Acknowledgements

The second edition of Birds of Canberra Gardens, like the first, is the product of many people who have contributed in many different ways. It is the culmination of the efforts of many members of the Canberra Ornithologists Group and a good number of other people over the years. There is quite a risk, in acknowledging the contributions of so many people over 27 years, that some contributions might inadvertently have been overlooked. I hope this has not occurred, but if it has, it is certainly not any reflection on the value of their contribution.

As the editor of the book Paul Fennell has been a major contributor. The continuing success of the Garden Bird Survey is due to Martin Butterfield, the current coordinator of the Garden Bird Survey, through previous coordinators including David Rosalky, Paul Fennell, Philip Veerman, McComas Taylor, Ian Baird, Graham Elliott and Neil Hermes, at the beginning in 1981. A particular mention should go to Kay Hahne who has laboured assiduously over many years to enter the data from the charts into the Garden Bird Database. More recently she has received significant assistance from Anne Hall.

In the production of this volume, Martin Butterfield has most successfully carried out the difficult and complex operation of extracting the relevant information from the Garden Bird Data base and turning it into useful statistical information. The revision of the text based on the new information was carried out by Chris Davey, David Purchase, Nicki Taws, Ian McMahon, Grahame Clark, Barbara Allan, Steve Holliday and David McDonald.

Kathy Walter consulted on the design of the book and graphics company Paper Monkey provided

the basic layout concept.

Harvey Perkins and Barbara Allan undertook the overall proof-reading of the manuscript with assistance from Chris Davey. Julian Robinson reviewed the grapic elements.

Since 2000 there has been great progress made in digital photography and the ability to edit photographs with programs such as Photoshop, and to transfer them over the internet. This has helped enormously in the task of finding suitable photographs. The COG Photo gallery on the COG Website, organised by David Cook, has provided many leads for suitable illustrations. So has the photo sharing website, Flickr. David Cook and Julian Robinson assisted in the collation and presentation of the many magnificent images for the book. They also provided many images from their own collections. While each photograph has an acknowledgement, special mention should also be made of the contribution of Grahame Stephinson, Helen Fallow, Marj Kibby, Geoffrey Dabb, Simon Bennett, Stuart Harris, Leo Berzins, Lindsay and Rhonda Hansch, Max and Cathy Gilfedder, Margaret Leggoe, and Max Sutcliffe who gave great support to the project.

Melissa Street, Parks, Conservation and Lands, Territory and Municipal Services, ACT Government, prepared the maps showing the distribution of sites.

A special and enduring acknowledgment must go to the COG members and others who kept a week by week record of the birds they observed in their site, sometimes over a period of many years. Without this effort, there would be no survey data.

A select few have submitted a chart for every year of the survey. This group includes:  Joe Barr, Chris Davey, Kay and Horst Hahne, Jack and Andrea Holland, and Michael Lenz.

Chris Davey

President 2009

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