Rich Fuller is doing a big year of birding within the boundary of Brisbane City – trying to see as many species as possible within the geographical limits of this amazingly biodiverse city! Brisbane has rainforests, heathlands, various coastal and freshwater wetland habitats as well as extensive eucalypt and other woodlands. This makes for a very rich bird fauna, with 383 species recorded so far in eBird – a citizen science website where birdwatchers can record their sightings. Attempting to see as many species as possible in a year is chance for a bit of friendly competition, and also highlights the very rich birdlife of the River City. All my sightings will be entered into eBird, taking advantage of the new Local Government Authority boundaries made available in eBird Australia in late 2017.

My target for the year is 253 species, but I’m secretly hoping for something a little higher.

To make year listing efforts comparable among observers, I’m working to a few basic rules:

1. Bird sensibly – the bird’s welfare is paramount.
2. A bird’s occurrence at the time and place of observation must not be because it, or its recent ancestors, has ever been transported or otherwise assisted by humans for reasons other than for rehabilitation purposes. “Established” is determined by adherence to the ABA rules at http://listing.aba.org/criteria-determining-establishment-exotics/. Note that records of domestic and escaped birds are welcomed by eBird Australia – any species only represented by such records will need to be substracted from your year list total at the end of the year.
3. Each observation must constitute a valid record in eBird.
4. Each observation must be submitted to eBird, and checklists must be submitted promptly after the observation has occurred. If submission cannot happen within a reasonable timeframe (e.g. by the evening of the day of the observation), observers should endeavour to contact other year list competitors or otherwise disseminate any records of particularly noteworthy species.
5. Sensitive records can still be counted in official totals, but observers are encouraged to suppress records from eBird Australia only in the most extreme of circumstances. We encourage observers to work with the review team to display records in eBird Australia a way that recognises any sensitivities involved.
6. Records that are invalidated by eBird reviewers will not be countable in official totals. As per usual process, photographs, sound recordings or detailed field notes should be provided to eBird for noteworthy records to minimise the risk of invalidation of a good record.
7. Birds must be seen in or from the official LGA boundary. At sea records will be assigned to the closest point of land up to a limit of 200 nautical miles. Observers are relied upon to use honesty, transparency and good judgement. The best course of action is to report the precise circumstances of an observation and then the record can be cogitated upon later.
8. If a valid location is erroneously assigned to another LGA, notify the eBird Australia review team and they will endeavour to rectify the issue.