Do I have to be a BirdLife Australia member to contribute to Birdata?

No, anyone is welcome to contribute. Sign up for your free Birdata account here,
use our How-to guides, or sign up for our free eLearning course, Birdata Basics and Beyond to get you started.

I already have a BirdLife Australia log in. Do I need to create a new login for Birdata?

No, if you have an existing BirdLife Australia login, or have participated in an Aussie
Bird Count, you can use your same log in details to access Birdata.

Do I have to be a bird expert to contribute my sightings to Birdata?

No, you do not. We have plenty of resources available to help you along the way.
Everyone’s birdwatching skills are different, and we encourage all people with
a love of birds to tell us what they are seeing and contribute their data to
this valuable project.

For people new to birdwatching, finding a good local bird guide or bird identification app
is a good place to start improving your identification skills and familiarise
yourself with your local birds. You might also want to join a local BirdLife Australia branch who often host free bird walks and bird education events. 

We suggest those new to Birdata participate in our free eLearning course to learn about Birdata’s survey techniques and get used to the functionality of the app and website platforms.

We expect Birdata users to be able to identify most of the birds they encounter on their
survey. If there are species which you aren’t sure about, please don’t guess; just leave them off your list. 

You’ll find everything you need to get started on our How to Get Started in Birdata | Birdata page.

To update your email address, please send an email through to birdata@birdlife.org.au.

To reset your password, click on ‘Login‘ then under the log in details, select the ‘Forgot your password?‘ prompt. Enter your email then press ‘Reset Password’. An automatic reset email will be sent. Head to your email inbox and use the prompts to reset your password.

 Yes, the Birdata app does work offline, however, it is important to open and login to the app and zoom in on the map to select your survey location before losing internet connectivity.  If you don’t get a chance to do this, or your map doesn’t load properly (e.g. shows up as white), don’t panic, as your GPS location will still be recorded. Any surveys you submit while not connected to the internet are stored in the ‘Incomplete Surveys’ section and will automatically upload when you have a connection again. In some cases, this can take several hours, so please do not redo or resubmit the survey.

When trying to submit a survey with no reception, you should receive one of the following messages:

For Android phones

Yes, you
can enter surveys on the website by visiting the Record Survey page
on Birdata. For specific guidance on how to enter your survey on the website,
please visit our How
to Guides page or sign up for the free online eLearning course Birda
Basics & Beyond.

Can I enter my sightings without using the mouse?

When recording sightings within the Record Survey page it is possible to use only
the keyboard, which makes data entry much more efficient. Here are the keyboard
shortcuts displayed next to the Search box and dynamically changing depending
on the context. Start typing a species name and then:

• Choose a species – Up/Down
  arrows
• Add sighting – Return
• Add and edit sighting details
  – Shift + Return
• Move through the sighting
  details fields – Tab 

No, you do not have to enter your surveys in real time. Some people prefer to record their
birds on paper, bird journal, or voice memo etc.  No matter which way you
choose to record your survey in real time, your surveys can be entered into the
app or website at a later date. Just make sure to capture as much detail in
your survey so when you go to enter your survey at a later time you will have
all the details required to submit a survey.

Whilst historically the Atlas surveys were done on paper, Birdata is now 100%
electronic and requires surveys be submitted either through the app or web
portal. For this reason, we do not offer any paper forms because as you can
imagine with thousands of surveys being entered every year, this would require
a lot of hours to back-fill paper entries. 

To decide on what survey type is best for you, we suggest looking at our How to Guides or participating in our free eLearning course Birdata Basics & Beyond.

Within BirdLife Australia there are various programs with specific survey methods and entry fields. It is important to enter your survey into the most appropriate program and only submit it once. Do not stress too much about this. If you enter a threatened species sighting into General Birdata rather than a specific threatened species program such as the Powerful Owl Project, the species will still be accessed by the Powerful Owl team. 

In Birdata you can set your survey point anywhere on the map. It is important to set it as close to where you are surveying for accuracy. If you submit another bird survey or sighting at this location again, you can simply use the same survey point. Make sure to create a new survey point for each different location to ensure your bird sightings are geographically accurate.

To add your location in the app:

In the LOCATION tab, make sure you zoom in enough that the map allows you to set
the location. Please note you need to press and hold (rather than just
tap) and it should come up with a tag saying, ‘New Survey Point’ with the
GPS coordinates below. Then press ‘Record Survey Here’. 

Once you have set the location and pressed ‘Record Survey Here’, you need to give
your location a name on the DETAILS tab (without a name, it won’t let you
submit the survey at the end). You can name your survey anything you want,
you will be the only one to see the survey name, so make it meaningful to
you.

