This website is about the birds of Canberra, Australia's "Bush Capital".

The content of the site is a faithful reproduction of the publication Birds of Canberra Gardens, printed by Canberra Ornithologists Group Inc. (COG) and the ACT Department of Urban Services. The publication is almost out of print, and this website brings it to a wider audience.

Birds of Canberra Gardens is based on the observation of more than 200 bird species in and around Canberra suburban gardens and in adjacent Canberra parks and open spaces. It describes the abundance and distribution of birds, and discusses how the birds are likely to be found at different times throughout the year, and in different places. The book also provides some ideas on how your garden may be made more attractive to native birds.

The information in this site is based on findings from the first seventeen years of the Garden Bird Survey conducted by the Canberra Ornithologists Group.

The survey began in 1981 and is still going. During this period many COG members and other interested people recorded the birds observed in their gardens and in the immediate vicinity. In that time they completed more than 1100 Garden Bird Charts amounting to more than 44,000 weeks of observations at 270 different sites.

The survey has picked up changes in bird populations - the times of the year when species are numerous and when they are not, when certain birds are most likely to be seen breeding and feeding their young, and changes over the 17 years. The survey has also helped to record the rarer species that from time to time visit the Canberra region.

The Garden Bird Survey is continuing, and COG anticipates publishing a revised edition based on 25 years of observation.