Just to clarify questions about birdata and the Atlas. BirdLife Australia is
developing a Bird Conservation Portal that will include:
- an upgraded birdata interface and an app for our programs
- an Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) site database
- coordination of site surveys and volunteer support
- HANZAB online (searchable)
- Australian Field Ornithology and Emu online
- ornithological library resource
- State of Australia's Birds and an Australian Bird Index
Birdata is squarely aimed at long term structured monitoring and lots of work
has gone into ensuring it will be more user friendly, avoid multiple data entry
and provide real time feedback. It will allow local groups to set up their own
pages (with maps and tables etc) and moderate data for long term monitoring
projects. You will also be able to share data with your eBird list.
The portal is a core priority for BirdLife Australia. We want to promote
structured site surveys more widely so we can apply robust science to protect
birds. Work on the portal is underway but clearly it is an ambitious project
that requires ongoing funding. Thanks to everyone who has supported this
exciting project so far.
The science portal and Eremaea eBird are very complementary - eBird users are
skilled citizen scientists and we'd like to more people to participate in our
conservation programs.
Regarding the issues people have been reporting with Birdata, Andrew Silcocks
has provided the following comments: Birdata was created to be the online data
entry portal which fed data into the master Atlas database, which was offline.
The two are linked so that data can flow between the two databases.
Unfortunately the link from the master database to Birdata has been giving up
problems, which means that not all of the data are displayed in the statistics
and maps. We haven't had any problems with the master Atlas database, which
safely houses all of the data. With the development of the new Bird
Conservation Portal, a new Birdata will be completely revamped and will become
the master database. At the moment, all of our resources are going into funding
the new portal, so the problems with the current/old version of Birdata
probably won't be resolved. Apologies for the inconvenience and confusion this
has caused. Rest assured, all of the data in the BirdLife Australia Atlas are
safe and being put to good use.
Enjoy the weekend and don't forget to take part in the Aussie Backyard Bird
Count.
Paul Sullivan
BirdLife Australia
[Aussie Backyard Bird Count]<http://aussiebirdcount.org.au/>
Count me in!
I want to register for the first ever Aussie Backyard Bird Count 20-26 October
2014
Click here<http://aussiebirdcount.org.au> to register
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