Bird Study publishes high quality papers relevant to the sphere of interest of the British Trust for Ornithology: broadly, field ornithology, especially related to evidence-based bird conservation.  Papers are especially welcome on: patterns of distribution and abundance, movements, habitat preferences, developing field census methods, ringing and other techniques for marking and tracking birds.

Bird Study concentrates on research concerning bird species that occur in the Western Palearctic. This includes research on their biology outside of the Western Palearctic, for example on wintering grounds in Africa. Bird Study also welcomes papers from any part of the world if they are of general interest to the broad areas of investigation outlined above.