NSW & ACT Annual Twitchathon

Every year across NSW hundreds of passionate birdwatchers race around the Australian bush trying to win a unique sporting event called a Twitchathon. As a race it can be fiercely competitive, not just in terms of the birds seen, but also in terms of the funds that are raised for conservation.

A twitchathon is like a walkathon, but instead of recording distance, participants record bird species. It involves teams of birdwatchers racing around their state trying to identify through sight or sound as many bird species as possible in 24 hours.

Twitchathon 2015

This year’s Twitchathon aims to continue the support given in the 2011 and 2013 Twitchathon’s to the Powerful Owl Project. It is intended that the additional funds will enable BirdLife Australia to extend the project for a sixth breeding season.  Using citizen science and a team of amazing volunteers, the Powerful Owl project has monitored Powerful Owls Ninox strenua in Greater Sydney for the last five years, providing detailed information on breeding success, habitat use, mortality rates and diet of these threatened birds. The information gained from this study is used to inform the conservation status of the Powerful Owl, and help drive management recommendations for their continued survival in urban areas. For more information on the findings of the project thus far, see http://www.birdsinbackyards.net/Powerful-Owl-Project-Report.

This 2015 Twitchathon aims to raise about $30,000 to assist this project

» Read more

© Nick Bradsworth

Alan Morris
Twitchathon Team Co-ordinator
(For BirdLife Southern NSW)
Tel: 0429 464 403
Fax: 02 9647 2030
E-mail Wendy Fox at southernnsw@birdlife.org.au