Donate to ensure our birds are counted 

The Red Goshawk has gone from ruling the vast, open woodlands and tropical savannas across the east and north of our country, to being pushed back into remote areas of northern Australia. Tragically, the Red Goshawk is now thought to be extinct across our east coast.

“Thought to be”, because they weren’t counted. Until now, there has not been a coordinated, nationwide effort to monitor changes in the population, severely hampering our ability to identify and address key threats. The Australian Government now knows the Red Goshawk is in dire straits. Last year, a review informed by a collation of databases, including Birdata, saw the species uplisted to an Endangered conservation status. It is now recognised as one of the 22 national priority species in their Threatened Species Action Plan 2022-2032. But this isn’t enough. Over 3 million hectares of Red Goshawk habitat have been cleared in the last 24 years — more than for any other threatened species in Australia.

It has never been more urgent for us to harness citizen science and collect data — to track this top predator’s population trajectory, confirm its last habitat strongholds, identify the key threats, and create evidence-based, targeted conservation actions to reverse the population decline.

We need a bird’s-eye view, enabled by data, to stop this impending extinction.

Our scientists have been engaged by the Australian Government to undertake this species-saving work by developing a strategic range-wide survey and monitoring program for the Red Goshawk. Our role is to empower volunteers, Indigenous rangers, Traditional Owners, and the local communities to record their sightings in Birdata.

Once this data is gathered, we need to analyse it and take the findings to those in power. 

It is not just the Red Goshawk that needs this urgent action.

One third of all of Australia’s threatened native birds are not being adequately surveyed and monitored. How can we save them, if we don’t accurately know the threats they’re facing? How can we get the government to act, if we aren’t armed with the facts?

Please donate today to help demand governments and industries listen and stop destroying nature and pushing the birds you love closer to extinction. 

Our strength has always been our rigorous, science-based and evidence-based approach to change.

That’s why Birdata is so vital to the success of our work. Birdata is both a database and our national citizen science program. Our point of difference is that with Birdata we enable standardised surveys consistent in time and area linked directly to our on-ground conservation work. With the comprehensive understanding of bird populations, we can do the science needed to preserve the homes our birds need to survive.

With your support, Birdata equips us to hold legislators and decision-makers to account and stop extinctions.

Your gift today will help:

• Train and upskill the thousands of volunteers and scientists that are currently recording surveys in Birdata, significantly enhancing the power of this tool to broaden data collection and participate in strategic surveys to unlock knowledge gaps for birds like the Australasian Bittern.
• Support vital analyses and interpretation of surveys in Birdata and build real-time integrations with government databases to help save birds like the Red Goshawk.
• Scale up our ability to use this data to develop real on-ground actions to help save and advocate for our precious threatened birds. You will help us identify the specific threats facing our birds and educate and advise the public, so that governments and industries hear the plight of our birds and act for them.

Please donate today to help us hold decision-makers at all levels across Australia to account and protect our diverse native birds. 

Banner Image: Illustrations by Iona Julian-Walters. Below image: Australasian Bittern by Warren Chad.  Other photos, left to right: Australasian Bittern by Meiring Gouws, Red Goshawk by Patrick Webster, Australasian Bittern by Rob Drummond and Red Goshawk by Patrick Webster. Illustrations by Iona Julian-Walters.