1
00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:03,480
Speaker 1: Now the Aussie Bird Count. It commences today. It is

2
00:00:03,600 --> 00:00:07,320
Speaker 1: a citizen science project and it promotes bird watching and

3
00:00:07,400 --> 00:00:11,160
Speaker 1: gives valuable data to BirdLife Australia on the health of

4
00:00:11,200 --> 00:00:15,400
Speaker 1: the Australian bird population. Bart Irwin is the spokesperson for

5
00:00:15,560 --> 00:00:18,640
Speaker 1: NTO Field and Game and he joins me on the line.

6
00:00:18,680 --> 00:00:19,960
Speaker 2: Get a Bart.

7
00:00:20,400 --> 00:00:23,439
Speaker 3: Good morning, Katie, and congratulations to you and christ.

8
00:00:23,400 --> 00:00:27,720
Speaker 1: Oh thanks, thanks mate, thank you, thank you very much.

9
00:00:27,760 --> 00:00:28,680
Speaker 1: I appreciate it.

10
00:00:29,240 --> 00:00:31,680
Speaker 2: Now Bart, tell us a bit more about this bird count.

11
00:00:31,760 --> 00:00:32,600
Speaker 2: How does it work?

12
00:00:34,040 --> 00:00:37,599
Speaker 3: Well, it's fabulous. To get on it, you just go

13
00:00:38,120 --> 00:00:42,240
Speaker 3: under the internet or download the app on your phone.

14
00:00:42,479 --> 00:00:44,600
Speaker 3: I just use my computer. I'm not that good with apps.

15
00:00:46,120 --> 00:00:50,320
Speaker 3: And for twenty minutes a day, or as many twenty

16
00:00:50,360 --> 00:00:55,120
Speaker 3: minute periods each day as you should, just you count

17
00:00:55,200 --> 00:00:57,160
Speaker 3: the birds that you see, whether you see them in

18
00:00:57,200 --> 00:01:00,320
Speaker 3: your yard, whether you see them on your drive to

19
00:01:00,440 --> 00:01:02,960
Speaker 3: work or to drop the kids off at school. You

20
00:01:03,040 --> 00:01:06,920
Speaker 3: can do it as a family. When you arrive at school,

21
00:01:06,959 --> 00:01:10,360
Speaker 3: you just grab the phone and go what do we

22
00:01:10,360 --> 00:01:13,800
Speaker 3: see kids? And on the way in And it's a

23
00:01:13,840 --> 00:01:16,959
Speaker 3: really good way to be involved. I've been doing it

24
00:01:17,000 --> 00:01:22,720
Speaker 3: for on This will be my tenth year and for

25
00:01:22,800 --> 00:01:27,080
Speaker 3: the last nine nine of the last ten years, the

26
00:01:27,160 --> 00:01:30,480
Speaker 3: mag Boy goose has led the field in the territory.

27
00:01:30,600 --> 00:01:31,360
Speaker 2: Do you know what.

28
00:01:31,880 --> 00:01:34,479
Speaker 1: I went for a run very very early this morning,

29
00:01:34,520 --> 00:01:37,479
Speaker 1: but and that's exactly what I was thinking. The only

30
00:01:37,720 --> 00:01:41,120
Speaker 1: the only birds I saw this morning were the magpie

31
00:01:41,120 --> 00:01:42,040
Speaker 1: geese on the oval.

32
00:01:43,040 --> 00:01:43,839
Speaker 3: Oh that's good.

33
00:01:46,240 --> 00:01:47,920
Speaker 2: At just at the school.

34
00:01:47,640 --> 00:01:49,920
Speaker 1: Near New Stuart Park, and I think you're allowed to.

35
00:01:49,880 --> 00:01:54,760
Speaker 2: Go down there and catch them. I'll get them.

