The Birds in Reserves Project, or for short BIRP, started in 1992 and is run as a National “Citizen Science” project by the Animal Demography Unit (ADU), based at the University of Cape Town (UCT). The primary aim of the project is the collection of bird occurrence data, specifically inside South African protected areas (PAs). The process is fairly simple; volunteers go out to any PA and simply make a list of all the bird species observed. Data can be collected up to a maximum of seven days. This project is well suited for people that simply want to contribute their sightings (within protected areas) to a worthwhile cause. Equally, the BIRP project can serve as an avifaunal baseline monitoring tool for all protected areas, whether big or small. The data is submitted to the ADU, processed and made available on this website.

The data collected serves a variety of users; private, recreational, institutional and academic. The project is supported and endorsed by both the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) as well as BirdLife South Africa (BLSA).

The menu on the left provides you with a host of functions in order to obtain information from this site. Species summaries, site summaries, observer summaries including other project related information are available. We also encourage decision makers and managers to use the data available to help them make informed planning and management choices. We hope that this site will serve you as a valuable conservation assessment tool.

If you would like to become involved in the BIRP project, we would dearly like to hear from you. Your contributions will certainly benefit bird conservation in South Africa. Please download the BIRP instruction booklet which contains all the relevant information pertaining to this project. Alternatively contact the project coordinator (telephone 021 650 4698).

We encourage you to use the BIRP information for personal or recreational use; including education, research and conservation purposes. For these applications the data will be provided free of charge. This information may not be incorporated into other websites, or used for commercial gain. Please contact the project coordinator for further details. Effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the data, but the ADU cannot guarantee that all data are correct. If you are aware of any errors or omissions in the data, please contact the project coordinator.

Latest news

2012-02-20 Doug Harebottle 
African Grass Owl featured in interview with African Raptors 

Craig Whittington-Jones, Gauteng ornithologist and ardent ADU project supporter, was recently interviewed by African Raptors, an on-line raptor forum, concerning the plight of the African Grass Owl. Craig is co-chair, together with Geoff Lockwood (another ardent ADU stalwart), of the African Grass Owl Task Force established by the Endangered Wildlife Trust in 2009 to research population declines and look at conservation measures for this species.

This interview was borne out of the range-change map which was put up as a latest news item during September 2011. Data that had been received for this endangered raptor during SABAP2 revealed that reporting rates were lower than SABAP1 and that there was perhaps some range contraction occuring. This grassland specialist is largely under-recorded but atlas data does seem to provide some evidence that there is cause for concern.

It is encouraging that through initiaves like SABAP2 we can start to build early warning systems for species, and that through active involvement of the African Grass Owl Task Force appropriate conservation measures can be proposed and implemented to safegurad this species' survival into the future. Currently Craig is busy compiling the provincial conservation assessment for the species in which he has made extensive use of data from various ADU projects, including CWAC, BIRP, SABAP1 and SABAP2. 

To read the interview click here

 
 
 
2012-02-13 Doug Harebottle 
ADU 20th anniversary celebration in KZN 

The National Botanical Gardens in Pietermaritzburg was the setting for the last of the ADU's 20th anniversary celebrations. Following on from the successful events held in the National Botanical Gardens in Cape Town (Jul. 2011) and Pretoria (Oct. 2011), the KZN celebration took place on Saturday 11 February with about 60 citizen scientists in attendance. Doug Harebottle and Dieter Oschadleus represented the ADU.

Although the day was marred slighltly by cool, rainy weather everyone enjoyed the comaradrie and chance to meet with fellow citizen scientists. The morning presentations provided a good overview of what the ADU has achieved in the last twenty years and everyone agreed that these were interesting and informative. After a picnic lunch in the drizzle (for some at least!), a feedback session was held and gave an opportunity for anyone to tell their story or ask questions. Thanks to everyone for your postive comments and input, but we couldn't do what we do without your support and dedication! We then lit the candles on the cake and wished the ADU well for the next twenty years!

A huge thank you to Colin Summersgill, KZN RAC chair, for organising the event and sorting out all the local logistics and to the Natal Midlands Bird Club for helping with tea and coffee arrangements. We are extremely grateful to Christopher Willis, who heads up the National Botanical Gardens programme in SANBI, for allowing us to use some of South Africa's most beautiful settings for the ADU's birthday celebrations. It is nice to see that the ADU-SANBI partnership extends beyond the more formal contractual relationships of both organistaions. A final thanks to Colin's wife, Penny, who baked the 'third' celebratory birthday cake which was certainly enjoyed by everyone!

So here's wishing the ADU all the best for the next 20 years, although next year it seems appropriate to celebrate the unit's 'coming of age'!

To all our Citizen Scientists - Thank you , Dankie, Enkosi, Ngiyabonga, Ke a leboga!

 
 
 
2010-09-02 Doug Harebottle 
Ornithological Observations - a new on-line bird journal 

Yesterday marked the launch of a new e-journal, Ornithological Observations - http://oo.adu.org.za/. This journal is published online, by BirdLife South Africa and the Animal Demography Unit at UCT and is of a semi-scientific nature. It is edited by Arnold van der Westhuizen, PhD student and ardent ADU/BLSA project participant.

Its main aim is for scientists and citizen scientists alike to submit interesting observations of bird related matters (behaviour, nesting activities, foraging behaviour, annotated checklists etc.) in a reader-friendly format that is accessible to the public and the scientific community. One regularly encounters interesting bird behaviours, or nesting habits, or movement patterns  and it is these anecdotal observations which often do not get into the broader scientific and popular literature. But by getting these observations published in a short, user-friendly format they contribute valuable information to our bird knowledge base that can be used in future editions of Roberts's Birds of southern Africa.

Submissions for OO are encouraged from southern Africa but articles and short papers can be submitted from anywhere around the world. Getting the article from submission to publication is hoped to be a quick process as papers will not be peer-reviewed but the editorial committee will ensure that a high-standard is maintained. Templates have been provided to make the writing process as streamlined as possible. And even if you do not want to write anything you can visit the site frequently for interesting reads on our birdlife.

For more information please visit the OO website. There are already two articles that can be viewed and downloaded as pdf files. These will give you a nice feel for the style and format that is used for OO submissions.

We look forward to receiving your contributions and making OO a successful media platform for birders and scientists!

 
 
 
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