COG collects bird observations to its database for research purposes and for its Annual Bird Report and Birdlife Australia’s ongoing Atlas. COG’s records cover the COG Area of Interest (AOI) which extends from Yass and Burrinjuck Dam in the north-west, to the centre of Goulburn in the north-east, Adaminaby in the south-west, and Lake Bathurst, and Majors Creek in the east. (see map). COG also collects observations via the Garden Bird Survey.
Your reports of birds helps COG to detect changes in species and abundance resulting from factors such as habitat and climate change and allows us to provide up-to-date information to government and others.
COG is currently (2022) replacing its database system however records can and should still be entered as below.
Bird observations can be entered by any of the following means:
- Birdata – This is Birdlife Australia’s (BLA) Atlas database. Birdata observations from the ACT region are forwarded to COG by BLA at regular intervals so will eventually be included in COG’s records. New users will need to register first with Birdata. You can enter records to Birdata using their app or on a desktop/browser.
- eBird Australia – This is the Australian portal of Cornell University’s worldwide bird recording system and is the most widely used means of recording bird lists and observations. COG downloads bird observations recorded within its area of interest from eBird Australia. By this means all ACT lists submitted to eBird are included in COG’s records, and these now compose a large proportion of the records received by COG. New users will need to create an account with eBird. You can enter records to eBird via their app or on a desktop/browser. eBird accepts complete lists and incidental observations.
- Paper forms are available from the COG website (COG Observation Report, COG Incidental Record), at COG meetings, or from the COG Secretary (cogoffice@canberrabirds.org.au). When you have completed your paper forms, drop them in the red box at COG meetings, or mail to COG Records Officer, PO Box 331, Jamison Centre ACT 2614
Avoiding Duplication
As mentioned above, entries are swapped between organisations. For this reason please do not submit the same observations to more than one of COG, eBird or Birdlife Australia.
Using other systems
If you use some other website or a personal system to record your observations, and want to submit these electronically to COG, please contact the COG Database Manager via cogoffice@canberrabirds.org.au .
COG Chatline
Observations reported to the COG ‘Chatline’ (COG’s discussion email list) are NOT automatically transferred to the COG database, so even if you have posted an interesting observation on the chatline, please ALSO submit it to the database using any of the above methods.
Follow-up
If a data checker has any queries about your observations, you may be phoned or sent an email, asking for clarification. Please assist us by responding.