NFSA Census 2013

[gomer]

Good idea,

But I have a query.......if I fill mine out now I will have in the vicinty of 80 odd stars, goulds and painteds BUT if I fill it in at the end of December I will only have say, 20 odd birds.

What should I do, fill in now or after I have sold off the excess?

Ken.

Good point if you fill it out now.Then the person who buys your birds fills theirs out in December. They would be counted twice.

[Jayburd]

That's a very good question - the answer is I'm not sure!
I would count them later, personally. I don't know what kind of models they have in place to account for this kind of double counting, but easier just to let new owners do it... When you're selling them, perhaps just let them know about the census and suggest they fill it in

[matcho]

Jay,
That all sounds good but who we sell to.... like the local produce store or bird dealers do they fill out the census? I think not. The same people we sell to have stalls at all of the bird sales I have been to. Have seen some of my birds at sales. Near bought some because they looked so good but looking at leg rings I was buying back my birds at triple the price.

Maybe the census should ask questions like "are you a hobbyist?" or "are you breeding for money?" or"do you have birds just for the love of it?".

The unfortunate part of our pastime/hobby is we want our birds to have a wonderful and safe life and breeding is one of the downsides/upsides.

I know I am waffling but any birds I breed over the season which I sell dont even cover the cost of seed, time etc but still love 'em.

Ken

[finchbreeder]

Because the bird census unlike the human one is volantary it will be less acurate. But any idea is better than none surely? But for future reference, perhaps the census should be more heavily pushed. And held over a shorter period of months. Just a suggestion to keep it more accurate.
LML

[matcho]

FB,
I fully agree, but in all reality what does it really achieve? I know from reading various posts on this forum that there are species that do exist in good old Oz be they hookbills, softbills and various finches that are listed as being "non existent" ie. gone from our landscape. The owners/breeders that still have them do not want to be identified and therefore will not take part in the census. Those who want to will. Should I register my pet magpie and seagull? Admittedly they dont live in a cage but both were hand raised and are at the back door door each morning waiting for a feed. Gee, Imagine if every bird owner notified every bird. How many budgies and canaries are kept singularly? Millions?

I think it should be mandatory for registered bird breeders(is there such a thing?) or those that have birds that require a licence to participate but once again those who want to will but those who don't, for what ever reason ( I would suggest illegal possession) won't. Lets not kid ourselves there there is a major black market in both our native and imported birds as well as reptiles in this country. Not just for export but to bolster the gene pool of our locals which through legislation years ago were stopped being wild trapped and sold to the domestic market. As I said before it is only those that have nothing to fear will participate.

Ken.

[Finches2011]

I note a number of queries here about the NFSA Census and its value.
The first thing to note is that the census is finches and softbills only, so we dont get records of lots of budgies.
Secondly we fully realise that some people dont want their rare birds known about. Thats fine. Those birds will always remain rare.
We also realise that we will access only a proportion of finch keepers. Only 10% of people who keep finches are members of clubs and so there are many who will never know about the census. Despite all that census does provide value, and is more valuable when more people participate.

The wide time period over which the census has run doesnt really compromise the value. Yes it would be good to run for one month or shorter, but the ling period gives us more time to get people to respond - that is the key thing. Persoanlly i cant understand why every member of the Aussie FInch Forum wouldnt complete a census.

Our focus is on the 80 or so species that are available to most breeders, albeit some of them are very expensive. The value of the census is in providing relative information, not absolute numbers. We get to understand the relative numbers across species, which species are rarer and which common. We also get an idea of the proportion of finch breeders who keep each species. From this we can identify species that could benefit from a focused conservation breeding program. if we have 500 respondents and a species is held by only 1% of them and in low numbers it is likely more vulnerable than a species held by 50% of keepers.

With this being the third census we also get to look at trends in numbers over time. In particulalr we can see whether rare species might become commoner or common species trending downward.

The census remains open until the end of December 2013, so if you want to participate - please do so soon.

[finchbreeder]

"We also get an idea of the proportion of finch breeders who keep each species. From this we can identify species that could benefit from a focused conservation breeding program. if we have 500 respondents and a species is held by only 1% of them and in low numbers it is likely more vulnerable than a species held by 50% of keepers."
Sounds like a very good reason for all of us filling out this survey. To be accurate, it is a survey, a survey is a study of information over a period of time be it 1 week or 1 year. It can also be done once in a lifetime or once every year. While a census is a study done at a pre determined regular interval. Sorry to be pedantic about this, but it is my living.
LML

[E Orix]

I doubt if you will ever get near 60% of people filling them out.
In a perfect world we all should do it, but sadly I have seen authorities latch onto data and then use it to create more
problems for the bird keepers.
I for one have no trust or respect for the departments, solely on the experiences I have had and seen over 40 years.

[GregH]

This is almost off topic but I noticed that the North Americans are doing the same ting us but being mid winter this is the definitive count for the National Finch and Softbill Society's Annual Census (2013). Looking at the results available to non-members I think us Aussies can ne proud of our participation rate compared to them but I guess they have a lot more species available but interestingly the Aussie birds seem to be kept in the largest numbers. So for those that didn't submit un 2013 don't forget the Aussie 2014 census later in the year.

[SamDavis]

Greg- Your link was incorrect but thanks for finding it. Here it is - http://www.nfss-fss.org/Census/CensusReport.aspx
Very disappointing result for the NFSS - just 16 people bothered to complete the survey. Unfortunately this must surely make the results utterly meaningless.