To add your location in the website:

In the LOCATION tab, make sure you have zoomed in enough that when you click on
the map, a red location pointer appears. On the same LOCATION page, make
sure you add a name to your survey point in the top right-hand corner.
Again, if you don’t give the survey a name, it won’t let you submit the
survey at the end on the REVIEW & SUBMIT page.

To see a visual guide of how to set your location, use our ‘How-to’ Guides | Birdata or
enrol in our free online eLearning course: Birdata Basics & Beyond: Make your birding count online course – BirdLife Australia.

There are several ways to access your data.

On the website

Select the My Data tab at the top of the page to see all the surveys you have submitted to Birdata. Navigate via the map or use the filters on the left-hand side of the screen to find areas or surveys of interest. Your species list (i.e. every bird you have ever logged in Birdata) can be seen in the ‘My species’ list on the right-hand side of the screen. To print your species list or download your data, see our How to Search, edit and export your Birdata surveys guide.

On the app

On the home page select ‘Surveys’ to access all surveys entered into Birdata. To view
your bird list, select ‘Species’. This will show you all the birds you have entered into Birdata as well as basic statistics on how many times you have recorded the species in a survey and how many times that species has been recorded in a survey in Birdata.

Yes, if the birds are present (i.e. you can see and/or hear them) when conducting your survey then you should log them each time. Researchers are often most interested in the reporting rate, for a particular species, in a particular area/habitat. So, if you have Tawny Frogmouths in your backyard and you see them every time you do a survey, we’d say there’s a 100% report rate for Tawnies in your backyard.

Yes, please do log common birds. We want to know what is happening with all birds in Australia and just because birds are common now, doesn’t mean they will always be. 

Yes, you can edit and/or delete your survey details in the Birdata web portal, but not via the Birdata app. See our How to Search, edit and export your Birdata surveys guide.

Unfortunately Birdata does not allow you to print maps. If you do want a copy of the map with sighting records on it to use in the field, we suggest taking a screenshot.

If you are looking for hard copy maps in the field, you can download maps through Google Maps.

Birdata has various agreements with other databases including (but not limited to)
eBird, ALA, and State and Federal Government databases. Whilst there are some
sharing agreements in place, there are often not direct flows between databases
leading to some lag times in data sharing. For example, whilst we do have a BirdLife
Australia project set up in eBird, there are often long periods between receiving this data. If you want to ensure your Birdata survey is received in real time in the database, we recommend users to enter their surveys directly into Birdata.

When you enter a survey in Birdata, you have the option of making it public or private. By default, most surveys (except for some sensitive survey types such as Beach Nesting Birds) are toggled to the public setting. To make your survey private so it cannot be seen by anyone but you and admin in the database, in the DETAILS page of the survey, toggle the ‘Private survey’ field to ON. Please note however, that private surveys are still shared in our data partnerships for use in science, conservation and planning work. No personal details are ever shared in these data exchanges.

If you allow your survey to remain public, anyone can access your surveys to view
them, but no personal data (including names) is disclosed. Your personal details will never be shared or published without your prior, written permission. Please see our privacy policy.

Birdata uses in-built layers and information based on historic and expert knowledge of bird ranges, seasonality, and bird trends. Sometimes due to these layers, a sighting will be queried for further investigation if it is thought to be out of range. In these cases, you will receive a message such as “The current estimated range of this species does not include your location. Make sure you have made a correct identification.” If you are certain this is the correct species, then select ‘I’m sure’. Please also enter as much evidence as to why you believe it be this species in the ‘Notes’ section. In these cases, photographs are highly encouraged (if possible) to help support identification. Please note, the sighting will not appear publicly in your survey until a decision is made to either accept or reject the sighting. 

Birdata uses a vetting process of in-house and external experts based around the country who know the birds in their area very well. Their role is to assess the flagged records and decide what action to take. That may involve contacting you, requesting additional information about one of your sightings. If you do receive an email from a Birdata vetter, please do the best you can to answer their request. You may have made an important discovery or perhaps a mistake. Either way, this is all part of the verification process and please don’t be discouraged if you have made a mistake – it happens to all of us. And as birds are on the move and constantly changing, this process also helps us to update our range layers. 

For a quicker response to your flagged species sighting, you can contact Birdata directly at birdata@birdlife.org.au noting which survey, location and species you were trying to enter. 

