UPSKILLING LANDCARERS: We hosted a workshop with four experts from Birdlife Tasmania who led a workshop on bird monitoring and ID for the Tranmere Clarence Plains Land and Coastcare Inc. (TACPLACI) Landcare group! 

As part of our Outreach Program we are training and upskilling Landcarers to increase capacity and awareness in the community so that landcarers can do more in their patch, more effectively! This bird ID workshop was a highly valuable way to introduce some new skills to the TACPLACI Landcare group.  Mike Newman and Warren Jones from Birdlife Tas talked with the members about the importance and uses of collecting data on birds in their local area, and showed us how to use the data collection app, BirdData.

Through the observations made through the Birdata app, from both experts and every-day citizens, Birdlife Tasmania has been able to compile very detailed reports on the state of birds in Tasmania.  The State of Tasmania's Birds 2021 provides an overview of the state of Tasmania's birds based on the Birdata database. 

Participants of the workshop learnt how to apply Birdata surveys to manage a woodland reserve.  After the theory, we headed outdoors for a walk in the local Carella Reserve where TACPLACI is active. We saw numerous birds, including a Tawny Frogmouth, Spotted Pardalotes, and Fantails! 

This workshop was made possible by grant funding from the Clarence City Council - funding to support and upskill Landcare groups in their local government area. Thank you to Birdlife Tasmania for lending us their expertise.