36
00:01:55,960 --> 00:01:59,440
Speaker 3: But what all that? I was the same. I got

37
00:01:59,520 --> 00:02:02,880
Speaker 3: up in the small and I have up to sometimes

38
00:02:02,960 --> 00:02:05,600
Speaker 3: up to five thousand make point gooese broost in the

39
00:02:05,760 --> 00:02:08,800
Speaker 3: trees behind us an evening because I'm just here at

40
00:02:08,800 --> 00:02:12,560
Speaker 3: how To the Park and we share a boundary with

41
00:02:13,440 --> 00:02:19,840
Speaker 3: Howard Springs Nature Reserve. And yeah they I one hundred

42
00:02:19,840 --> 00:02:23,200
Speaker 3: and seventy fly out over my house this morning and

43
00:02:24,320 --> 00:02:28,480
Speaker 3: along with numerous other birds. But yeah, it's just I

44
00:02:29,840 --> 00:02:33,720
Speaker 3: just love watching you can I can now tell families

45
00:02:33,760 --> 00:02:38,360
Speaker 3: and generations of birds. You'll see mum and dad up

46
00:02:38,360 --> 00:02:42,400
Speaker 3: the front, and then some yeelings behind her, and maybe

47
00:02:42,560 --> 00:02:46,440
Speaker 3: some two year old back then, and you can see

48
00:02:46,480 --> 00:02:48,919
Speaker 3: the different sizes of them. So that's quite interesting.

49
00:02:49,120 --> 00:02:49,720
Speaker 2: How cool?

50
00:02:50,400 --> 00:02:52,800
Speaker 1: Look you know, I don't know a lot about birds,

51
00:02:52,840 --> 00:02:55,640
Speaker 1: but I don't know much at all, and I probably

52
00:02:55,680 --> 00:02:57,480
Speaker 1: don't even know what most of the birds are that

53
00:02:57,520 --> 00:02:58,560
Speaker 1: are flying around the place.

54
00:02:58,639 --> 00:03:00,160
Speaker 2: I recognize the magpie.

55
00:02:59,800 --> 00:03:02,880
Speaker 1: Geese, but mate, like, if you're not an avid bird watcher,

56
00:03:03,000 --> 00:03:06,600
Speaker 1: if you don't know a huge amount you know about birds,

57
00:03:06,600 --> 00:03:09,359
Speaker 1: can you still take part? Are their different photos or

58
00:03:09,400 --> 00:03:11,400
Speaker 1: different ways that you can work out what type.

59
00:03:11,240 --> 00:03:11,919
Speaker 2: Of birds they are?

60
00:03:12,960 --> 00:03:18,600
Speaker 3: Yeah, there's a bird identifier within the app, so you

61
00:03:18,680 --> 00:03:22,320
Speaker 3: can put in some some detail about it and it

62
00:03:22,360 --> 00:03:27,960
Speaker 3: will give you a list of options, and you just

63
00:03:27,960 --> 00:03:32,280
Speaker 3: picked the one that looks the same. So it's really,

64
00:03:33,560 --> 00:03:38,400
Speaker 3: what would you say, intuitive and able to assist.

65
00:03:38,640 --> 00:03:41,040
Speaker 2: What are some of the most common birds that you see?

66
00:03:41,360 --> 00:03:43,840
Speaker 1: We've both touched on the magpie geese, but what else

67
00:03:43,880 --> 00:03:45,000
Speaker 1: do you usually see?

68
00:03:45,000 --> 00:03:47,360
Speaker 2: And some of these birds have fabulous names too.

69
00:03:48,520 --> 00:03:52,160
Speaker 3: Yeah, well they here. I see a lot of the

70
00:03:52,200 --> 00:03:55,600
Speaker 3: red colored lower keats and they generally feature in the

71
00:03:55,600 --> 00:03:59,080
Speaker 3: top three. They're flitting in and out of the mahoganese

72
00:03:59,120 --> 00:04:03,240
Speaker 3: each morning and an evening, and little Corella's you know,

73
00:04:03,320 --> 00:04:07,600
Speaker 3: the white the white parrots. Yep, I'm seeing this year.

74
00:04:07,640 --> 00:04:11,480
Speaker 3: I'm seeing a lot of self accrested cockatoos in flocks.

75
00:04:12,680 --> 00:04:15,400
Speaker 3: You know, normally you see them in pairs and small

76
00:04:15,400 --> 00:04:18,479
Speaker 3: groups like that. But yeah, like a flock of twenty

77
00:04:18,520 --> 00:04:21,640
Speaker 3: or thirty flew out of the reserve there this morning.

78
00:04:21,680 --> 00:04:26,680
Speaker 2: And are they the black ones with the red No.

79
00:04:26,520 --> 00:04:28,600
Speaker 3: No, that's the red black.

80
00:04:30,920 --> 00:04:31,960
Speaker 2: Very self exploded.

