Many birders keep lists of the birds seen in their gardens. These records are of great
value and by submitting them to us your list, together with all the others received,
will add a lot of value to our knowledge of how birds use our gardens. You will also be
able to view an analysis of the data here
For most city dwellers this question will pose no problem. Most of our gardens have marked
boundaries - either a fence, wall or a line drawn on some map at your local authority.
For those people that are so lucky to live on plots and farms the question is not that easy to
answer. Many of them will quickly state that the whole plot is there garden! To make the data
comparable and useful please view your garden as the area immediately around your home - maybe
a maximum of 50m - 80m radius around your home.
The success of a project like this is based on the accuracy of the records submitted. So if you
have just started out as a birder please read the identification section here and make sure
about the identification of each bird that you have seen in your garden. Identifying birds in
your garden is not that difficult as they would most probably not include birds like pipits,
cisticolas and waders. So with a little bit of effort you will be able to identify all the
birds in you garden correctly. So the basic rule is "if in doubt leave it out!". You can always
add birds that you are not sure of to your garden list at a later stage.
There is also much debate as to what birds qualify to be put on a garden list. The general view is to
list any bird that you can see from your garden - including an egret or heron flying over your home!!
However for the purpose of this website we are more interested in birds actually making use
of your garden - birds that feed, roost, perch or breed in your garden are good examples.
But as information about birds flying over your home can also be of value you are given the
opportunity to lists those but then please indicate that they are fly-overs by placing a mark
in the relevant column.
Information about how to submit your data can be found in the right hand column!
Southern Boubou - as beautiful as its distinctive call (Simon du Plessis)
Keeping all sorts of lists is a major part of birding as a hobby. Some birders keep a list
of all the birds they have seen in a specific country (RSA) or region (Provinces/ Southern Africa).
If you have reached a certain number of birds, for instance 700, you can become a "member" of a
virtual listing club. The list of people belonging to such a club is then put on the web. Here
are two of these websites:
www.zestforbirds.co.za
www.birding.co.za
Although these lists is kept by birders for fun, they can contribute to our knowledge about
birds in a significant way - for instance maps can be compiled to show bird distribution or
expand our knowledge as to the status (common or scarce) of a particular species.
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