How resident science is assisting to reveal the state of our feathered buddies.
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The yearly Garden Bird Survey happened recently, getting in touch with resident researchers throughout Aotearoa to count the birds in their yard, or at their regional school, park or marae.
On a cold early morning, I took a woolly blanket, a cup of hot coffee and a bird tally sheet out into the garden. I sat and enjoyed and listened for an hour. Two kākā shrieking, a number of tūī robot-singing, the coos of spotted doves – I was amazed by just how much I heard. I scanned the plant and identified the sturdy white singlet of a kererū. I was advised how charming it is to take a minute in nature – which it doesn’t require to be huge, awesome nature. It can simply be a fantail twittering on a perch in your metropolitan yard.
This sense of connection – and interest, delight and marvel – is extensively reported amongst study individuals, Gradon Diprose told RNZ. “It’s not going to solve climate change or the biodiversity crisis, but it can help improve our immediate well-being, while taking action to monitor bird trends with thousands of other people.”
The Garden Bird Survey, which has actually been run by Manaaki Whenua because 2007, enables researchers to track how birds are faring in time. For example, the 2022 State of NZ Garden Birds report discovered positive signals for 4 renowned yard types: kererū, tūī, tauhou (silvereye) and pīwakawaka.
The Garden Bird Survey isn’t the only bird census mobilising bird lovers: the New Zealand Bird Atlas task is cataloguing as numerous bird types as possible throughout the entire of Aotearoa. The task constructs on 2 previous nationwide bird mapping efforts, one in the 1970s and the other in the early 2000s. In each of these, the nation is divided into 3,200 10x10km grid squares and eager “atlasers” are released to tape as numerous birds as possible throughout all 4 seasons.
Data collection on this scale takes a number of years – the present model ranges from 2019 to mid-2024. But it is already yielding important information on the state of our special bird animals, utilized by researchers and decision-makers alike.
In a recent issue of New Zealand Geographic, Gabi Lardies signed up with some “bird nerds” on their counting experiences. Last weekend, I took part briefly too, for a check out to Pakiri Beach on a squally early morning. We saw variable oystercatchers, white-fronted terns, northern NZ dotterels, a banded dotterel and 2 shag types – a little count that will nevertheless build up into a huge, birdy photo of the country through the Atlas.
