British Birds (magazine)

{{Short description|Monthly ornithology magazine}}

{{Infobox magazine

| image_file = BBsept2007cover.jpg

| category = Ornithology

| language = English

| website = {{URL|britishbirds.co.uk}}

| publisher = BB 2000 Ltd.

| frequency = Monthly

| country = United Kingdom

| founded = 1907

| issn = 0007-0335

| editor = Stephen Menzie

}}

British Birds is a monthly ornithology magazine that was established in 1907. It is now published by BB 2000 Ltd, which is wholly owned by The British Birds Charitable Trust (registered charity number 1089422),{{cite journal|last=Ogilvie|first=Malcolm |author2=Ferguson-Lees, James |author3=Chandler, Richard|year=2007|title=A history of British Birds|journal=British Birds|volume=100|pages=3–15|url=https://britishbirds.co.uk/article/a-history-of-british-birds/}}[http://www.charity-commission.gov.uk/registeredcharities/showcharity.asp?regno=1089422&submit=Run+Search Charity Commission register entry]{{Dead link|date=July 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} established for the benefit of British ornithology. Its circulation in 2000 was 5,250 copies; its circulation peaked at 11,000 in the late 1980s.{{cite book|last=Wallace|first=D. Ian M.|title=Beguiled by Birds|year=2004|isbn=0-7136-6535-1|page=137|publisher=Christopher Helm |author-link=D. Ian M. Wallace}} The current editor is Stephen Menzie.

British Birds is aimed at serious birdwatchers and ornithologists, rather than the more casual birdwatchers catered for by some other magazines on the subject. It publishes the findings of the British Birds Rarities Committee.

Its mascot, and later logo, the red grouse, was chosen because at the time it was then considered an endemic British species; though subsequently long considered a subspecies of the willow grouse, further study resulted in it being returned to separate species status in 2024.{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | editor3-last=Rasmussen | editor3-first=Pamela | editor3-link=Pamela Rasmussen | date=August 2024 | title=Pheasants, partridges, francolins | work=IOC World Bird List Version 14.2 | url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/new/bow/pheasants/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=29 August 2024}}

In 1916, British Birds magazine absorbed The Zoologist, due to the latter's shortage of subscribers.{{cite journal|last=Bourne|first=W.R.P.|title=In memory of 'The Zoologist'|journal=British Birds|volume=88|pages=1–4}}