Introduction

Canberra is often referred to as the "Bush Capital", and the observation of more than 200 bird species in and around Canberra suburban gardens gives testimony to this. This book is about the birds in and around Canberra gardens or 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 these pages 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.

Dedicated amateurs who have different levels of observational skills have collected the data. Some observers put in more effort than others did. However, because this variability among observers is assumed to be uniform over the 17 years of the survey, we believe that valid comparisons between the years' results can be made.

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.

Many birds that are migrants to the Australian Capital Territory have similar annual patterns of abundance. Most resident species also display regular annual patterns. This has rarely been so clearly demonstrated before. The survey highlights the time when the populations peak and when they decline during an average year. In some species, such as the Pied Currawong this pattern has changed over the years.

Although migration occurs in spring and autumn, migrant birds generally fall into one of two groups. Some, such as the cuckoo family, are summer migrants. They go north for the winter and return for the summer. Some birds, such as the Rainbow Bee-eater may travel as far as New Guinea. Others, such as the Pied Currawongs, Golden Whistlers and Scarlet Robins, are altitudinal migrants. They do not travel far but go to higher altitudes for the summer and to mid-altitudes such as Canberra for the winter. We call these winter migrants. Thus Canberra bird species can be divided into those more common in winter, those more common in summer, and those which are generally resident throughout the year. The interplay of these factors gives added interest to urban bird watching in Canberra.

It is important to note that numerical information is derived from the results of a specific survey and should be interpreted as such, and not generalised to include all ACT birds. A statement about specific numbers of breeding records of a species, for example, refer only to the survey results. The species may breed prolifically elsewhere but not recorded in the Garden Bird Survey.

To make the book more useful we have combined the information from the garden bird survey showing distribution and abundance with some other information, such as feeding habits, breeding and behaviour to round out the picture. The species are presented generally in taxonomic order. However, because the book is about garden birds, the song-birds (Order Passeriformes) are presented first. This means that birds most likely to be observed in Canberra gardens are more to the front of the book.

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