What is the Countryside Bird Survey?
The Countryside Bird Survey (CBS) is conducted each year by Birdwatch Ireland between the end of Spring and the beginning of Summer . The Survey will celebrate its twentieth anniversary this year, having began back in 1998 for the first time.
The CBS is an on-going national project funded by our government’s National Parks and Wildlife Service, carried out to specifically monitor population trends of Irish common and widespread bird species that are endemic to countryside environments, such as Redpolls (C. flammea), Whitethroats (S. communis), Reed Bunting (E. schoeniclus) and Yellowhammers (E. citronella).
Why Volunteer For This Survey?
The data collected from this survey contributes to continuous monitoring of our common and widespread bird species over the last two decades. By people getting involved in citizen science like this, we can help to provide information for a better understanding of the trends, whether increasing or declining, in these native species.
Volunteers help to provide information that can allow Birdwatch Ireland to pinpoint either the decline or rise, of specific species in our countryside. This can often allow for the information provided from this survey to determine the influencing factors of these population changes. By getting involved in citizen science like the CBS, we can help to protect our native species by providing information on their current populations.
The citizen science contribution aside, the Irish countryside is very scenic, and well worth a stroll through on an early summer morning.
How to Volunteer
If you think this survey is something you would enjoy doing, you can get in touch with Birdwatch Ireland through their website. Birdwatch Ireland are great for providing public information on their surveys, and have a lot of data available from their previous years, as well as the methods used for this survey. If you are new to wildlife surveys, or a professional, this survey is good for anyone with a good knowledge of our countryside birds, through both sight and sound.
Click here to read more about this survey, and get in contact with Birdwatch Ireland for this years survey.
The Little Owl 