BBRC

The Belize Bird Records Committee, or BBRC, is comprised of seven members: Lee Jones (chairman), Philip Balderamos (vice-chairman), Jonathan Urbina (secretary), Steve Choco, Roni Martinez, Jan Meerman, and Ryan Phillips. The BBRC will be tasked with keeping the official Belize List and will review all reports of rare birds for acceptance on the list. “Rare birds” are those species which are either new to the country or for which there are, in most cases, five or fewer records. A few species will be reviewed to determine whether their occurrence as wild birds is supported by the evidence, or if it is more likely that they are of captive or domestic origin (for example, Scarlet Ibis and American Flamingo, which have the potential to turn up in Belize after escaping from a zoo, or popular cage birds like Yellow-headed Blackbird and Yellow-naped Parrot). Some birds that have recently been reported from Belize for the first time, such as Black Swift, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Rufescent Tiger-Heron, and Hermit Thrush, will be high on the list for immediate review by the committee. The official list will be maintained on this website, as will results of decisions made by the committee on all species reviewed. Members of the committee will serve on a rotating basis, with other expert birders from the community elected to replace retiring members on an annual basis.