411 REFERENCE · Wikipedia
2003 in birding and ornithology
Reference material by Wikipedia contributors. This retains its source identity and is not 411 news reporting.
none
December 2009
Bird species new to science described in the
The year 2003 in birding and ornithology.
See also 2002 in birding and ornithology, main events of 2003, other specialist lists of events in 2003 and 2004 in birding and ornithology.
Worldwide
New species
See also Bird species new to science described in the 2000s
The Munchique wood-wren from the Colombian Andes is described as new to science in the online journal Ornitologica Colombiana
The Okarito brown kiwi from South Island, New Zealand is described as new to science in the Records of the Auckland Museum
To be completed
Taxonomic developments
To be completed
Ornithologists
Deaths
12 January - Dean Amadon
16 January - Chris Mead
13 February - Stuart Keith
24 April - Guy Mountfort
26 April - Edward Max Nicholson
27 April - Mick Rogers
7 August - Roxie Collie Laybourne
15 September - Richard Liversidge
10 October - Frank Pitelka
17 November - Colin Harrison
? - Sakae Tamura
? - Stephen Marchant
Europe
Britain
Breeding birds
To be completed
Migrant and wintering birds
130 chiffchaff overwintered at St Austell, 50 at Helston and 25 at Countess Weir. All the sites were "old fashioned" sewage works where the micro climate and lush vegetation ensure plenty of insects through the winterBalmer, D. and Vickery, J. "Birds." In Branson, A. (2004) Wildlife Reports. British Wildlife 15: 204–7
Rare birds
Taiga flycatcher was added to the British list, with a male at Flamborough Head, east Yorkshire in April, followed by a first-winter in Shetland in September.
Britain's first Audouin's gull was found in May at Dungeness, Kent
A male black lark at South Stack, Anglesey in June was initially thought to be Britain's first, and was seen by thousands of birders; it subsequently transpired that an earlier record, also a male, from Spurn, east Yorkshire in 1984 had just recently been accepted by the British Birds Rarities Committee, so making the South Stack bird Britain's second
A female redhead on Barra, Outer Hebrides from September through until April 2004 was Britain's third (but the first female).
Britain's third American coot occurred in Shetland in November and stayed into 2004.
Britain's third lesser sand plover, a breeding-plumaged male of the race mongolus occurred at Keyhaven Marshes, Hampshire in July.
Britain's fourth (and first spring) thick-billed warbler occurred on Fair Isle in May; the same island hosted Britain's fourth Siberian rubythroat and third Savannah sparrow simultaneously during October.
A record influx of Hume's leaf warblers occurred in late autumn, consisting of over 20 birds.
The first ever influx of Arctic redpolls of the Greenland race hornemanni occurred during the autumn.
Other events
The British Birdwatching Fair has Madagascar's wetlands as its theme for the year.Celebrating 30 years of Birdfair: 3 decades of global conservation impact https://www.spnl.org/celebrating-30-years-of-birdfair-3-decades-of-global-conservation-impact/ Society for the Protection of Nature in Lebanon 12 December 2022 31 July 2018
Scandinavia
To be completed
North America
An unprecedented movement of American robins in eastern North America on 8–9 November. Over 500,000 were recorded passing over Cape May after a deep low pressure system swept migrants into the north east of the United States
References
Bird
Category:Birding and ornithology by year