Atlas of Australian Birds
Yesterday I mentioned in passing the Atlas of Australian Birds. This atlas was published in 1985 as a result of birders all over Australia recording their sightings and submitting them to the Atlas office of the Royal Australiasian Ornithologists Union (RAOU – now called Birds Australia).
Volunteers
The atlas database consisted of many thousands of individual records of bird sightings made by over 3000 volunteer birders. Birders all over Australia contributed their records during the five years from 1977 to 1981. Some contributed only a few record sheets; others, like myself, sent in many hundreds. These records were collated and the data used to produce a map of distribution for each species. The maps also recorded where each species was observed breeding. These maps were published in book form in 1984.
The New Atlas of Australian Birds
After about twenty years it was realised that this data was quickly becoming out of date and a new atlas programme was initiated. This ran from 1998 to 2002. This time over 7000 volunteers contributed over a quarter of a million survey sheets listing over five million individual bird sightings. It was the largest continent wide bird survey in the world. Again I contributed many hundreds of survey sheets. This new atlas was published in book form in 2003.
Electronic Atlas
In order to keep the data up to date and relevant, the Ongoing Atlas means volunteer birders like myself can make a continuing contibution to bird conservation in this country. One does not have to be a professional ornithologist to make a very valuable contribution. In the Ongoing Atlas records are available on the internet, making the data accessible to everyone.
For details of Birds Australia click here.
For details of the New Atlas of Australian Birds click here.
For details on contributing to the Ongoing Atlas click here.
Bird Records
I was a primary school teacher for 35 years until I retired in 2004. Sometimes I think I should have been a statistician – or been employed in some kind of job keeping lists, figures and records. I love things like that. So it is no surprise to say that databases are heaven on earth for me. Another of my passions is watching birds. Blend the two together and I’m ecstatic. Like a hungry pelican in a fish pond.
Birding Notebooks
Whenever I venture out on birding walks or drives I take my binoculars. Next – I pop a pen and small notebook in my pocket. In this notebook I record the date, place, time and list the species of bird seen or heard, often with the number seen (usually an estimate). Over the last thirty years I’ve been through dozens of those little spiral bound notebooks 11 cm x 8 cm in size – just right for popping into one’s shirt pocket. I still have most of these little books. (I actually started with a series of notebooks about twice that size – but they were too uncomfortable in my hip pocket when I sat down.)
Bird Record Books
A few years into my birding life I purchased a series of exercise books, similar to those used in classrooms. These I ruled up into columns: date, place, species name, number seen and notes about the sighting. As I started submitting records for the Atlas of Australian Birds in the late 1970s I added two extra columns: latitude and longitude. This pandered naturally to another hobby – collecting maps. (This was before GPS units). I meticulously and very neatly transferred all my rough, untidy field notes into these new books.
Computer Records
In the late 1980s I entered the computer world and quickly learned to develop a very useful proforma which eased the record keeping task. It looked much neater too. Now the sheets were being kept in ring folders. They now take pride of place on a bookshelf. The number of folders is quickly increasing, taking up even more shelf space. One major drawback – finding individual records relied entirely on my memory, not the most reliable retrieval system going. Enter – the database.
BirdInfo Database
In the mid 1990s I purchased BirdInfo, a bird watching dedicated database programme. My passion for record keeping reached fever pitch. Out came all those old notebooks and exercise books and into the computer went all my records. Sure – it was tedious. Sure – I nearly developed RSI. Sure – it was a lot of work transferring over 20,000 records, each one requiring about six keystrokes. But the benefits were amazing. For example, I could call up a list of birds seen in October 1976 in Blogsville. Or, I could tell in seconds and with a few deft touches of the keyboard the first time that I saw a Pixellated Boatbilled Fairy-Ducklette (I just made that up – there is no such creature – not on my list anyway.)
Simplicity
I love the complexities of outcomes from databases. The statistical outpouring from a database can keep me happy for hours. Matching that with my passion for keeping records and birds and well – I’m in pleasureland. Yes- I’m easily pleased. But it’s not for everyone. Some birders are happy with just a few simple lists. That’s fine. You can even buy printed lists of species names where all you have to do is tick the appropriate boxes. That’s fine too. Some birders only want to look at and enjoy the vast array of beautiful birds out there. That’s very commendable – there should be more like them. Keep it simple and easy seems to make them happy. But not for me.
