Using Citizen Science in your project

Are you an amateur birdwatcher in our city? Or do you often wonder what the bird that is singing beautifully in the tree near your home is called? Maybe you’re a dog walker that, while out helping your furry friend stretch their legs, often thinks “I wonder what the name of that parrot is?”

We’re seeking citizens who love our green spaces to help support a new project about our city birds. We want to build an understanding of what birds live in our area, how much they are valued by our residents and visitors and what opportunities bird watching could offer the city.

Council, in partnership with the Bird Society of the Globe, wants to ensure that, as the city grows, we don’t lose the wildlife that also calls this place home.

We are blessed with numerous lush green parks and in them thousands of species of animals, insects and birds. Last year we ran a similar project mapping where our local mammals live and any issues they cause, and examined how we can help them continue to live safely around the city.

This led to one area of North Park being declared protected because it was home to various small and endangered small mammals and also, in partnership with the University, led to a citizen count over the May long weekend of the mammal species that call the city home. Now we want to help our local bird life.

We have a number of opportunities coming up for you over the next few months both online and via fun participatory events around the local parklands.

From industrial city fringe to fields of regrowth.

Our city was once the heartland of industrial production, with the home of industrial salts based here for over 65 years. However since 1998 when the company closed down its processing plants we have seen the land once occupied by industrial smoke stacks and heavy machinery now start returning to open fields, maturing trees and with it wildlife.

This wildlife, especially the birds, that has returned are starting to make their way in to the city and we are seeing an increase not just in numbers but also species.

This project will help us see what birds are now calling our city their home and ask you to help us not only identify them but ideate together how we can make this regrowth in nature an advantage for all city residents and visitors.

Photos by Benjamin Davies and Florian Olivo on Unsplash.