My partner and I are novice birders and are keen to take on the challenges of the NZ Bird Atlas for our patch of the Manawatu.
In our professional lives, my partner holds a PhD in Plant Ecology, specifically looking at wetland ecosystems, and works in the biosecurity field. I have worked in local government for 26 years, with some time off for good behaviour to work at the Department of Conservation for 3-4 years. My background is in state of the environment data collection, data analysis, GIS, information management and a bit of process automation on the side.
The bird atlas project is an opportunity for us to work together and bring our particular combo of skills to a contribute to a national project.
We have been collecting data for the Atlas since July 2019, and are looking at ways to maximise our efforts to support the atlas goal of “record[ing] the presence of all bird species that occur within each square, during each of the four seasons [where] observers should aim to survey as many of the different vegetation or habitat types within each grid square as possible, and to submit a minimum of one complete bird checklist for each location surveyed” (Ray and McArthur, 2019)[1].