BirdInfo
For more information about BirdInfo, contact the developer Simon Bennett by clicking here.
UPDATE: The webpage for BirdInfo is no longer available. The above link sends you to a page with Simon Bennett’s email address. I’m not sure if he is still selling the programme or not because a recent phone call from a fellow birder says he doesn’t answer emails sent to him. Sorry I can’t help you more on this matter. There are other birding databases available, so do your research.
Spoonbills of a different kind
I have been doing some searching on the internet over the Easter weekend. Last night I found a wonderful birding blog written by American birder Laura Erickson. She has written hundreds of pages about American birds and so her blog is very educational – and interesting. (Sometimes those two phrases don’t go together.)
Photo Gallery
The strength of her blog, in my opinion, is in her photo gallery. She has hundreds of beautiful bird photos. I was particularly impressed with her photos of the Roseate Spoonbills. They are so much more beautiful than our Australian spoonbills – which are lovely in their own right. It is such a stunning bird I feel like going out, buying a plane ticket to America and searching out this wonderful bird for myself.
Laura’s site called Birder Blog can be found by clicking here.
Laughing Kookaburras
One of Australia’s best known birds is the Kookaburra. There are two species of Kookaburra, the Blue Winged Kookaburra of northern Australia and the Laughing Kookaburra of eastern and southern Australia. The latter is an introduced species in the southern parts of Western Australia. Kookaburras are members of a world-wide family of birds known as kingfishers.
Kookaburras in our garden
Some friends of ours visited us earlier this week. At lunch time we were watching the parade of birds visiting our bird barh. Pam asked, “Do you ever have kookaburras here?” Yes we do – but they are only occasional visitors to our garden. Pity about that because their call is so typically Aussie that we’d love to have them here all the time. They are common along the River Murray which is only about 5km from our place.
Kookaburras at dawn
By contrast, when we stay with our daughter in the Clare Valley in the mid north of South Australia we have often been woken early by the laughter of the resident kookaburra sitting on the television antenna. On second thoughts – the kookaburra’s call may be lovely, romantic and so Australian – but being woken at dawn every day may become tedious.
Cheeky Kookaburra
I have heard of some people having very tame kookaburras in their garden, usually as a result of feeding them. Many years ago while camping in Western Australia I was amazed at the cheek of one of the locals. I had seen a kookaburra sitting on a branch of a nearby tree and thought no more about it. I busied myself cooking our barbecue lunch. A slight turn of my back and – whoosh – down swooped said kookaburra who then flew off with one of our sausages straight off the hot plate. How rude. I hope he enjoyed it. I’m sure he did – I’m an excellent cook!
Mallee Trees
In recent posts I have mentioned the word “mallee”. This is a particularly Australian word derived from the Aboriginal people of Australia. It specifically relates to a group of eucalypt tree species collectively known as “mallee trees.”
Mallee Scrub, Murray Bridge
“The Mallee”
Some areas of Australia are referred colloquially as “The Mallee“. These are areas where the mallee tree is the dominant species. The area where we live in Murray Bridge South Australia and areas to the east of here to the Victorian border are often referred to as the “Murray Mallee” because here the Murray River flows through the region where mallee trees are common. We have many mallee trees in our garden and the Murray River is but 5km from here.
Mallee birds
There are many bird and animal species whose preferred habitat is the mallee and its associations. Some species even have the word “mallee” as a part of their name eg Mallee Ringneck Parrot, Mallee Emu Wren and the Malleefowl.
For more information about the word mallee check out the Wikipedia entry here.
UPDATE October 2006: since writing this article I have added the photos that now appear on this page. Both were taken on our property and show typical mallee trees.
UPDATE March 2010: Further photos have been added below.
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Mallee Scrub, Murray Bridge
The following photos were taken elsewhere and show typical examples of mallee trees.
Mallee trees in Lowan Conservation Park, South Australia
Mallee trees in Lowan Conservation Park, South Australia
Murray-Sunset National Park, NW Victoria