What is BirdTrack?
BirdTrack is an exciting web-based bird recording project that looks at phenology (i.e. what birds are doing and when) and distributions of birds throughout Britain and Ireland. It is run in partnership between BTO, the RSPB, Birdwatch Ireland, the Welsh Ornithological Society and SOC. BirdTrack provides facilities for you to store and manage your own records, whilst at the same time making them available for scientific research and to support conservation at local, regional, national and international levels.
In more detail
The principle behind the project is that if you have been out birdwatching anywhere in Britain and Ireland, or simply watching birds in your garden, records of the birds you have seen (and have not seen) can be useful data.Sightings are entered onto BirdTrack using free, online software or a recently updated smartphone app. It is a year-round, ongoing project which anyone can contribute to.
Why should I use BirdTrack?
Important results produced by BirdTrack include mapping migration timings and monitoring scarce birds. We know very little about the timing of arrival and departure of winter visitors and this is just one area in which BirdTrack will provide useful information. There are also many scarce birds where we would like to know much more about their populations.
Your records are also passed on to the Local Bird Recorder (with your permission) and can be collated in local bird reports. We hope that Scotland’s birdwatchers will adopt BirdTrack as their main bird recording and information sharing tool. To find out more, or to register and get started, visit the BirdTrack website.
You may also find it useful to refer to our step-by-step Beginners' Guide to BirdTrack, designed for those new to the platform.
You might enjoy
Episode 3 of our 'Some Ornithological Chat' podcast when our Birding & Science Officer, Mark, chats to Scott Mayson of the BTO about BirdTrack, and in particular, the new BirdTrack app.
