One of the delights of Waikawa Beach is the birdlife, not only on the beach itself, but in the gardens. There are magpies, of course, but also hawks, yellowhammers, tui, piwakawaka, swallows, kingfishers and loads of others.
In the last week of June each year people are asked to give a single hour of their time to help count the birds in their gardens.
Landcare Research says:
Why count for 1 hour only?
We want everybody to count for the same length time. One hour was chosen as a length of time that many people can manage. Weβd rather have more people watch for 1 hour than fewer people watch for a longer time. In 1 hour you wonβt record all the species or all the birds that visit your particular garden, but if enough people do the survey we will get a good picture of the average numbers of birds of all species that visit the average garden. In other words, birds that are not in your garden will be in somebody elseβs garden. So please encourage your neighbours to do the survey as well!
In 2017 the Garden Bird Survey is on from 24 June to 02 July. It’s easy to do and the website has plenty to help you with it. So, how about spending an hour looking at the garden? It’s for science.
Changes in NZ Garden Bird counts for 16 common garden birds in the Manawatu-Wanganui region for the period 2007 to 2016:
