The Australian Bird Count (ABC) was a project of the

Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union The Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union (RAOU), now part of BirdLife Australia, was Australia's largest non-government, non-profit, bird conservation organisation. It was founded in 1901 to promote the study and bird conservation, conservati ...

(RAOU). Following the first and successful

Atlas of Australian Birds The Atlas of Australian Birds is a major ongoing database project initiated and managed by BirdLife Australia (formerly the Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union) to map the distribution of Australia's bird species. BirdLife Australia is a n ...

project, which led to the publication of a book on the distribution of

Australian birds Australia and its offshore islands and territories have 898 recorded bird species as of 2014. Of the recorded birds, 165 are considered vagrant or accidental visitors, of the remainder over 45% are classified as Australian endemics: found nowhe ...

in 1984, it was suggested by Ken Rogers that the RAOU should next look at

bird migration Bird migration is the regular seasonal movement, often north and south along a flyway, between breeding and wintering grounds. Many species of bird migrate. Migration carries high costs in predation and mortality, including from hunting by ...

and other movements in Australia. Methodology for a suitable project involving volunteers was worked out through experimental fieldwork and a workshop on ‘Monitoring the Populations and Movements of Australian Birds’. A project manager, tephen Ambrose was appointed and project fieldwork ran from January 1989 to August 1995. Some 950 volunteer observers carried out 79,000 surveys, for fixed 20-minute periods in 1700 three-hectare locations over Australia. Project management started at the

Australian Museum The Australian Museum is a heritage-listed museum at 1 William Street, Sydney central business district, New South Wales, Australia. It is the oldest museum in Australia,Design 5, 2016, p.1 and the fifth oldest natural history museum in the ...

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

and was later moved to the RAOU National Office in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

. Financial support came at first from the

Australian Nature Conservation Agency Director of National Parks is a government-owned corporation of the Australian government responsible for the management of a portfolio of terrestrial and marine protected areas proclaimed under the ''Environment Protection and Biodiversity Con ...

and subsequently from BP Australia which pledged A$260,000 to the project over five years. While much of the data has yet to be analysed, significant seasonal movements of several species of birds, (demonstrated through geographical shifts in seasonal abundance) have been quantified. A report on some of the findings of the project was published as a supplement to the RAOU's magazine ''

Wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingspan of ...

'' in 1999.{{cite journal , first=Michael F., last=Clarke , first2=Griffioen , last2=Peter , first3=Richard H. , last3=Loyn , year = 1999 , title = Where do all the bush birds go? , journal = Wingspan , volume = 9 , issue = 4 , pages = Supplement 1–16

References

Bird censuses Ornithological equipment and methods Ornithology in Australia

See also

References