"Citizen science" is the term used to describe scientific work in which individual volunteers or networks of volunteers, many of whom may have no specific scientific training, perform or manage research-related tasks such as observation and measurement. In few fields is citizen science as well developed and supported as it is in ornithological circles.

The basis of citizen science is that you - a volunteer with no specific scientific training - can make a huge impact on bird conservation and our understanding of birds, their movements, their habits and their behaviour. In fact most of what we know about bird distributions and bird biology is thanks to ordinary birders like you!

BirdLife South Africa (BLSA), in partnership with the Animal Demography Unit (ADU) at the University of Cape Town, has several long term monitoring projects in which the contribution of ordinary birders is of the greatest importance and value.

The projects include:

• The Southern African Bird Atlas Project (SABAP2)
• Coordinated Waterbird Counts (CWAC)
• Coordinated Avifaunal Roadcounts (CAR)

Find out how you can contribute to science by supporting the Steven Piper SAFRING Trust.

More bird monitoring projects