Abstract
Handrinos, G., N. Probonas, K. Papaconstantinou, T. Kominos & M. Dretakis
Hellenic Rarities Committee
Since the creation of the last official list of the Greek Avifauna (Handrinos & Akriotis, 1997) our knowledge on Greek birds has much improved. Several records and claims of new or rare birds for the Greek Avifauna exist for the last 10 years. The necessity of a Hellenic Rarities Committee was obvious and the decision to make one took place in December 2004. Members from the Hellenic Ornithological Society and the Hellenic Bird Ringing Centre contributed.
The Committee has already compiled the “2005 year report” in which 14 new species have been added to the Greek checklist, making a total of 436 bird species. New species are mainly vagrants from Asia, Africa and America, but also breeders from adjacent countries that were very likely to be found in Greece.
The Committee has also accepted a number of records that alter the status of several bird species, from accidental to uncommon vagrants, or even regular migrants and wintering bird species in Greece.