81
00:04:33,520 --> 00:04:38,240
Speaker 3: The sulf a crested cockatoo is a really big white

82
00:04:38,360 --> 00:04:41,080
Speaker 3: parrot with a yellow crest.

83
00:04:41,400 --> 00:04:42,560
Speaker 2: I'm clearly an expert.

84
00:04:43,880 --> 00:04:46,080
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, you can, for you will be.

85
00:04:47,320 --> 00:04:49,560
Speaker 2: Maybe I need to do it to educate myself.

86
00:04:51,279 --> 00:04:54,000
Speaker 3: Just just take your phone on that run and you'll

87
00:04:54,040 --> 00:04:57,680
Speaker 3: be amazed at what you see. So I've got a

88
00:04:57,720 --> 00:05:02,359
Speaker 3: couple of drongos, spangled goes nesting up in the foxtail palm.

89
00:05:02,360 --> 00:05:07,320
Speaker 3: They build nest at the moment. Yeah, and hunters are

90
00:05:07,400 --> 00:05:11,800
Speaker 3: really waterfowl. Hannas are really good bird watchers because just

91
00:05:12,600 --> 00:05:15,000
Speaker 3: the beat of a wing, their heads spins around and

92
00:05:15,000 --> 00:05:18,000
Speaker 3: they look to see what it is. And we just

93
00:05:18,040 --> 00:05:20,440
Speaker 3: bird watchers that enjoy the flavor.

94
00:05:20,800 --> 00:05:23,839
Speaker 1: Mate, Does it get any more territory than a spangled

95
00:05:23,920 --> 00:05:26,360
Speaker 1: drongo in your foxtail palm.

96
00:05:28,839 --> 00:05:29,600
Speaker 2: In Funny Bay?

97
00:05:29,960 --> 00:05:37,200
Speaker 3: Maybe they'll be, They'll be everywhere. They are a blackbird

98
00:05:37,279 --> 00:05:41,440
Speaker 3: that looks like a well, if you were down south,

99
00:05:41,680 --> 00:05:44,440
Speaker 3: it looks like a blackbird. But they've they've got a

100
00:05:44,560 --> 00:05:48,640
Speaker 3: very distinctive tail. It's got a sort of a wild

101
00:05:48,880 --> 00:05:50,200
Speaker 3: tail sort of shape to them.

102
00:05:50,760 --> 00:05:53,160
Speaker 2: I reckon, I've seen them. I reckon, I have seen

103
00:05:53,160 --> 00:05:57,320
Speaker 2: them around. Yeah, yeah, I tell you what.

104
00:05:57,400 --> 00:05:59,159
Speaker 1: It does sound like a lot of fun. It sounds

105
00:05:59,160 --> 00:06:00,960
Speaker 1: like it'd be good fun for the family to get

106
00:06:00,960 --> 00:06:03,560
Speaker 1: involved in as well. But also there's real benefits, isn't

107
00:06:03,600 --> 00:06:06,880
Speaker 1: there Like in terms of doing this, it is actually

108
00:06:07,520 --> 00:06:09,680
Speaker 1: like it's for a good reason to be able to

109
00:06:10,080 --> 00:06:12,680
Speaker 1: sort of check on the bird population and what we've

110
00:06:12,680 --> 00:06:13,360
Speaker 1: got around the.

111
00:06:13,400 --> 00:06:18,599
Speaker 3: NT exactly BirdLife in Australia. They compile all the data

112
00:06:18,600 --> 00:06:24,279
Speaker 3: that comes in and they give out a listing for

113
00:06:24,400 --> 00:06:29,080
Speaker 3: every state and territory on what birds were observed, and

114
00:06:29,400 --> 00:06:32,320
Speaker 3: they're comparing that data year to year just in case

115
00:06:33,240 --> 00:06:38,080
Speaker 3: there's a major drop in one species or another. And

116
00:06:38,080 --> 00:06:43,240
Speaker 3: with avian bird flu on the horizon, which could come

117
00:06:43,240 --> 00:06:48,039
Speaker 3: in from the wading and sure birds that migrate around

118
00:06:48,040 --> 00:06:55,240
Speaker 3: the world, this is a really valuable tool to see

119
00:06:55,520 --> 00:06:58,120
Speaker 3: if that does come in and what effects it does

120
00:06:58,200 --> 00:06:59,560
Speaker 3: have on different species.

121
00:06:59,760 --> 00:07:01,960
Speaker 2: Yeah, hey, but if people want to get involved.

