Results are in for the Shellharbour City Council area from the 2018 Aussie Backyard Bird Count, and the Rainbow Lorikeet has once again topped the charts as the most frequently counted bird.

Between 22 and 28 October 2018, Council encouraged local residents to join in BirdLife Australia’s Aussie Backyard Bird Count and submit sightings of birds they observed in the local area.

Results now show that 121 people observed 6524 individual birds. An impressive diversity of birds were recorded, with 137 different bird species counted.

The top three birds observed most frequently were Rainbow Lorikeets (1118), House Sparrows (667) and Silver Gulls (573).

The Rainbow Lorikeet once again came out as the most frequently counted bird in Shellharbour having also topped the charts in the 2017 and 2016 Aussie Backyard Bird Counts.

Shellharbour Mayor Marianne Saliba thanked local residents for their participation.

“Once again I was pleased to hear how many Shellharbour residents took part in this important project,” Cr Saliba said.

“These bird counts are a valuable tool for Birdlife Australia to fill a knowledge gap — more is known about Australia’s threatened birds than Australia’s common backyard birds.

“BirdLife Australia is the country’s largest organisation devoted to the future of our native birdlife,” she said.

Threatened species sighted included the Powerful Owl, Swift Parrot, Glossy Black-Cockatoo, White-bellied Sea-Eagle and Eastern Curlew.

The Aussie Backyard Bird Count is coordinated by BirdLife Australia each October and Council encourages residents to get involved in this valuable citizen science project.

An annual survey has the potential to be an extremely valuable monitoring tool for Australian bird species and communities.

Media enquiries: Kelli Wells 0448 361 008.