Calling all birders!

Photo of tui
This beautiful boy was saved by Gordonton bird rescuer Bill Smith.

The great 2021 Garden Bird Survey is in!  Get ready the binoculars and settle somewhere comfy for bird watching.

By taking part you’ll help build a picture of our common and widespread birds.  It’s also a lot of fun.

This year’s survey started on 26 June and ends Sunday 4 July.

The survey monitors the population trends of common garden birds in New Zealand. It attempts to answer if garden bird populations are increasing, decreasing, or remaining stable.

New Zealand has a number of rare native bird species that are declining in number, but we don’t know the population trends of our more common native or introduced birds. It is hoped that the annual garden bird survey will act as an early-warning system if currently common native species start declining.

For more information and support, click here to visit the garden bird survey site.

As always, we took part last year.  See if you can top our effort! The 2020 Woodlands Road Garden Bird survey yielded 20 species, as follows:

Last year we saw: Mallard 4, Pukeko 10, Harrier 2, Spur-wing Plover 1, Rosella 4, Kingfisher 1, Welcome Swallow 3, Silvereye 6, Grey Warbler 1, Fantail 2, Blackbird 3, Thrush 1, Myna 3, Starling 6, Yellowhammer 1, Goldfinch 3, Greenfinch 1, Chaffinch 1, House Sparrow 11, Magpie 2

 

Photo of bird watching
Cat is helping. Not.

The annual survey began in 2007 and is New Zealand’s longest running citizen science project. It is organised by Landcare Research and supported by NatureWatch, TopFlite, Birds NZ and Forest & Bird.

 

 

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N8N

Number 8 Network - a community website for the rural areas northeast of Hamilton, NZ, is run by Gordonton journalist/editor Annette Taylor.

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