Male bellbird
Garden Bird Survey
Landcare Research, in collaboration with Forest & Bird and the Ornithological Society, established a garden bird survey to monitor the distribution and population trends of common garden birds in New Zealand.
2011 Garden Bird Survey results
Final results are now in. The most striking result this year was a large decline in the number of silvereye counted (average about two thirds the number counted last year). Survey participants made comments such as, “Where are all the silvereyes?” and “This is the lowest number of silvereyes we’ve had in years”.
House sparrow was by far the most numerous species this year (second last year) (Table 1). Silvereye was second (top last year), and starling and blackbird were again third and fourth. Myna had the 5th highest count nationally but the 3rd highest in Auckland, behind house sparrow and silvereye (Table 1). Tui had the 6th highest count nationally but only the 28th highest in Canterbury. Silvereye, tui, and fantail (7th highest count nationally) were the only native species in the top 10
Table 1 Top 10 birds in 2011 (average number per garden).
The national average was calculated from regional averages weighted by regional proportions of households.
| Species | National | Auckland | Wellington | Canterbury | Otago |
| House sparrow | 13.0 | 13.2 | 14.1 | 10.4 | 9.3 |
| Silvereye | 5.5 | 3.5 | 4.1 | 9.0 | 9.2 |
| Starling | 2.5 | 1.3 | 3.1 | 3.5 | 2.6 |
| Blackbird | 2.4 | 2.1 | 2.7 | 2.4 | 2.1 |
| Myna | 1.7 | 3.0 | 0.01 | 0 | 0 |
| Tui | 1.3 | 1.4 | 1.5 | 0.04 | 1.3 |
| Fantail | 1.1 | 0.8 | 1.0 | 0.9 | 0.8 |
| Chaffinch | 0.9 | 0.5 | 1.5 | 0.9 | 0.9 |
| Song thrush | 0.7 | 0.7 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.5 |
| Goldfinch | 0.7 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.6 |
Collaborators
- The Ornithological Society of New Zealand - www.osnz.org.nz
- Royal Forest & Bird Protection Society www.forestandbird.org.nz
Sponsors
- Topflite®, suppliers of wild bird feeds www.topflite.co.nz
Primary contact
 | Eric Spurr Email  |
Landcare Research | |
Phone: +64 3 321 9999 |