Hour of the winter birds

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The hour of the winter birds is a bird watching campaign in Germany and Austria. It has been carried out by the State Association for Bird Protection in Bavaria (LBV) since 2005 . In 2011 it was taken over by the Naturschutzbund Deutschland for the rest of Germany, and since 2010 it has also been carried out by Birdlife Austria . It takes place annually in January.

story

Like the hour of the garden birds , the event was modeled on the Big Garden BirdWatch of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) in Great Britain.

From 2005 to 2008 the Winter Birds Hour was only held in Munich and the surrounding area, and in 2009 for the first time across Bavaria with 6,800 reports and 270,000 birds. Birdlife Austria has been participating since 2010, and since 2011 the Naturschutzbund Deutschland has been involved with a nationwide counting campaign.

The Winter Birds Hour has also been held in Central Switzerland since 2020 .

goals

With the Winter Birds Hour, the initiators want to collect data on the behavior of birds that are in Bavaria and Austria in winter. The effects of winter feeding of birds, the consequences of climate change and the population development of the species are expressly mentioned. The campaign also serves to conduct public relations work for the idea of ​​bird protection and to increase knowledge of the local bird world. Since the transfer of knowledge about birds by families and relatives is particularly sustainable according to a Bavaria-wide school survey ("Vogel-PISA"), the hour of the winter birds was set on January 6th on a family-friendly holiday .

Counting criteria

The Winter Birds Hour was originally held on January 6th, when it was held for an hour. The maximum number of a species observed at the same point in time during the observation period was counted (not the total number of animals observed during one hour), the observation taking place in the garden, on the balcony, in a park or a green area. In recent years the period has been extended to several days (mostly 3).

results

The hour of the winter birds has so far brought some new knowledge about the bird world in Bavaria. In 2008, cranes were detected in southern Bavaria for the first time in winter. In 2009, an invasion of the waxwing could be recorded at the same time, which otherwise happens over longer periods of time. For Munich , based on the results of the Winter Birds Hour, the strong decline in house sparrows in the center could be documented for the first time . The even distribution of the great spotted woodpecker , the carrion crow and the magpie, regardless of the distance from the center, was not previously known.

criticism

In general, projects in the field of Citizen Science are flawed due to the participation of laypeople . The methodological criticism as for the hour of the garden birds therefore also applies to the hour of the winter birds. Such actions cannot be a substitute for sound, scientific research. However, they become meaningful when a large number of reports are received. The organizers try to reduce these sources of error by increasing the number of participants, providing information through guided tours, information material and Internet offers such as profiles of the most important species.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ About Big Garden Birdwatch ( Memento from November 26, 2009 in the Internet Archive ). Retrieved November 26, 2009.
  2. ↑ N. and A. Schäffer (2006): Garden birds - nature observation from your own front door . Aula publishing house. Wiebelsheim. "The fact that such actions can lead to important insights [...] can be some of the findings of the [...]" Big Garden Birdwatch " read" (p. 104) And: "The action" Big Garden Birdwatch "was the negative song thrush population trend noticed for the first time in Great Britain " (p. 104)
  3. ↑ a b Results of the Hour of Winter Birds 2009 ( Memento of November 14, 2009 in the Internet Archive ). Retrieved on November 26, 2009.
  4. ↑ Count with the hour of the garden birds! Accessed January 1, 2020 .
  5. ↑ Census of the Birds: 8. – 10. January 2021. Retrieved January 1, 2020 .
  6. ↑ Why the Winter Birds Hour? . Retrieved November 26, 2009.
  7. ↑ The sparrow, the unknown creature: Vogel-PISA: Sobering results from Bavaria-wide student survey, nabu.de, May 5, 2008, accessed on December 16, 2018.
  8. ↑ Press release on the hour of winter birds from January 2, 2009 ( Memento from August 15, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 27 kB). Retrieved November 26, 2009.
  9. ↑ Results of the Hour of Winter Birds 2008 ( Memento from May 24, 2009 in the Internet Archive ). Retrieved November 26, 2009.
  10. ↑ A waxwing seldom comes alone - the entry in the winter half of 2004/05 , dda-web.de, Der Falke 52, 2005, pp. 311-313, accessed on December 16, 2018
  11. ↑ a b Results of the Winter Birds Hour for Munich 2008 ( Memento from January 6, 2010 in the Internet Archive ). Retrieved November 30, 2009.
  12. ↑ Schäffer, N. and A. (2006): Garden birds - nature observation from your own front door . Aula publishing house. Wiebelsheim. P. 98
  13. ↑ Schäffer, N. and A. (2006): Garden birds - nature observation from your own front door . Aula publishing house. Wiebelsheim. P. 97
  14. ↑ www.stunde-der-wintervoegel . German website for the hour of winter birds. Retrieved November 27, 2009.