The New Zealand Bird Atlas begins on the 1st of June 2019, and is the world’s first national bird atlas to be run through eBird.
Anyone who is familiar with New Zealand’s bird species is welcome to take part. All you need to do is register as an eBird user, and begin collecting and submitting complete bird checklists to the New Zealand Bird Atlas eBird portal from the 1st June, 2019 – it’s that easy!
The aim of the New Zealand Bird Atlas is to map the occurrence of all of New Zealand’s bird species across the entire country over the next five years. To achieve this, we’ll need the help of thousands of birders from around the country to record the presence of every bird species encountered in over 3200 10 x 10 km grid squares across New Zealand.
With up to 80% of New Zealand’s native land birds now at risk of extinction, there’s an urgent need to develop a detailed understanding of exactly where New Zealand’s birds persist, where they’re doing well, and where they’re declining, so that both local and central government agencies and non-government organisations can target their conservation resources to where they’re most urgently needed.
The New Zealand Bird Atlas is designed to do just this – to create a detailed, nationwide picture of the current distribution of our unique birds, and combined with two previous Atlas projects run by birds New Zealand in 1969-1979 and 1999-2004, to create a unique picture of how the distribution of New Zealand’s birds has been changing over the past 45 years.
The New Zealand Bird Atlas is being run by Birds New Zealand, in collaboration with Wildlife Management International Ltd and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, and with the generous financial support of Goodness Kitchen. To find out more, and to access a range of Atlas resources including tutorial videos and an Atlas handbook, visit the New Zealand Bird Atlas project website.
We look forward to seeing you out there!