The Emirates Bird Records Committee (EBRC) was formed in the early 1990s by a group of British volunteer ornithologists resident in the United Arab Emirates. In prior decades, efforts had been made to draw up a list of bird species that had been documented in the UAE, with one of the earliest lists being that compiled by a member of the British Army, on secondment to the Abu Dhabi Defence Force (ADDF), Lt. Col. J.D. Wellings, in 1973, with his survey of the birds of Abu Dhabi island.

In the following years, Mrs. F.E. Warr, of the Ornithological Society of the Middle East, compiled a more comprehensive list for the entire country, which by 1988 had listed several hundred bird species. This included historical data from the early 1970s, but from around 1980, drew primarily upon records collated by members of the Emirates Natural History Group, in Abu Dhabi, and the allied Dubai Natural History Group. In 1989, Colin Richardson, a British architect based in Dubai and Bird Recorder for the Dubai NHG, took over the maintenance of the list as well as the role of "UAE Bird Recorder," coordinating the receipt of information submitted by observers throughout the country. Shortly after assuming the role of UAE Bird Recorder, Richardson introduced a new standardized form that observers could use in the field to record the species that they observed. Designed in a matrix format, it listed all of the documented bird species in the left margin, with locations across the UAE listed across the top of each sheet.

By this time, an informal network of observers was active in locations ranging from Fujairah in the east to the westernmost reaches of Abu Dhabi emirate, while some made bird observations while working on offshore oil exploration sites in the Gulf. Many observers were resident expatriates who were members of the two natural history groups. Richardson also received bird-logs submitted by observers who visited from Europe or the United Kingdom during extended trips to the region. For several years, prior to his own departure from the Emirates, Richardson also ran commercial bird tours for overseas visitors.

Desiring a more systematic approach to collecting, assessing, and preserving such records of bird sightings, the EBRC was formed in 1993, holding its first meeting at the home of its first chair, Erik Hirschfeld, in Abu Dhabi. Four other members were chosen for the committee, including Richardson, and they met several times a year during the following years. One of the main tasks of the committee was to assess records submitted to them, in particular the records of sightings of rare species, usually defined as species that had been observed fewer than 20 times.

Periodically, members of the EBRC would publish updated lists of the birds of the UAE as well as newly documented rare species, often doing so in the publication Emirates Bird Records (EBR), compiled and edited by Richardson. Following the emergence of the internet, EBRC members began to circulate records of assessments by e-mail, rather than at meetings. A new Recorder, Tommy Pedersen, also established a website, http://www.uaebirding.com, in 2005, containing extensive data, including the results of EBRC assessments. From 2011, all data has been shared with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology in the United States, which maintains the eBird database (https://ebird.org/home), to which both scientists and the general public can upload data. UAE data uploaded to eBird is then assessed by the EBRC Recorder. Birdwatching as a pastime and the scientific study of UAE birdlife has expanded in recent years, attracting both native Emiratis and expatriates. This has helped to refute, once and for all, the assertion which, according to Col. Wellings, used to greet new arrivals, namely, that "there are no birds in Abu Dhabi!"