WeBS starts recording age and sex ratio data
10 Jan 2020
WeBS has today launched a new feature in WeBS Online data entry to allow Counters to optionally record the number of birds of different ages and sexes for certain wildfowl and wader species. This might be all the birds of a particular species present, or a sample of a larger flock. Background information and how to take part is given in the Guidance document.
The very first National Wildfowl Counts forms from the 1940s used to have space to record this information, so this is a return of data collection after a very long hiatus! The data gathered will be invaluable for future analyses of breeding success by looking at age composition across years, and tracking changes in migratory behaviour by recording the ratio of male to female birds.
The Wetland Bird Survey (WeBS) is a partnership jointly funded by the BTO, RSPB and JNCC, in association with WWT, with fieldwork conducted by volunteers. Find out more, including how to take part, at www.bto.org/webs.
Share this page