Fifty years of<i>Bird Study</i>

Bibby, Colin J.

doi:10.1080/00063650309461314

Cited by 15 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 36 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…In some countries, it seems that education of children may be the only way to cope with the very poor development of amateur ornithology. Even in Britain, where the natural history tradition is strong and the television is replete with wildlife programmes, young people's real experience may be less than in the past because teachers and lecturers have less time for activities off the main curriculum (which has become more rigid), because children are less free to roam in countryside and because egg-collecting (which used to be the introduction to ornithology for many boys) is illegal (Bibby 2003). But education is a specialized activity requiring substantial investment and schools are limited by time and access to sites (Krasny and Bonney 2005).…”

Section: Developing Organizationsmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…Furthermore, there is today more paid work in ornithology and related disciplines than before. As a result, many people who would previously have had to earn their living from other work while pursuing ornithology as amateurs are now able to pursue it professionally, so there may have been a decline in the number of amateurs working as independent scientists (Bibby 2003). This does not mean, however, that there is less room for the amateur participating in collaborative work.…”

Section: The Futurementioning

confidence: 97%

“…Even half a century ago, Nicholson (1959) wrote, from a British viewpoint, that ''there is now developing so much leisure (automation, shorter working hours) that there is a danger of ornithology becoming swamped''. Others are less optimistic, seeing the increased pursuit of material wealth as leading to long working hours and to that wealth providing many other ways of filling leisure time (Bibby 2003;Offer 2006;Putman 2000). Nonetheless, the empirical evidence is that volunteer ornithology is, indeed, buoyant across the world.…”

Section: The Futurementioning

confidence: 98%

“…Nowadays there is a background of theory, a huge volume of literature and a need for statistical expertise that make it difficult for those without professional training to take the lead in organizing studies, analysing data and publishing results (Bibby 2003). Furthermore, there is today more paid work in ornithology and related disciplines than before.…”

Section: The Futurementioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Citizens, science and bird conservation

2007

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Collaborative research by networks of amateurs has had a major role in ornithology and conservation science and will continue to do so. It has been important in establishing the facts of migration, systematically recording distribution, providing insights into habitat requirements and recording variation in numbers, productivity and survival, thus allowing detailed demographic analyses. The availability of these data has allowed conservation work to be focussed on priority species, habitats and sites and enabled refined monitoring and research programmes aimed at providing the understanding necessary for sound conservation management and for evidencebased government policy. The success of such work depends on the independence of the science from those advocating particular policies in order to ensure that the science is unbiased. Wetland birds are surveyed in much of the world. Most countries also have a ringing scheme. Other forms of collaborative ornithology are strong in North America, Australia and Australasia, more patchily distributed in Asia (but with strong growth in some countries) and even patchier in Africa and South America. Such work is most successful where there is a strong partnership between the amateurs and the professional, based on their complementary roles. The participation of large numbers of volunteers not only enables work to be done that would otherwise be impossible but also facilitates democratic participation in the decisions made by society and builds social capital. The recruitment to and subsequent retention of people in the research networks are important skills. Surveys must be organized in ways that take into account the motives of the participants. It is useful to assess the skills of potential participants and, rather than rejecting those thought not to have adequate skills, to provide training. Special attention needs to be paid to ensuring that instructions are clear, that methods are standardized and that data are gathered in a form that is easily processed. Providing for the continuity of long-term projects is essential. There are advantages to having just one organization running most of the work in each country. Various sorts of organizations are possible: societies governed by their (amateur) members but employing professional staff to organize the work seem to be a particularly successful model. Independence from government and from conservation organizations is desirable.

show abstract

Section: Developing Organizationsmentioning

confidence: 96%

Section: The Futurementioning

confidence: 97%

Section: The Futurementioning

confidence: 98%

Section: The Futurementioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Citizens, science and bird conservation

2007

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Volunteer‐based ornithological atlases form one of several complementary approaches for assessing the status of birds (Bibby, ; Donald & Fuller, ). They are unique in providing an opportunity to take stock of distribution and spatial abundance and in aiming to do so for all species in a region.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Breeding and wintering bird distributions in Britain and Ireland from citizen science bird atlases

Gillings

Balmer

Caffrey³

et al. 2019

Global Ecol Biogeogr

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Motivation We undertook large citizen science surveys of bird distributions (atlases) in Britain and Ireland, aimed at quantifying breeding bird distributions on a 20‐year cycle and wintering bird distributions on a c. 30‐year cycle. We use these to generate spatially referenced information on apparent changes in bird distributions over c. 40 years. Main type of variable contained Detection of breeding and wintering bird species in grid squares during five periods, and changes in detection between periods. The combined distribution dataset contains 1,410,938 records detailing detections of 465 bird species in 3,880 grid cells in different periods. The combined distribution change dataset contains 1,297,791 records describing stability, apparent colonization or apparent extinction of individual species in grid squares between pairs of atlases spanning up to c. 40 years. Spatial location and grain Grid squares (10 km × 10 km) containing land throughout Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. The majority of data are at 10‐km resolution, but data for rare species are summarized at 20‐ or 50‐km resolution to protect sensitive locations. Time period The data represent summarized detection information derived from fieldwork during five periods: the breeding seasons 1968–1972, 1988–1991 and 2008–2011, and the winters 1981/1982–1983/1984 and 2007/2008–2010/2011. Major taxa studied and level of measurement Birds; their distribution derived from citizen science surveys. Software format Data are supplied as comma‐separated text files.

show abstract

Endothermic Animals as Biomonitors of Terrestrial Environments

Kalisińska

2019

Mammals and Birds as Bioindicators of Trace Element Contaminations in Terrestrial Environments

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Fifty years ofBird Study

Cited by 15 publications

References 36 publications

Citizens, science and bird conservation

Citizens, science and bird conservation

Breeding and wintering bird distributions in Britain and Ireland from citizen science bird atlases

Endothermic Animals as Biomonitors of Terrestrial Environments

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About