You can now store your Tetrad locations in Bird Tick List Pro and run Tetrad reports!
The Purpose of Birdwatching
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Make your sightings count with the BTO
Add to tomorrow’s knowledge of birds by sending your sightings to www.birdtrack.net. This online recording
scheme from the BTO, RSPB and Bird Watch Ireland enables you to store all your birdwatching records and
support species and site conservation. With one click, you can have you records forwarded automatically to the
relevant county recorder.
Send your sightings to county recorders and local bird clubs, a mainstay of bird recording in the UK. Your records
are important for local conservation and to build the county’s ornithological history.
For a list of the County Bird Recorders, visit www.bto.org/birdtrack/county_bird_recorder.htm or ask at your local
library.
Get involved in national monitoring schemes too, such as the Breeding Bird Survey and the Wetland Bird Survey.
If you’ve been birdwatching abroad, visit www.worldbirds.org and give your sightings to the BirdLife International
Partner in that country. Your data could be vital in protecting sites and species in the country you’ve visited.
The BTO use a system of Tetrads to carry out their surveys, a tetrad is 2km by 2km squares. There are 25 tetrads
in each 10-km square and each is identified by the grid reference of the 10-km square (e.g. SK45) plus a single
letter suffix to identify the tetrad (e.g. SK45B). Tetrad codes run from A to Z (excluding O) from the SW (bottom left)
corner to the NE (top right) corner as shown in the grid example.
You can now store your Tetrad locations in Bird Tick List Pro and run Tetrad reports!
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Bird societies organize large projects to discover where birds live and how numerous
they are, for example the BTO @ http://www.bto.org/survey/index.htm), and you can take
part in these. Bird counts are made to find out where birds are concentrated. You may be
asked to count the number of birds on a particular lake, to estimate the size of a colony of
seabirds at a cliff, or to measure the bird population of a particular wood. The information
obtained in this way is not just of interest to bird watchers. It shows up the effects of
pollution on birds, and can give conservationists valuable evidence in their fight to protect
birds. It can help wildlife organizations to campaign against industrial development that
would threaten birds, and can pinpoint notable concentrations of birds that would justify a
reserve status for the site, if this can be negotiated.
You could also take part in atlas projects that map the ranges of birds. You would be given
a small square of land (a Tetrad) and asked to record all the birds to be seen there over a
certain period. From the results, accurate and up-to-date maps can be drawn showing the
range of every species to be found in the country. These maps show up any changes in
bird population.
Migration is studied by ringing birds. Birds are caught and numbered rings are placed
around their legs. If the bird is caught later, or found dead, the number, date and location
are reported to the ringing organization. In this way, a picture of bird movements can be
built up. Ringing recoveries also provide valuable data on how long wild birds live and
have already shown how average life spans fall far short of the potential maximum for a
species. Ringing is not easy, and it is necessary to be trained by experienced ringers if
you want to carry it out.
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You can get great personal satisfaction from listing birds, and photographing and
recording them. You may also use your skills as a bird watcher to help birds and widen
our knowledge of them. For example, you may take a particular interest in one species
that is common near your home. Intensive study of the behavior of this bird could well
reveal a facet of its life - say, its feeding methods, or its courtship and breeding behavior
or its migration pattern about which little is generally known. However, there is usually not
a great deal that you can do without help. It is a very good idea to join a local bird club as
well as a national bird society, and work with others. You will be able to visit field study
centre's and bird observatories to widen your knowledge, and you could become a
voluntary warden at a bird reserve if you want to be directly involved in the protection of
birds.
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Little Stint
