Arataki presents ‘Talking about birds’

24 June 2014

Arataki presents ‘Talking about birds’

Aucklanders interested in finding out more about all things feathered can attend four bird-themed talks at the Arataki Visitor Centre in the Waitakere Ranges on Sunday 29 June.

Presented by Auckland Council biodiversity experts, the free mini-lectures are helping launch the region’s Garden Bird Survey, which is collecting information to get a better understanding of bird populations.

Senior Biodiversity Advisor Ben Paris, who will be speaking about ‘birds in your backyard’, is keen for people to support the survey to help find out if garden bird populations are increasing, decreasing, or remaining stable.

“Residents are the people best placed to see the sort of birds that are visiting Auckland gardens. Taking part will be an interesting experience, and will help provide valuable information,” he says.

Other topics covered in the Arataki Visitor Centre talks include kereru research (Alice Baranyovits, PhD student, Auckland University), Auckland’s little penguin (penguin expert, Monique Jansen van Resenburg) and managing the Hunua’s Kokako population (Ecologist, Su Sinclair).

The talks will be held at 11am and 2pm, and will run for about an hour.

Visitors can also take the opportunity to talk to experts about what can be done to attract birds back into gardens. Information can also be found ataucklandcouncil.govt.nz by searching for ‘wildlife in your backyard’.

Run by Landcare Research, the Garden Bird Survey is a citizen science project that looks at bird population differences between regions, and between urban and rural gardens. It runs from 28 June-6 July 2014.

To get involved, visit www.landcareresearch.co.nz . As well as links to the survey, the website provides bird identification guides and a range of bird watching activities.

ENDS

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