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Shetland Bird List

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The table contains a complete list of the 473 bird species recorded in Shetland, including the year of the first record and, where relevant, Shetland name, breeding status and category.

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Key to breeding status:

 

C: common (50+ pairs)

u: uncommon but annual (fewer than 50 pairs)

sp: sporadic

e: extinct (regular or sporadic with no 21st century records)

poss: possible breeding spp.

hyb: only bred as part of a hybrid pair

Key to category:

 

C: Category C (not native/introduced)

D: Category D (uncertain provenance)

O: only seen offshore

X: globally extinct

F: only recorded on Fair Isle

P: provisional (believed to have occurred but no accepted records)

Species
Scientific Name
Shetland Name
Breeding Status
First Record
Cat.
Ortolan Bunting
Emberiza hortulana
1898
Cretzschmar’s Bunting
Emberiza caesia
1967
F
Chestnut-eared Bunting
Emberiza fucata
2004
Little Bunting
Emberiza pusilla
1905
Yellow-browed Bunting
Emberiza chrysophrys
1980
F
Rustic Bunting
Emberiza rustica
1908
Yellow-breasted Bunting
Emberiza aureola
1907
Black-headed Bunting
Emberiza melanocephala
1907
Red-headed Bunting
Emberiza bruniceps
1950
D
Black-faced Bunting
Emberiza spodocephala
2001
Pallas’s Reed Bunting
Emberiza pallasi
1976
F
Common Reed Bunting
Emberiza schoeniclus
sp
1861
Song Sparrow
Melospiza melodia
1959
White-crowned Sparrow
Zonotrichia leucophrys
1977
White-throated Sparrow
Zonotrichia albicollis
1966
Dark-eyed Junco
Junco hyemalis
1966
Savannah Sparrow
Passerculus sandwichensis
1987
F
Yellow-headed Blackbird
Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus
1987
D
Bobolink
Dolichonyx oryzivorus
1975
Baltimore Oriole
Icterus galbula
1890
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