Hi Landcarers

Have you registered for the Aussie Backyard Bird Count?

The Aussie Backyard Bird Count is a great way to connect with the birds in your backyard no matter where your backyard happens to be — a suburban backyard, a local park, a patch of forest, down by the beach, or the main street of town.

The Count week is only a few days away. Kicking off on 18 October. You can go onto the Aussie Backyard Bird Count website and register that you will be counting. Think about where you will count. Will it be in your backyard or will you pick a local park or bushland?

You can count as many times as you like over the week over a 20-minute period. The data collected assists BirdLife Australia in understanding more about the birds that live where people live.

So if you are a bird enthusiast or just a beginner, this is for you! I have my old Slater’s Field Guide that I still use as my ‘go to’ reference and it travels around the countryside with me (in normal circumstances).

Once you have registered, if you haven’t already downloaded the App, you can download and have a look through ready for next week! There is a Field Guide/Bird Finder built into the app and on the website to help you identify birds.

This is a great activity to do at home….or event, at school! I would love to hear from anyone that is locally doing the count.

There are many wonderful field guides available as books or apps – try your local bookstore or even library to get a hold of one. If you are still unsure after referring to a field guide, please leave the bird out.

The app Field Guide features just under 400 species even though there are around 800 species of birds in Australia. Be as general as possible when searching. There are some birds that are known colloquially by a different name that may not be their common name.

Remember, that if you would like to learn more abut our local birdlife, you can catch up with the National Parks Association group for one of their walks. Check out details via our social media. Their next walk is coming up on Wednesday, 20 October.

Register here.

As usual, any helpful links can be found on our website at www.centralwestlachlanlandcare.org, Twitter, Facebook or Instagram @cwllandcare

Happy counting!