New Zealand Bird Atlas 2019-2024

[Patrick Crowe]

As many of you may have seen through other sources (Birds New Zealand magazine, Facebook), Birds New Zealand will be launching a new bird atlas project commencing on June 1st 2019.

We have decided to start this forum thread as a means for people that are not active on Facebook to become involved and to get updates as the project progresses.

This Atlas will be the third of its kind and the first one for over 20 years. This project will provide a detailed, national-scale assessment of the state of all of New Zealand’s birds. Data collected from the Atlas project will help to guide local and central government conservation for the next 20 years. A significant aspect of the upcoming Atlas will be the use of eBird (https://ebird.org/newzealand/home) as the primary recording platform. Although this won’t be the sole recording option - with other web and paper based options available - it is the preferred. eBird has a user-friendly app that is available for free download on Android and iPhone.

Keep an eye on this forum for regular updates. New Zealand Bird Atlas also has a website https://birdatlas.co.nz/ which will be up and running soon.

And if you haven’t already, please like and follow the project on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/NZBirdAtlas/

We look forward to providing more updates soon as well as hearing from the BirdingNZ community.

Patrick Crowe, Nikki McArthur and Mike Bell.

[lloydesler]

I hope the new scheme is going to be compatible with inaturalist as I use this instead of ebird and there are a huge number of bird records posted there. Lloyd Esler

[Patrick Crowe]

Hi Lloyd

Unfortunately the answer to your question is no.

While we agree that iNaturalist has some value by including "not just bird observations", the way that eBird captures and stores data makes it a much more fitting choice for the New Zealand Bird Atlas project. There are already several other atlas projects around the world that used (or have used) eBird. It is also the chosen platform for recording bird observations by Birds New Zealand.

We hope that you will consider taking part of the Atlas project through the use of eBird!

[Patrick Crowe]

A set of informative tutorials on using eBird are available here:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... igngO5iC18

Videos range from the basics of starting an account and submitting checklists to exploring the myriad of data that eBird has to offer.

[Patrick Crowe]

The Atlas will provide the best indication of how a wide range of NZ’s endemic birds are faring, including banded dotterels/Tuturiwhatu. Many endemics have a highly restricted distribution, with some species only found in one or two regions, and one in three is not far off from following the same fate as species like huia and moa. For all those species which are neither common, nor rare enough to be receiving conservation attention, the Atlas provides the best opportunity to measure their population trends and ultimately provide a sound, solid, scientific basis to lobby for the urgent protection of both birds, and their habitats. With online resources you can help raise the profile of rarities, as well as see where best to observe them in their natural habitat. Check out our “Species Maps & Exploring Regions” video on YouTube (link on previous post) to see how your observations will be used in the database.

Join us to assist those declining populations to get the help they need, and with your help we can determine which regions of the country have the highest bird biodiversity through the NZ Bird Atlas.

[Patrick Crowe]

The New Zealand Bird Atlas was launched yesterday at the Birds New Zealand conference in Wellington. There was great excitement about the project and people are keen to get out there and start contributing.

Visit http://www.birdatlas.co.nz for information and resources to help get you started.

Before submitting checklists using the eBird app, please make sure you change the portal to “New Zealand Bird Atlas” This can be done by clicking on the settings cog on the homepage of the app.

If submitting checklists online using your computer, please make sure it is through the Atlas portal: http://www.ebird.org/atlasnz
Also visit this site to explore Atlas data and view the effort map to help you decide specific grid squares (and habitat types within grid squares) to target.

[Nikki McArthur]

Thanks Pat! We're only a couple of days in, but already we've had over 100 checklists submitted from 42 different grid squares, so we're off to a really great start. Checklists have come in from as far north as Whangarei, and as far south as Codfish Island!

[Adam C]

Hi all. Once we've changed the portal to NZ Bird Atlas does it have the ability to load lists recorded prior to changing the portal? Seems like a wealth of records missed if it dosent? Just curious

[Adam C]

Also have found it easy enough on phone app but on laptop-website can only see 'New Zealand ebird' under the 'New Zealand' portals. Prob staring me in the face but cannae find it.

[Patrick Crowe]

Hi Adam

The Atlas project runs for exactly 5 years so only checklists submitted within that time frame will be included in the Atlas dataset. What we want is a current snapshot of the state of New Zealand birds which can then be used to compare to previous atlases and provide information on trends.

For your second question: http://www.ebird.org/atlasnz is the link to the atlas portal. We will be putting a big banner and link on the regular New Zealand eBird portal which will send you to the Atlas portal. Glad to hear you found it easy on the app! We want to make it as easy as possible for people to contribute to the Atlas.

And just so you are aware, the Atlas portal sits within the New Zealand eBird portal and as such all records submitted to the Atlas also go into the regular New Zealand eBird database. They also all count towards your own species/checklist counts and so all records will continue going towards your Canterbury big year!