The Official List of Birds of Peru

The late Theodore Parker III, famous American field ornithologist once said "Peru offers 'bird-enthusiasts' more than any other country in the world… Being here is like being a child visiting a huge store filled with new and fascinating toys". 

Indeed, Peru possesses an extraordinary ornithological diversity. New species are continually being discovered in its cloud-forests and Amazon jungle, as well as in its rugged mountains and inter-Andean valleys. Furthermore, Peru holds the record for the most species in a single site (650 in the area surrounding the Explorer's Inn lodge, located in the jungle of Tambopata) and the record for the highest number of species seen in a single day (361 in the area surrounding the Biological Station of Cocha Cashu, in Manu).

In a country with such a complicated geography and staggering number of bird species as Peru, is essential to have a regulating body that maintains an official country bird list.  Such regulating body is the Peruvian Bird Records Committee (PBRC).

There are considerable gaps in the knowledge of bird distribution and new data is submitted to the PBRC for analysis and determination. The Committee evaluates the evidence for a species’ occurrence in Peru, votes on the evidence, and provides a statement explaining the decision and thought process. For each species there must be evidence of their occurrence in the country. In most cases, the evidence is convincing (in the form of a specimen with a label) and the case is simple. In other cases, the available information is less conclusive and committee members confer to discuss the available evidence to make a determination.

The most up to date version of the List of Birds of Peru can be reached at the link below. This list will be updated every time a new species is either included or removed from the list.

Official list of The Birds of Peru.