Make a day of it! Break time for a Blitz team in Namadgi National Park.
This year’s Blitz: 25-26 October 2025
Canberra Birds’ Blitz has been held in October since 2005 and aims to record as many species of birds in the ACT across as wide a variety of habitats as possible – all in one spring weekend.
It provides a yearly snapshot of the birds of the ACT, their abundance in different locations and their breeding activity.
Where and when to survey?
A list of Blitz sites and a map of grid cells have been the basis of the Blitz since 2005 and anyone can select one or more of these to survey. Some Canberra Birds members have ‘adopted’ one or more of the sites or grid cells and survey them every year. However, in a departure from previous years, vehicle access to parts of Namadgi National Park behind locked gates is no longer available. If they remain accessible, please continue surveying your favourite places as it provides us with valuable time series data.
Or, you can survey any location in the ACT, either in your neighbourhood, or further afield. The far-flung parts of Namadgi National Park are surveyed less often than sites close to town so surveys from these parts of the ACT are very welcome.
Survey any time of the Blitz weekend – day or night. Very few night-time Blitz records have been submitted so these would be very welcome.
How to submit your Blitz data
Nowadays, the majority of Canberra Birds Blitz records are submitted to eBird and this is the easiest and quickest way to contribute Blitz data. For those who prefer them, COG hardcopy datasheets remain very acceptable.
Whatever method you use, please:
- record all the species you can confidently identify
- count and record the number of individual birds of each species
- record any breeding activity you see, and
- don’t forget to include exotic species such as House Sparrow, Starling or Common Myna.
Submitting using eBird
Submit to eBird as usual, preferably keeping to the Birdlife Australia 2ha/20minute survey method. Other eBird protocols (Travelling, Stationary, Incidental) can be used to record observations between 2ha sites. If you are resurveying your regular Blitz sites, please use the same method you used in previous years. Don’t forget to record breeding using the eBird breeding codes.
From 2025 there is no need to share your Blitz checklists with the eBird account called COG Blitz.
Submitting using the COG datasheet
The COG datasheet can be printed from here. Complete your forms, one for each site, as usual and preferably using the Birdlife Australia 2ha/20minute survey protocol. If you are resurveying your regular Blitz sites, please use the same method you used in previous years. Record breeding using the codes: ih (inspecting hollow); co (copulating); nb (nest building); ny (nest with young); cf (carrying food); dy (dependent young).
If you see a bird species on the Canberra Birds “unusuals” list (Unusuals-list-2020.pdf) take a photo of it, if at all possible; take copious field notes of all the details you observe and report any known features you didn’t see; then submit a completed unusual bird report form with your datasheet or email it to rarities@canberrabirds.org.au.
Please scan your completed datasheets, or photograph them on your phone, and email them to Blitz@canberrabirds.org.au. You can also post them to COG Blitz Records, PO Box 331, Jamison Centre ACT 2614.