The recent addition of 1.2 million records from the Canberra Ornithologists Group (COG) Garden Bird Surveys data set brings the grand total of Atlas records to just over 25 million! We have occurrence records – specimens, sightings, surveys – together with images, links to videos and species profile fact sheets.
The Canberra Ornithologists Group (COG) has been diligently compiling garden bird surveys for 30 years. Each week, enthusiastic bird-watchers from around Canberra and local districts record the maximum number of each species of bird seen in a 100 metre radius of their house or office.
If you are lucky enough to see a dozen Spotted Pardalotes one day, and then six the next, but no more for the rest of the week, then you would record 12 Spotted Pardalotes for the week. It’s that easy. Even this fearless blogger has taken part in the Gardens Bird Survey.
A local rarity – a Lewin’s Honeyeater recorded in my backyard in the COG Gardens Bird Survey in 2008. This species of bird had not been observed in the gardens survey since 1992.
Atlas Data Set Explorer
How do we find all the 280+ data sets the Atlas currently holds?
Follow this link and bookmark it to discover the Atlas data sets:
The data sets displayed on the page can be refined to facet (or filter) the results set. Click one or more options to reduce the selection. A free text search on the data set names is also available, e.g. type in “Garden”.
The Content Type (not shown in the image below) summarises the kind of data found in the data set. Keywords like: Habitat, Conservation management, Lifecycle can be chosen.
In the next few months, the Atlas website will change to prominently feature the Data Set Explorer with a link from the home page and the navigation menus.
Even more data coming soon!
Look out for historic atlas data coming from Birds Australia and their latest update of bird observations.
Also last year’s SA Flora and Fauna data from the South Australian Department of Environment and Natural Resources is due soon.