Robb: International Waterbird Census (IWC) in Upper Austria

Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)
Source: Microsoft® Encarta® 96 Encyclopedia

Please do not plagiarize. If you would like to use this information in a print or electronic publication, please ask me for permission first and cite this page as:
Knapp, Robbin D. 2004. "Robb: International Waterbird Census (IWC) in Upper Austria". In Robb: Biology. Jul. 2, 2004.

The International Waterbird Census (IWC) is carried out all over the world by thousands of enthusiasts every year in winter in order to determine local and global trends and to be able to perform conservation measures.

In the Austrian province of Upper Austria, the census is carried out by about 90 volunteers for the Provincial Museum, whereby each team member is responsible for a particular body of water or stretch of river.

Here waterbirds are counted in November, January and March on the Sunday closest to the 15^th of the month.

The January census is on the same day in the entire northern hemisphere.

The Upper Austrian census is coordinated by Martin Brader of BirdLife Austria, who forwards the data to the Austrian national coordinator, who in turn forwards them to the international coordinator in the Netherlands, Wetlands International.

I count waterbirds on the River Traun from the town of Bad Ischl to the town of Ebensee on Traun Lake.

Bird censuses are also called counts or surveys.

Gruber, Reinhold: Jagd auf Graureiher setzt den Donaukolonien massiv zu. Oberösterreichische Nachrichten. Mar. 26, 1998. (German)
Brader, Martin: International Waterbird Census (IWC) in Upper Austria, January 1996 (including census of November 1995 and March 1996). Vogelkdl.Nachr. OÖ. – Naturschutz aktuell 1996, 4(2).
Aubrecht, Gerhard & Hans Winkler: Analysis of the International Waterbird Census (IWC) in Austria 1970-1995—Trends and Numbers. Vienna: Austrian Academy of Sciences, 1997.
Bird Census-takers Met. Salzkammergut-Zeitung 1996(46). (German)

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