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The Druridge Bay curlew was a curlew that was present in Druridge Bay, Northumberland in May 1998, whose species identification proved to be controversial. The bird was identified by its finder, and most others who saw it, as a first-summer slender-billed curlew, one of the rarest birds in the world; however, this identification provoked scepticism from some quarters. The bird was accepted as this species (and therefore became the first record of slender-billed curlew in Britain) by the British Birds Rarities Committee and the British Ornithologists’ Union Records Committee. Opinions on the exact identity of the bird remain divided — the conclusion arrived at by BBRC and BOURC is shared by a significant majority of the British birding community, but a number of British birders are not convinced that the bird was a slender-billed curlew, including several high-profile figures. A first-winter curlew at Minsmere, Suffolk in October 2004 re-opened the debate on the identity of the Druridge bird. In 2013, slender-billed curlew was removed from the British List following a review of the Druridge Bay record by the BBRC and BOURC. ==Discovery== The bird in question was found by an unknown birdwatcher on Monday 4 May 1998 and was first identified as a whimbrel. The birder reported the whimbrel to Tim Cleeves who, uncertain of the bird's identification, contacted a number of other birdwatchers from the Northumberland and Tyneside areas and asked them to come to Druridge to give an opinion. The bird was watched by six observers until 20.50 hours that evening. News of the bird was broadcast on the national rare bird information services. As, at this stage, there was not a consensus on the identity of the bird, some of the services used cautious language, e.g. Birdline referred to the bird as a "controversial curlew thought by some observers to be a Slender-billed". Because of the uncertainty over the identity, some birders chose not to travel to see it, although many others did. The bird was last seen on Thursday 7 May. It was photographed (albeit distantly) and three separate video-recordings were made. Although the identification of this bird is generally credited to Tim Cleeves, Brett Richards (''Birdwatch'' 118:11) has claimed that a large part of the credit for the record should rest with him, due to his role in persuading others to travel to see the bird. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Druridge Bay curlew」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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