The British Ornithologists' Union Records Committee (BOURC) is the recognised national bird records committee for Britain. It maintains a list of birds of Britain. Its findings are usually published in Ibis, the house journal of its parent body the British Ornithologists' Union.
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The committee keeps a list of birds recorded from Britain, together with separate lists for the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland.
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.[1]
BOURC is widely recognised as maintaining the most authoritative list of birds of Britain.[2]
BOURC has a chairman, a secretary and a number of voting members.
The BOURC has a taxonomic subcommittee, set up to advise on taxonomic matters.
From time to time, BOURC has re-reviewed records which it has previously accepted, to ensure they are acceptable in the light of improved knowledge of the species in question.
Following a detailed review by the British Birds Rarities Committee into the controversial identification of a curlew seen at Druridge Bay in Northumberland in 1998, which came to the conclusion that it was, as had been believed by many observers, a first-summer Slender-billed Curlew, this identification was accepted by BOURC, leading to the addition of this species to the British List.[3]