Vagrant and extra-limital bird records accepted by the Birds New Zealand Records Appraisal Committee 2023–2024

We report Records Appraisal Committee (RAC) decisions regarding Unusual Bird Reports received between 1 January 2023 and 31 December 2024. Among the 195 submissions accepted by the RAC were the first New Zealand records of Horsfield’s bronze-cuckoo (Chrysococcyx basalis), MacGillivray’s prion (Pachyptila macgillivrayi), and the Asian subspecies of gull-billed tern (Gelochelidon nilotica affinis). We also report the second accepted records of stilt sandpiper (Calidris himantopus), Bulwer’s petrel (Bulweria bulwerii), and dusky woodswallow (Artamus personatus), the third accepted sighting of northern pintail (Anas acuta), and the second and third accepted records of streaked shearwater (Calonectris leucomelas). Other notable records included the first records of Kermadec petrel (Pterodroma neglecta) and brown booby (Sula leucogaster) at Rēkohu/Wharekauri/Chatham Islands, plumed whistling duck (Dendrocygna eytoni) at the Snares Islands/Tini Heke, Canada goose (Branta canadensis) and black shag (Phalacrocorax car