10th Annual Aussie Bird Count

The annual Aussie Bird Count is a national citizen science event organised by BirdLife Australia. This was its 10th year, and the event ran from October 16-22. A small group of us gathered on a windy day at Lake Marma to submit some data using the Aussie Bird Count app. The app prompts you to record the number and species of all birds you see during a 20-minute window at a given location. This helps to standardise the data, because naturally the longer you look, the more chance you have to see new birds.

We started at the northern end of the lake near the pergola (see map). Alicia recorded the data on her mobile while the other volunteers helped keep an eye out and identify birds. We then did a second count at the southern end of the lake.

Across both sites, we saw a total of 19 different species and 151 birds, with a few species observed at both sites (see table below). Although all the species we spotted were fairly common, we were really pleased to see that a majority were native birds. Although we observed fewer total birds and fewer species at the southern site, a greater proportion were native species.

A big thank you to the bird counters who joined us! We hope to run an event for the Aussie Bird Count again next year and we are open to suggestions for a new location. What’s your favorite bird watching spot in the Yarrilinks area? Let us know!