Australia

The Great Backyard Bird Count is just around the corner—February 14-17, 2014.  We encourage Eremaea eBird users to participate in this annual challenge to join with other birders from around the World in creating a snapshot of the global distribution and abundance of birds.

The Great Backyard Bird Count was launched in 1998 by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society (in the USA). Since then, more than 100,000 people of all ages and walks of life have joined the four-day count held each February. The results are validated and uploaded to eBird in real time, and the counts contribute to a long term monitoring database, and eBird. The count has grown, and last year was the first international bird count. Participants in 111 countries counted 33,464,616 birds on 137,998 checklists, documenting 4,258 species—more than one-third of the world’s bird species!! 158 checklists and 383 species were recorded in Australia.

Join us in trying to improve on that total this year! Simply tally the numbers and species of birds you see for at least 15 minutes on one or more days of the count, February 14-17, 2014, and enter your counts in eBird. You can sit on your deck and enter the birds in your garden, or go on a mission to count as many birds as possible.

You can count from any number of locations, anywhere in the world, as many times as you like. It doesn’t have to be in your backyard – but that’s a great place to start. Even if you didn’t know that it was happening, any complete lists of duration 15 minutes or more submitted to eBird (including Eremaea eBird) in this period will contribute to the project – but don’t forget you need counts for all species recorded.

You can count from any number of locations, anywhere in the world, as many times as you like. It doesn’t have to be in your backyard – but that’s a great place to start. Even if you didn’t know that it was happening, any complete lists of duration 15 minutes or more submitted to eBird (including Eremaea eBird) in this period will contribute to the project – but don’t forget you need counts for all species recorded.

Why count them?

Scientists and bird enthusiasts can learn a lot by knowing where birds are and in what numbers. Just knowing where species are is great, but counts can help us to determine when large declines or migrations (especially within a range) occur. Bird populations are dynamic, and constantly in flux. No single scientist or team of scientists could hope to document and understand the complex distribution and movements of so many species in such a short time. But with a regular, focused effort from thousands of participants, we can have a decent go.

Get everyone involved 

You might want to use this as a good excuse to start a patch, teach your grandkids about birds, or take someone new birding. It’s also a good reminder to get into the habit of counting all the birds you see, which can be really rewarding – looking carefully at birds to count them often reveals initially unseen birds, which may be less common like an Australian Swiftlet amongst the White Throated Needletails, a Wandering Whistling Duck amongst the Plumed, or that lone Dowitcher amongst the Godwits. It can be a fun challenge when teaching novice birders to tell species apart. If you are new to the Eremaea eBird portal from the Eremaea system, this is a good time to learn more about the new system.

How to take part 

If you’re new to the count, first register online at the Cornell website, or create an eBird account.  Then simply enter your checklists via eBird or the Cornell eBird portal. If you’re already an Eremaea eBird user, just submit your lists as usual, making sure to count all the birds you see for at least 15 minutes.

During the count, the lists will be validated and then displayed live. <insert image – last years count map> You can explore what others are seeing in your area or around the world, enter the photo contest, or enjoy the images from others across the globe. We encourage you to send in your snaps of birds and birders to make the count even more fun, and once you have entered them, you can also share them on the eBird facebook, or tag us on twitter @Eremaea_eBird if that floats your boat – we’d love to hear from you!

As well as the international photo contest, Eremaea_eBird will select a prolific GBBC lister to highlight as the birder of the month on Eremaea eBird!

Then keep counting throughout the year with eBird to collect, store, and display data any time, all the time.