WELLINGTON, June 27 (Xinhua) -- Thousands of Kiwis will participate in the New Zealand Garden Bird Survey starting on Saturday to update bird counts and help scientists understand how birds are affected by environmental changes.
The huge amounts of raw data, with more than 70,000 surveys since 2007, will help researchers show how bird counts have changed across New Zealand over the past five and 10 years, Landcare Research said on Thursday.
House sparrows, goldfinches and chaffinches are declining from a moderate to a rapid rate over the last five years, as it is vital that the research, now in its 17th year, continues to confirm the trends, said Landcare Research Senior Researcher Angela Brandt.
"Adding another year of data will help us understand if this trend is continuing, or if 2023 was an anomalous year for bird counts," Brandt said.
The New Zealand Garden Bird Survey website has a whole host of bird identification pages and bird song examples, with a curriculum that scaffolds both cultural and environmental learning opportunities for school kids, she said.
Regarding New Zealand native species, while there has been an increase in kereru, fantail and tui counts, the long-term shallow decline in silvereye, or tauhou, counts continues, Brandt said.
If bird populations are changing significantly, it is an alert there could be an increase in predators, or changing temperatures could be reducing food and shelter, Brandt added. ■
