Rare birds in Slovenia in 2016 – Slovenian Rarities Committee Report

This report by the Slovenian Rarities Committee presents records of rare bird species in Slovenia in 2016, with some addenda for previous years. The numbers in brackets refer to the number of records (first number) and individuals (second number) recorded between 1 Jan 1950 and 31 Dec 2015. Since 1 Jan 2013, submission to the Committee has been required for 37 additional species, 17 of which are regional rarities. Records of these species are not numbered, since records from previous years were not collected by the Committee. Two new species, Scopoli’s Shearwater Calonectris diomedea and Arctic Tern Sterna paradisaea, were added to Category A. Other notable observations were the second record of Lesser Yellowlegs Tringa flavipes, third and fourth records of Pallid Swift Apus pallidus, fifth to seventh records of Long-legged Buzzard Buteo rufinus and the sixth and seventh records of Gannet Morus bassanus. Twelve records of Pallid Harrier Circus macrourus are an all-time annual high. Among Category E species, the Hooded Merganser Lophodytes cucullatus was recorded for the second time. The list of birds recorded in Slovenia (as of 31 Dec 2016) contains 388 species (373 in Category A, 6 in Category B, 9 exclusively in Category C; 4 species are both in Categories A and C). Category D contains 6 species, while Category E contains 38, two of which are classified into Subcategory E*. These two categories are not part of the list.