Implementing a citizen science bird monitoring project in the Grampians/Gariwerd National Park, Victoria, Australia

ABSTRACT

Global bird populations are threatened by ongoing habitat loss and climate change. Inconsistent and short-term funding of faunal surveys in Australia makes population and distribution changes difficult to detect. To meet this challenge, alternative methods of supplementing regular surveys by professional ornithologists have been proffered, including surveys by trained citizen scientists. Here we outline the development, implementation and assessment of the Great Gariwerd Bird Survey (GGBS), a citizen science (CS) monitoring project designed to address long-term management questions in vulnerable Stringybark Heathy Woodland in Grampians/Gariwerd National Park. Forty volunteers that met appropriate criteria were selected and trained in practical 10-week/40-h courses. We assessed data from 288 2-ha/20-min surveys undertaken in autumn and spring 2021 at 36 sites, ran workshops to improve surveyor skills and data quality and assessed trainee experiences and program content through online anonymous surveys. Concurrent professional field ornithologist surveys enabled cross validation of CS surveys. Overlapping species accumulation curves for professional and citizen scientist surveys reflected very high correlations for site species diversity (r = 0.836) and abundances (r = 0.768). In autumn, the professional surveyor recorded significantly more species and birds than CS surveyors. Additional training in the identification of cryptic birds and challenging calls partially addressed the numerical differences in the following spring survey. This project demonstrates the potential for valuable long-term ecological data collection by well-trained citizen scientists with benefits to community environmental knowledge and participation despite some manageable obstacles. Participant surveys showed highly positive program perceptions, reflected by ongoing involvement in the GGBS.

KEYWORDS:

• Citizen science
• training
• bird survey
• Grampians Gariwerd National Park
• program design

Acknowledgments

The project received grant funding from the Australian Government through the Australian Heritage Grants Program and was funded with the support of the Victorian Government’s Weeds and Pests on Public Land program and is helping to ensure that Victoria’s natural environment is healthy, valued and actively cared for. BirdLife Australia provided support through their Birdata App and through access to the final data set. We thank Parks Victoria for supporting this project’s implementation in the Grampians/Gariwerd National Park and for on-ground and logistical support through the Friends of Parks program. Finally, it has only been possible through the substantive generosity in thousands of volunteer hours and associated costs provided by 45 skilled and dedicated community members from across western Victoria who participated in a 10-week training program and undertook two sets of four surveys at 36 remote sites across the Grampian/Gariwerd National Park.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Commonwealth of Australia [Australian Heritage Grant (AHG81062)]; Government of Victoria [Weeds and Pests on Public Land program]; State Government of Victoria.