to completely different. Usually, the bird hybrid shows intermediate characteristics between the two species. A "successful" hybrid is one demonstrated to produce fertile offspring. According to the most recent estimates, about 16% of all wild bird species have been known to hybridize with one another; this number increases to 22% when captive hybrids are taken into account. Several bird species hybridize with multiple other species. For example, the mallard is known to interbreed with at least 40 different species. The ecological and evolutionary consequences of multispecies hybridization remain to be determined.