BirdLife Australia, leaders for bird conversation in Australia, has revealed the preliminary results for the Aussie Bird Count.
With more than 420,000 counted, the colourful Rainbow Lorikeet once again comes out on top, beating the Noisy Miner with nearly 220,000 and the iconic Australian Magpie with around 154,000 counted.
In total, over 80,000 Aussies counted more than 3.6 million birds during the week submitting over 100,000 checklists and observing 658 bird species.
“The enthusiasm with which Australians have taken to the Aussie Bird Count has been outstanding,” said BirdLife Australia’s National Public Affairs Manager, Sean Dooley.
Over the past 10 years, the Aussie Bird Count has helped raise the profile of Australia’s bird life and encouraged thousands of people around the country to connect with nature.
“In addition to being good for our mental health, bird watching is often the first step towards nature conservation. We can’t protect something if we don’t know how it is faring in the first place.”
With nearly 1 in 6 bird species in Australia at risk of extinction from threats such as climate change, habitat loss, fires, and invasive species, BirdLife Australia relies on data to inform priorities and insights from monitoring projects such as the count to help shape our broader Bird Conservation Strategy, aiming to halt bird extinctions by 2032 and overall bird declines by 2050.
The results will be closely vetted by BirdLife Australia’s avian experts with a comprehensive data release for the Aussie Bird Count scheduled for December this year.
Learn more about Australia’s biggest citizen science event at http://aussiebirdcount.org.au
