Keith E. Vinicombe is a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 ornithologist and writer on bird identification.

Vinicombe is best-known for his first book, the Macmillan Field Guide to Bird Identification. Subsequent publications include Rare Birds in Britain and Ireland - a photographic record, co-authored with David Cottridge, in which Keith set out to explain theories about bird vagrancy in Britain and western Europe, including reverse migration

Reverse migration

Reverse migration is a phenomenon in bird migration. Although some large birds such as swans learn migration routes from their parents, in most small species, such as passerines, the route is genetically programmed, and young birds can innately navigate to their wintering area.Sometimes this...

. He is identification consultant to Birdwatch magazine, and has written extensively on bird identification in Birdwatch, and other British journals, including Birding World

Birding World

Birding World is a monthly birding magazine published in the United Kingdom. It is the magazine of the Bird Information Service, based at Cley next the Sea, Norfolk....

and British Birds

British Birds (magazine)

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 , established for the benefit of British ornithology...

.

He has served on both the British Birds Rarities Committee

British Birds Rarities Committee

The British Birds Rarities Committee , established in 1959, is the national bird rarities committee for Britain. It assesses claimed sightings of bird species that are rarely seen in Britain, based on descriptions, photographs and video recordings submitted by observers...

 and the British Ornithologists' Union Records Committee. His regular birding patch is Chew Valley Lake

Chew Valley Lake

Chew Valley Lake is a large reservoir in the Chew Valley, Somerset, England, and the fifth-largest artificial lake in the United Kingdom , with an area of 1,200 acres...

, where he has found numerous rare birds. Elsewhere in Avon

Avon (county)

Avon was, from 1974 to 1996, a non-metropolitan and ceremonial county in the west of England.The county was named after the River Avon, which runs through the area. It was formed from parts of the historic counties of Gloucestershire and Somerset, together with the City of Bristol...

, he is responsible for finding nine county firsts. Elsewhere in Britain, his finds include Britain's second Ring-billed Gull

Ring-billed Gull

The Ring-billed Gull is a medium-sized gull.Adults are length and with a wingspan. The head, neck and underparts are white; the relatively short bill is yellow with a dark ring; the back and wings are silver gray; and the legs are yellow. The eyes are yellow with red rims...

 and the first Lesser Scaup

Lesser Scaup

The Lesser Scaup is a small North American diving duck that migrates south as far as Central America in winter. It is colloquially known as the Little Bluebill or Broadbill because of its distinctive blue bill...

 and Blyth's Reed Warbler

Blyth's Reed Warbler

The Blyth's Reed Warbler is an Old World warbler in the genus Acrocephalus. It breeds in temperate Asia and easternmost Europe. It is migratory, wintering in India and Sri Lanka. It is one of the most common winter warblers in those countries...

 for the Isles of Scilly

Isles of Scilly

The Isles of Scilly form an archipelago off the southwestern tip of the Cornish peninsula of Great Britain. The islands have had a unitary authority council since 1890, and are separate from the Cornwall unitary authority, but some services are combined with Cornwall and the islands are still part...

. He was also among the observers who confirmed the identification of Britain's only Lesser Short-toed Lark

Lesser Short-toed Lark

The Lesser Short-toed Lark is a small passerine bird. It breeds in Spain, north Africa, also including Turkey eastwards across the semi-deserts of central Asia to Mongolia and China....

, at Portland Bill

Portland Bill

Portland Bill is a narrow promontory of Portland stone, which forms the most southerly part of Isle of Portland, and therefore also the county of Dorset, England....

 in 1992.

Vinicombe has also studied the status of vagrant wildfowl in Britain

Great Britain

Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

 and northwest Europe, in particular that of Ruddy Shelduck

Ruddy Shelduck

The Ruddy Shelduck, Tadorna ferruginea, is a member of the duck, goose and swan family Anatidae. It is in the shelduck subfamily Tadorninae...

 and White-headed Duck

White-headed Duck

The White-headed Duck is a small stiff-tailed duck.Adult males have a grey and reddish body, a blue bill and a largely white head with a black cap and neck. Adult females have a grey-brown body with a white face and a darker bill, cap and a cheek stripe.This duck breeds in Spain and North Africa,...

. A paper on the former species (co-authored with Andrew Harrop) was published in British Birds in 1999.

Vinicombe and the bird artist Laurel Tucker were personal and professional partners for a period during the 1980s, until Tucker's death in 1986.