There are two potential reasons a bird sighting is missing from your survey:

Vetting

When a sighting that appears to be out of range is queried (i.e. goes into our vetting process), although the sighting will remain in your survey within My Data, it will not appear in your survey in the public database (Explore section) until a decision is made to either accept or reject the sighting. In many cases the vetting team will reach out for more evidence if it is required and you will be told the outcome of your sighting through this process. If the expert team of vetters decides to reject the sighting, then the sighting will remain in your My Data survey but will not be used in the public database (Explore section).

Sensitive species

Some threatened species are not visible, or their location is obfuscated (altered) to ensure their continued protection. If you have entered a sensitive species, you should be able to see this in the My Data section of Birdata, however, it may be obfuscated or not visible in the public database (Explore section of Birdata).

Spp is a term that indicates “species plural”. This is sometimes used in the database as an option for when there are two very similar species that are difficult to distinguish easily. For example, there is a “Crow & Raven spp” option in some areas. This option can be used when you cannot differentiate between the “Australian Raven” and “Little Raven”. 

Purple shapes (or ‘polygons’) in Birdata represent our ‘Shared Sites’, previously known as ‘Group Atlas Sites’. These are registered locations where repeat surveys occur. They help track and cluster surveys that occur in a similar location, typically, one habitat type. We currently have thousands set up in Birdata. You do not need to enter a survey within one of these polygons, you can set your survey point wherever you like in Birdata (ensuring it is as geographically accurate to where you are surveying).

Each shared site has a specified survey protocol; either 2 hectare, 20 minute search or 500m area search. Many of these sites have been set up by projects and have active contributors. For most shared sites, anyone can contribute as long as they set their survey point within the purple polygon and follow the same survey protocol. If you do want to contribute to a Shared Site in your area, please visit our Shared Sites page and enter the name of the site into the search bar to see if there are any specific access and/or survey notes for the site. As not all sites are actively managed, it is at the user’s discretion to ensure (prior to visiting the site) that the site is safe and not on private property. If there are accessibility issues with the site, do not survey there and instead choose a nearby safe, and public place to survey.

Please note there are some BirdLife Australia programs within Birdata that require specific training before participating. These include: Australian Shorebird Monitoring and Beach Nesting Birds. Please contact these programs to become involved.

We are currently systematically reviewing all shared sites looking at survey frequency and survey types. This review will make it easier to identify existing monitoring efforts and will allow us to best support, prioritise, and recognise critical projects. Whilst we continue to review, we are not setting up any new shared sites. If you do wish to discuss setting up a project with Birdata, please contact the team directly at birdata@birdlife.org.au. 

Data submitted into Birdata is used for a variety of purposes, both in-house and externally. Some examples of Birdata use include:

• Elevate the conservation status of threatened species including the Plains-wanderer, Australasian Bittern, Eastern Curlew and Australian Painted Snipe (among other species) in recent years.
• Inform the comprehensive Action Plan for Australia’s Birds.
• Inform the declaration of over 300 Key Biodiversity Areas.
• Direct private and government protected area networks.
• Sound the alarm bell for declining species like the Mallee Striated Grasswren.
• Influence local fire management.
• Inform government and NGO conservation actions.
• State of Australia’s Birds reporting.
• Environmental Impact Assessments.
• Critical bird research.

Will my personal information be shared/published?

Your personal details will never be shared or published without your prior, written permission. See our privacy policy.

Will my data be shared?

Generally, all data submitted to Birdata will be used by BirdLife Australia for in-house research and analyses such as reports, threatened species listings, and environmental impact assessments etc. Birdata also gives out licensed data extracts to councils, government, conservation groups, industry, consultancies, and volunteers. There are also sensitive records which are not freely available due to the threat of collectors/poachers, potential damage to the birds or their habitat, or site access restrictions.

Birdata and BirdLife Australia do not rescue or remove wildlife. If you are concerned for a bird, please contact the relevant authorities. 

Sick or injured Birds

For injured or sick birds where a likely cause is apparent, such as predator attack or car strike, please contact your local wildlife care organisation or veterinarian to seek further advice. 

Bird Removal

To have a bird removed, please either contact your local wildlife care organisation and/or local council for advice.

H5 bird flu

If a bird is sick or dead from unusual neurological symptoms such as tremors, lack of coordination, a twisted neck, or you witness mass deaths, this could be regarded as a suspected case of H5 bird flu. As H5 bird flu is a ‘disease of national significance‘, there is a legal requirement that all suspected observations of H5 bird flu are reported to the Emergency Disease Hotline, the national surveillance system for animal diseases, on 1800 675 888. For more information on H5 bird flu, visit H5N1 Avian Influenza – BirdLife Australia.