Besides having over 5000 volunteers and a host of project officers who are a critical part of the TBN team, the network is co-ordinated by one paid staff member - Dean Ingwersen. Dean was appointed TBN coordinator in January 2006 after a number of years volunteering for Birds Australia on the Atlas and the Orange-bellied Parrot projects. In early 2005 he worked briefly as a contributor to the final volume of HANZAB, and coordinated the mainland winter surveys for Orange-bellied Parrots. Dean recently completed research on the ecology of mixed-species flocks in temperate eucalypt woodland.

Additionally, office volunteers Mary Satchell and Ian Hance assist with the operation of the network. Mary volunteers for TBN one day a week and manages the volunteer database, a big job by all accounts, as well as assisting with administration and organisational tasks. Mary has a Masters Degree in Environmental Science and is a great asset to the project. Ian has recently completed a literature and past records review of the Australian Painted Snipe, with all historic sightings now in a database at TBN. He is also a regular participant on the annual Swift Parrot/Regent Honeyeater counts and has travelled as far as Katherine in the Northern Territory to assist with fieldwork on the Gouldian Finch project. For the past couple of years Ian has also assisted as volunteer co-ordinator of the Victorian Hooded Plover surveys.

What does TBN do?

    •    Distribution of the biennial Volunteer newsletter, which outlines projects which require assistance of volunteers. Regular features include:

• Atlas related articles, including an outline of exciting new features of the Birdata website
• Summaries of Birds Australia threatened bird projects which are seeking volunteer assistance
• Recovery roundup - reports on previous activities of each project, and announcements of upcoming events and volunteer activities
• Species in the spotlight - this section features species which could be the subject of projects
• Noticeboard - announcements of new publications, conferences and funding opportunities

    •    Assistance with the planning and operation of field projects, such as Grey-crowned Babbler surveys
    •    Providing recovery teams with lists of potential volunteers for their projects
    •    Publishing articles in scientific journals, magazines and popular press on the various aspects of threatened bird conservation
    •    Presenting talks, displays and seminars to a range of interest groups
    •    Coordinating volunteer training workshops for selected threatened bird species
    •    Representing Birds Australia on a number of threatened bird recovery teams, such as the Regent Honeyeater
    •    Assisting with information for the State of Australia’s Birds report, an annual Birds Australia publication

If you think This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it can help your project or group through any of these avenues, please get in touch with us.

Publications

Along with various articles in magazines and the popular press, TBN is also responsible for the production of a number of newsletters and scientific journal articles over the years. Some of these include:

Painted Snippets - Newsletter of the Australian Painted Snipe project Volume 2. Ingwersen (2006). Birds Australia, Hawthorn East. (278kb)

The breeding bottleneck: breeding habitat and population decline in the Australian Painted Snipe. Rogers, Hance, Paton, Tzaros, Griffioen, Herring, Jaensch, Oring, Silcocks and Weston (2005). Status and conservation of shorebirds in the east asian-australasian flyway. (340kb)

Painted Snippets - Newsletter of the Australian Painted Snipe project Volume 1. Tzaros (2002). Birds Australia, Hawthorn East.(218kb)

Volunteers in bird conservation: Insights from the Australian Threatened Bird Network. Weston, Fendley, Jewell, Satchell and Tzaros (2003). Ecological Management and Restoration 4(3), 205-211. (134kb)

A survey of contributors to an Australian bird atlassing project: demography, skills and motivation. Weston, Silcocks, Tzaros and Ingwersen (2006). Australian Journal on Volunteering 11(2), 51-58.(78kb)