App allows city-dwellers to turn citizen scientists and track Australia’s urban birds

[UngulateNerd92]

Big City Birds app launched to help researchers better understand sulphur-crested cockatoo, ibis and brush-turkey.

There’s a new reason to engage with some of Australia’s most ubiquitous birds. A new app allows users to record the whereabouts of “big city” species like the sulphur-crested cockatoo and the Australian white ibis.

Researchers at the University of Sydney and Taronga Conservation Society have launched the Big City Birds app to assist scientists with data collection and help them better understand some of our most common species.

“Using the Big City Birds app or website, every person in Australia can be a citizen scientist and report when they see any of the five bird species,” said Big City Birds co-creator Matthew Hall, a PhD candidate at the University of Sydney’s school of life and environmental sciences.

https://amp-theguardian-com.cdn.amp...n-scientists-and-track-australias-urban-birds

 

[Onychorhynchus coronatus]

It is a really interesting idea and one that we want to implement / encourage within our own program with marmoset sightings.

 

[UngulateNerd92]

It is a really interesting idea and one that we want to implement / encourage within our own program with marmoset sightings.

Is this something you might actually do? If so, how would you go about creating a similar app?

 

[Onychorhynchus coronatus]

Is this something you might actually do? If so, how would you go about creating a similar app?

Yes, we have been trying to gather data on potential sightings of Aurita and hybrids across the four states our program operates in by encouraging people to register their iNaturalist mainly and combing through social media uploads too.

To some extent we have been able to obtain data on the species and areas of hybridization using this method but we need to improve upon this.

An app would be amazing but at the moment it is definitely not on the cards.

 

[birdsandbats]

If you don't want to make an app specifically for it, then perhaps you could encourage the public to enter photos of the marmosets into iNaturalist?

 

[Onychorhynchus coronatus]

If you don't want to make an app specifically for it, then perhaps you could encourage the public to enter photos of the marmosets into iNaturalist?

Thats what we have been doing in terms of social media engagement in encouraging people to enter any photos into iNaturalist.

An app would be amazing and I'm not ruling it out as a possibility of a future development but at the moment we do have to concentrate squarely on the other areas that are significant to the program.