For the third year in a row, the rainbow lorikeet has claimed the top spot in the record-breaking Aussie Backyard Bird Count with 23,234 NSW counters helping count more than 1.4 million birds during National Bird Week.
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With the Rainbow Lorikeet topping the national tally, it was also the most counted bird in NSW, where more than 16,535 checklists were submitted by local birdwatchers.
During the week-long count, Australians recorded more than 583 species.
While the top three birds in Australia – Rainbow Lorikeet, Noisy Miner and Australian Magpie – may be familiar faces in the national count, a large number of new counters came out in 2016.
In fact, more than 85 per cent of people who joined this important citizen science project identified themselves as novice or intermediate birdwatchers.
BirdLife Australia’s Sean Dooley says that the extra 400,000 birds counted this year will give the national organisation a much stronger sense of what’s occurring to Australian birds across the country.
“For the third year in a row we have seen Australians count Aussie birds and provide a picture of what’s happening with different species around the country,” Sean said.