Rare Birds in Shetland Islands
Our list for Shetland Islands has 28 rare birds recorded regularly there: 5 residents, 1 summer visitor, 16 passage migrants and 6 scarce visitors
Most likely in October
GBIF · Oct
Share of all bird records in Shetland Islands in October, 2019–2024. Each month links to that month’s page.
All 28, most common first
Buff-breasted SandpiperCalidris subruficollisPassage migrantRare18–20 cmRegularly Sep
Mandarin DuckAix galericulataResidentRare41–49 cmRegularly Apr
White-tailed Sea-eagleHaliaeetus albicillaPassage migrantRare66–94 cmRegularly Sep
NightingaleLuscinia megarhynchosPassage migrantRare15–17 cmRegularly May
Spotted RedshankTringa erythropusResidentRare29–31 cmRegularly May
Smallest to largest
Length, cm- Red-flanked Bluetail 13–14 cm
- Bullfinch 15–17 cm
- Short-toed Lark 14–17 cm
- Nightingale 15–17 cm
- Yellowhammer 16–17 cm
- Dipper 17–20 cm
- Buff-breasted Sandpiper 18–20 cm
- Curlew Sandpiper 18–23 cm
- Pectoral Sandpiper 19–23 cm
- Golden Oriole 22–24 cm
- American Golden-Plover 24–28 cm
- European Turtle-dove 26–28 cm
- Hoopoe 25–32 cm
- Spotted Redshank 29–31 cm
- Hobby 28–35 cm
- Sandwich Tern 36–41 cm
- Mediterranean Gull 37–40 cm
- Garganey 37–41 cm
- Magpie 44–46 cm
- Mandarin Duck 41–49 cm
- Pomarine Jaeger 46–51 cm
- Great Crested Grebe 46–51 cm
- Gadwall 46–56 cm
- Cattle Egret 46–56 cm
- Surf Scoter 48–60 cm
- Little Egret 55–65 cm
- Snowy Owl 52–71 cm
- White-tailed Sea-eagle 66–94 cm
Body length, bill to tail. Rare birds in grey.
Data: EOD – eBird Observation Dataset (Cornell Lab of Ornithology), accessed via GBIF.org, CC BY 4.0. Records from 2019–2024, aggregated and filtered by Birdfact. How these lists are made