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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.
Common Scoter
Melanitta nigra
e #
1822
Long-tailed Duck
Clangula hyemalis
Calloo
1791
Bufflehead
Bucephala albeola
2006
Common Goldeneye
Bucephala clangula
1809
Smew
Mergellus albellus
1870
Hooded Merganser
Lophodytes cucullatus
2006
Goosander
Mergus merganser
1822
Red-breasted Merganser
Mergus serrator
Herald Deuk
u
1809
Ruddy Duck
Oxyura jamaciensis
1974
C
Red Grouse
Lagopus lagopus
C
1815
C
Common Quail
Coturnix coturnix
sp #
1868
Red-throated Diver
Gavia stellata
Rain Gös; Loom
C #
1733
Black-throated Diver
Gavia arctica
1963
Pacific Diver
Gavia pacifica
2013
Great Northern Diver
Gavia immer
Immer Gös
1684
White-billed Diver
Gavia adamsii
1946
Wilson’s Storm Petrel
Oceanites oceanicus
1993
O
Black-browed Albatross
Thalassarche melanophris
1972
European Storm Petrel
Hydrobates pelagicus
Alamootie
C
1809
Swinhoe's Storm Petrel
Oceanodroma monorhis
2013
F
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