Backyard Bird Count expected to involve more than 100,000 Aussies

Blue-faced honeyeaters are often seen at Cafe Arabica in Cleveland – Photo: Chris Walker

Birdlife Australia’s 2021 Backyard Bird Count is happening soon, from 18-24 October.

To be a bird counter, spend 20 minutes in you backyard or anywhere else and count the different birds that you see.

You then report the number of birds of each species that you observed in that 20 minute observation.

You can download the free Aussie Bird Count app to your smart phone to help with bird identification and make it easy to report the birds that you have seen.

You can do as many or as few Bird Count reports as you wish.

Anyone can become an Aussie bird counter, but you have to register first. To register, go to the Aussie Bird Count website.

Counting birds in the Redlands

In Redlands there are places to observe a variety of different birds that can be reported in the Aussie Backyard Bird Count.

In the Redlands, you are likely to see some of these birds in your backyard, in streets with wide footpaths or in your local park:

• Rainbow lorikeets, Scaly-breasted lorikeets and Pale-headed rosellas
• Galahs, Little corellas and Sulphur-crested cockatoos
• Australian magpies, Butcherbirds (Grey and Pied) and Torresian crows
• Noisy miners, Blue-faced honeyeaters and Noisy friarbirds
• Masked lapwings, Crested pigeons and Australian white ibis
• Spotted doves, Rock doves (feral pigeons) and Common mynas (also feral birds)

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Shorebirds, waterbirds and raptors such as the White-bellied Sea Eagle can be viewed from our coastal foreshore at Thorneside, Wellington Point, Cleveland, Victoria Point and Redland Bay.

At this time of year there are plenty of migratory shorebirds busy feeding in the Redlands.

At G.J. Walter Park next to Toondah Harbour you may see Bar-tailed godwits, Grey-tailed tattlers and critically endangered Eastern curlews.

A variety of waterbirds can be seen at Capalaba Regional Park and Crystal Waters in Thornlands including Australian wood ducks, Dusky moorhens and pacific black ducks..

Forest and woodland birds can be spotted in the Bayview Conservation Area in Redland Bay, the Greater Glider Conservation Area in Alexandra Hills and at the Mount Cotton Community Park.

Coochiemudlo Island is notable for its population of Bush stone curlews.

North Stradbroke Island offers the possibility of observing seabirds such as gannets, albatrosses, petrels, shearwaters, frigatebirds, boobies, skuas and terns.

Backyard Bird Count helps scientists

Last year, more than 108,000 people across the country recorded about 4.6 million birds during the Aussie Backyard Bird Count making this one of Australia’s biggest citizen science projects.

Contributions from more than 100,000 people participating in last year’s bird count revealed that numbers of small garden birds such as Fairywrens, Silvereyes and Willie wagtails are declining in urban gardens across Australia.

Redlands2030 – 17 October 2021