BirdLife Australia has revealed the preliminary results of its annual Aussie Bird Count.
More than 80,000 Aussies counted more than 3.6 million birds during the week starting 16 October submitting over 100,000 checklists and observing 658 bird species.
More than 420,000 birds were counted and top again was the colourful rainbow lorikeet. It beat the noisy miner with nearly 220,000 counts and the iconic magpie with around 154,000.
“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,” Mr Dooley says. “We can’t protect something if we don’t know how it is faring in the first place.”
Nearly one in six bird species in Australia are at risk of extinction from threats such as climate change, habitat loss, fires and invasive species.
Did you participate in the count? Do you take note of the birds you see around you? Have the varieties changed over the years?
.
