Add to tomorrow’s knowledge of birds by sending your sightings to the BirdLife Cyprus Recorder, Colin Richardson This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and by entering them on the Cyprus chapter of the WorldBirds database, Cypriaca. More information on WorldBirds is available below.
Birding records can produce information that’s useful for conservation. Even routine records of the common birds of your local patch are important.
The template for sending records to the BirdLife Cyprus Recorder is available here.
Species marked with * or ** require field notes etc for acceptance. The Rare Bird Report Form can be downloaded here.
For those who like to keep a ‘trip’ or day list a template can be downloaded here for printing (© D. Rhoads, BirdLife Cyprus member)
To keep other birdwatchers up to date with current, unusual sightings please call the BirdLife Cyprus BirdLine 25934076 bearing in mind the Birdwatching Code as regards to rare breeding species.
What is Worldbirds and why should you enter your sightings there?
‘Birding with a purpose... ...collecting data for the conservation of birds worldwide’. This is the strapline of Worldbirds and defines exactly what it is all about; the impetus being that decisions made affecting the world’s biodiversity should be based on the best possible up-to-date environmental information available.
Worldbirds is available online and birders can use each country system to store and organize all their observations; obtain Location reports (a full list of all observations for a specific location); extract or view Species reports (a full list of observations, when and where, for a species); plus Coverage (a map of all locations visited). Already on the Cyprus database there are 14,000 observations, and by the end of the year all observations from 1990 – 2007 will be entered. That’s a lot of information at the click of a button!
The Worldbirds (http://www.worldbirds.org/mapportal/worldmap.php) programme is jointly run by the BirdLife Secretariat, RSPB and Audubon, bringing together a worldwide family of public involvement Internet-based systems aimed at supporting the conservation of birds and biodiversity. Although global in scope, each country participating does so with self-determination, building up local interest, skills and institutional capacity.
The participating Worldbirds countries are: Botswana, Kenya, India, China, the Caribbean, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Greece, Turkey, Poland, UK, Sweden, Canada and USA. These are a combination of systems developed through the Worldbirds programme and similar country systems generated independently.
It is designed to draw in birders of all levels, recruiting local people interested in wildlife, whilst capturing the records of many amateur naturalists and environmental professionals travelling the world to view birds recreationally or for work. Much of the information that these individuals record remains in personal notebooks or databases/spreadsheets. All of these data amount to a vast collection of knowledge comprising many different species – a huge untapped resource that could make a valuable contribution to the global understanding of nature and the environment.
Worldbirds in Cyprus – Cypriaca – has been up and running now since May 2007, with Birdlife Cyprus as its administrator.
Users who register with Cypriaca can store and manage their own observations, extract reports and view, print or download maps.
Once you have registered your personal details, you can explore different locations and find out what birds have been seen and when/where they were recorded. 
As well as contributing to your own observations, you will be able to view other people's records, which may influence your next birding trip.
Checklists can also keep track of sightings and be easily downloaded for taking out into the field.
By sharing your observations in this way, you can make your own personal contribution to conservation. In addition, when all the data from all users comes together in its entirety, it can be used to provide extremely useful information on bird species at Important Bird Areas (IBAs). It can also make a significant contribution to common bird monitoring, through tracking changes in species represented on birders’ daylists. Worldbirds data will become a key source of information from which we can develop indicators for common bird species. These will then help indicate changes in the conditions of the wider environment.
So come on! It’s too important to ignore. Register today and let’s help in our planets’ conservation.