122
00:07:01,960 --> 00:07:04,720
Speaker 4: What's the best way that they can do that if

123
00:07:04,760 --> 00:07:08,080
Speaker 4: they go onto the internet and look up Ossie bird

124
00:07:08,160 --> 00:07:11,520
Speaker 4: count put that into their surge engine and being able

125
00:07:11,600 --> 00:07:12,240
Speaker 4: to come up.

126
00:07:12,200 --> 00:07:15,800
Speaker 3: They register and all the tools will be there for

127
00:07:15,840 --> 00:07:18,680
Speaker 3: them to submit an account each day.

128
00:07:19,360 --> 00:07:21,600
Speaker 2: Hey, just a quick one while I'm running as well.

129
00:07:21,760 --> 00:07:26,280
Speaker 1: Very often lately I've been seeing not only the magpie geese,

130
00:07:26,440 --> 00:07:29,120
Speaker 1: but then there's sometimes like two or three of these

131
00:07:29,160 --> 00:07:32,640
Speaker 1: other ducks with like a white you know, a white bill,

132
00:07:32,960 --> 00:07:34,760
Speaker 1: And I think to myself, what are they doing with

133
00:07:34,920 --> 00:07:36,680
Speaker 1: the with the magpie geese.

134
00:07:37,600 --> 00:07:45,960
Speaker 3: Yeah, they're trying to impersonate them. They are bird Bertkan

135
00:07:46,120 --> 00:07:52,160
Speaker 3: ducks or rajashell ducks, but they're a beautiful duck. I

136
00:07:52,760 --> 00:07:56,880
Speaker 3: did have two swimming around the pool. They kept leaving,

137
00:07:57,040 --> 00:07:59,760
Speaker 3: leaving their mark there, so I threw a couple of

138
00:07:59,760 --> 00:08:02,400
Speaker 3: young adamant there you go. They left town.

139
00:08:05,200 --> 00:08:07,720
Speaker 2: But I'm gonna I don't know exactly what a yawning is.

140
00:08:07,800 --> 00:08:08,720
Speaker 1: You're gonna have to just.

141
00:08:08,600 --> 00:08:12,120
Speaker 3: Fill me at.

142
00:08:13,280 --> 00:08:13,520
Speaker 2: Mate.

143
00:08:13,520 --> 00:08:17,680
Speaker 1: This is the most territory conversation ever, I think, and John.

144
00:08:19,040 --> 00:08:19,960
Speaker 2: People will be loving it.

145
00:08:20,680 --> 00:08:22,840
Speaker 1: Thank you as always for having a chat with me

146
00:08:22,920 --> 00:08:27,080
Speaker 1: this morning. And no doubt we will talk again very soon. Hey,

147
00:08:27,120 --> 00:08:29,160
Speaker 1: the hunting season is underway at the moment, isn't it.

148
00:08:29,160 --> 00:08:29,920
Speaker 1: How's it been going.

149
00:08:31,280 --> 00:08:35,480
Speaker 3: It's a bit slow to start. The geese are still

150
00:08:35,520 --> 00:08:40,760
Speaker 3: out in Kakado, Mary River and Daily River floodplains, but

151
00:08:42,160 --> 00:08:44,760
Speaker 3: they'll be drawing up quickly and then they'll come to

152
00:08:45,320 --> 00:08:48,679
Speaker 3: places like Harrison Dam and how it's swamped and so forth,

153
00:08:48,760 --> 00:08:52,520
Speaker 3: So it won't be far away, or would predict about

154
00:08:52,520 --> 00:08:55,960
Speaker 3: two weeks and they'll be here. And I know people

155
00:08:56,040 --> 00:08:59,480
Speaker 3: are getting a few birds here, which is great, but

156
00:09:01,120 --> 00:09:04,800
Speaker 3: it'll really swing into action within about two weeks.

157
00:09:05,240 --> 00:09:09,440
Speaker 1: Well, nt Field and Game spokesman Bart Irwin. Always good

158
00:09:09,440 --> 00:09:11,200
Speaker 1: to catch up with you. Thanks so much for your

159
00:09:11,200 --> 00:09:11,960
Speaker 1: time this morning.

160
00:09:12,960 --> 00:09:13,880
Speaker 3: Thanks for a getting Katie.

161
00:09:14,000 --> 00:09:14,840
Speaker 2: Thank you see ya