Irish checklist:

Irish Rare Birds Committee – The Irish List (31st December 2008)

Number of resident and regular visiting bird species:

457

Primary sources of distribution data:

• Bird Atlas 2007-11
• Atlas of Breeding Birds of Britain & Ireland: 1968-72*
• Atlas of Wintering Birds of Britain & Ireland: 1981/82 – 1983/84*
• Second Atlas of Breeding Birds of Britain & Ireland: 1988-91*
• BirdTrack
• Countryside Bird Survey
• Irish Wetland Birds Survey **
• ESAS bird sightings***
• Kingfisher Survey 2010*
• Atlas of Breeding Birds of the Burren and the Aran Islands (1993-96)*

*Databases held by the National Biodiversity Data Centre and made accessible through Biodiversity Maps. ** IWEBS data from 1994-2001 is accessible through Biodiversity Maps.  ***ESAS bird sightings from 1980-2003 are accessible through Biodiversity Maps.

National conservation assessment:

• Lynas, P., Newton, S.F. & Robinson, J.A., 2007. The status of birds in Ireland: an analysis of conservation concern 2008-2013. Irish Birds 8(2) 149-166.

• Newton, S., Donaghy, A., Allen, D. & D. Gibbons., 1999. Birds of Conservation Concern in Ireland. Irish Birds 6(3) 333-344.

Monitoring or repeat surveys in place:

• Countryside Birds Survey (annual)
• Garden Bird Survey (annual)
• Irish Wetland Birds Survey (annual)
• Whooper & Bewick’s Swans (every 5 years, latest January 2010)
• Barnacle Geese (every 5 years, latest March 2008)
• Light-bellied Brent Geese (annual)
• Non-Estuarine Coastal Waterfowl Survey (NEWS, every 9 years, latest 2006-07)
• Common Scoter (breeding, not on regular cycle; overdue)
• Corncrake (annual)
• Twite (ongoing research & population monitoring)
• Chough (every 10 years, latest 2002-03)
• Machair Breeding Waders
• Shannon Callows Breeding Waders
• Lambay Ornithological Survey (annual; includes full seabird census every 5 years, latest 2009)
• Breeding Cormorants (sporadic, latest 2010; east coast colonies counted annually)
• Breeding Terns (national every 10 years, last 1995, overdue)
• Roseate Terns (breeding, annual)
• Little Terns (breeding, east coast only, annual)
• Breeding Seabirds (full national, every 15 years: 1969-70, 1985-87, 1998-2002)
• Upland Birds 2002-2004 (Golden Plover, Ring Ouzel)
• Red Grouse 2005 (pilot), 2007-2009 (national)
• Waterways Birds (including Kingfisher) 2006-2010
• Dipper (long-term monitoring in Cork & Laois-Offaly)
• Irish Rare Breeding Birds (annual assessments published by the panel)
• Grey Herons (& Little Egrets: done historically, to be re-launched soon)
• Barn Owl (ongoing research & population monitoring)
• Peregrine (every 10 years, latest 2002
• Hen Harrier (every 5 years, latest 2010)
• National Raptor Monitoring Scheme (in development, pilot underway)