If you’ve got 20 minutes to spare, you can contribute valuable information to over a decade’s worth of data by participating in Australia’s largest citizen science project, the Aussie Bird Count.
Running from Monday 20th to Sunday, October 26, the project aims to help Aussies connect with nature, while giving a snapshot of the health of our local bird populations. And with one in six Australian bird species under threat, it's more important than ever to take notice of the birds in our local areas.
I decided to do a practice bird count, to get ready for the big event. Here’s what I discovered:
20 minutes is the perfect time to chill out
You can do your bird count anywhere: the beach, your backyard, on your balcony, in a park, it really doesn’t matter. Birds are pretty much everywhere but if they’re not where you’re counting from? Well, BirdLife Australia says that information is equally important and needed to give a true representation of the birds around the country.
I grabbed a glass of water (too late for coffee, too early for a cheeky wine) and headed to my backyard on a very warm late Sunday morning. Birds are more active at dawn and dusk so if you’re after more bang for your buck, aim for those times, but I just grabbed the first 20 minutes I had free and settled in to observe what was around. And you know what? Because I had set aside this time solely to observe, I instantly began to relax. That lawn that needed mowing? That could wait 20 minutes, surely.
It’s what you see and what you hear.
It’s been a while since I’ve spent time dedicated to birdwatching, with my interests currently leaning more to the macro world, so I was intrigued to see exactly which species would come and visit.
The first thing I noticed was that the area was alive with birdsong. That was great because as long as you can identify the bird from its call, you can include it in your count.
From my seat I could hear a Grey Butcherbird warbling just out of sight, the high-pitched pip-pip-pip of an Eastern Spinebill, the raucous screech of a couple of Sulfur-Crested Cockatoos as they flew over (and yes, you can include birds that fly over as well) and some Little Wattlebirds. It didn’t take long for the wattlebirds to appear, performing acrobatics, snatching at spiders and bugs caught in the cobwebs around my windows. Lacklustre housekeeping for the win.
The Butcherbird soon joined me, first perching on the clothesline and then dropping to the ground in search of food. And the local male Satin Bowerbird made its daily flight across the yard and out again on its way to who knows where. And that was that. Not a lot of birds and none of the top three from 2024: Rainbow Lorikeet, Noisy Miner or the Australian Magpie. But it has definitely got me curious about who else drops by at different times of the day.
It's easy to join in
You can participate more than once as long as you submit your results separately. If you watch for an hour (which is very easy to do, birds are fascinating once you lock in), you submit three different reports. Want to do one count in your yard, another at the beach and another from the local park? Perfect, just report using the 'Aussie Bird Count' app. Don’t know much about birds? No worries.
BirdLife Australia’s Sean Dooley says, “It’s not about being a bird expert, it’s about spending time outdoors and learning something new about your local environment.”
Want to join me? Head to Aussie Bird Count for resources and details on how to participate.
