Birding Ireland

Birds Ireland A to Z

Some of the birds that you can see in Ireland are widespread and well known. Birds such as the Robin, the House Sparrow and the Blue Tit are common throughout Ireland. Other common birds in Ireland that we would see on a daily basis include the Herring Gull, The Rook and Starling. In fact most of us can easily identify garden birds and some types of gulls and crows.

The number of bird types in Ireland does not remain constant throughout the year. Many birds migrate to Ireland in Spring and spend the summer months here. These would include the Swallow, the Swift, the House Martin and the Sand Martin. However, there are other less well known birds that arrive in Spring. These include the Wheatear, the Greenshank and the Puffin. But it is the rare birds that stop off in Ireland during Spring and Autumn that makes us an attractive destination for birding in Ireland.

Over the last few years there have been some very unusual sightings of rare birds in Ireland. A Black-winged Pratincole caused great excitement in July 2023 when it spent m0st of the month at Lough Swilly in County Donegal. An Egyptian Vulture turned up in July 2021 in, also in County Donegal and was subsequently seen in Wicklow and Mayo. A Least Tern visited Portrane in Dublin in June which attracted large numbers of birders as this was the first time that one had been recorded in Ireland. It is unlikely that it would have spent time there but for the great work done by Birdwatch Ireland in establishing a “Little Tern” colony in Portrane. This was managed by Tom Kavanagh and a crew of volunteers.

The gallery below contain photographs of the birds of Ireland from A to Z in alphabetical order. All of the photographs have been taken by me. Not every bird has been captured yet!  However, the list will keep growing as I get through 2023. You may see some photographs that I have taken abroad, but these are only of birds that occasionally visit Ireland!

I hope  this helps you to identify birds you see in your garden, or when you are out walking. If you want more information about the different birding locations in Ireland and  where the photographs were taken, click here: Bird Watching Locations Ireland