A project of the Viennese environmental protection department

In spring (from early April), there's no doubt: the first swallows and swifts have returned from Africa to breed in Vienna. Other species, like house sparrow and jackdaw, have spent the winter with us and have already occupied their breeding places.

House Martin building a nest © Ferdinand Schmeller

All these species build their nests almost exclusively on houses, mostly under the cornice or hidden in niches and holes on the facade. Even though one might think, that there should not be a shortage of breeding places in Vienna, all these species are faced with a problem: Their hidden breeding sites, which are usually used repeatedly for many years, are often overlooked during renovations and other construction projects and are therefore lost. As a result, the populations of these protected bird species have been constantly declining recently.

With the help of citizens, the citizen science project “Protecting Wildlife in Buildings in Vienna” records the breeding sites of these bird species and makes this information available on the Internet, so the breeding places can be taken into account in renovations and construction projects. Only by protecting the breeding sites, the populations of these bird species, whose arrival in Vienna heralds the summer and fills the city streets with life, can be preserved in the long term.

House sparrow at the breeding site behind a street sign in the 5th district © Matthäus Greilhuber

If you also want to help these fascinating birds and want to share your observations with us, then visit us on the Internet at www.mauersegler.wien.at or www.gebaeudebrueter.wien.gv.at!

Retrospect:

Data on the breeding sites of the individual bird species in Vienna has been collected since 2014. In the year 2017, citizen scientists trained during excursions verified the first breeding sites.

Enrolment excursion in 2017 © Ferdinand Schmeller

Since then, 3,000 breeding sites for common swifts alone have been successfully identified, as well as numerous breeding sites for house martins, house sparrows and jackdaws. This data is now accessible by the “Umweltgut”, the environmental city map of the city of Vienna. Of course, this data is already being used successfully to protect birds during renovations and construction work. Considering the breeding sites of kestrels, there is also intensive cooperation with the "Vienna Kestrel" project.

Procedure:

Anyone, who can identify the breeding sites of the several species, can take part. Breeding site can be reported using a form or via e-mail (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.). In addition, you can also take part in the active verification of the reported breeding sites – please let us know, if you wish to do so! 

All data is treated confidentially, personal data will of course not be passed on.

Picture gallery:

• Swift leaving his nestbox Swift leaving his nestbox
• Jackdaw building a nest in a chimney Jackdaw building a nest in a chimney
• Swift fledgling at the breeding site Swift fledgling at the breeding site
• Swift in flight Swift in flight
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Video:

This project fulfils version 1.1 of the quality criteria for citizen science projects on Österreich forscht.

Welcome at Österreich forscht!

Here you can find everything about Citizen Science in Austria. In the future, it should be just as normal to work in a citizen science project as to be a member of an association, e. g. the voluntary fire brigade or a music ensemble. We want people to see science no longer as an elite programme, but as a process that affects all our lives, a process which is an important part of society and is worth understanding. However, the fun and enjoyment of research should not be neglected. We do not understand citizen science as an infotainment concept, but as a collaborative process through which new insights can be gained.

More about us

On Geo-Wiki.org you can participate in global environmental monitoring and help to observe and document the earth and what happens on it on a large scale. Whether it is deforestation, the varying size of fields in agriculture or the fast and precise evaluation of hurricane damage - your contribution is important to evaluate satellite images or to check the automatic evaluation of satellite images and existing maps of land use. In this way, you help scientists to create reliable information and accurate maps of the state and changes on our planet. How can this be done? Quite simple! You can take part in campaigns and games and contribute on a desktop computer as well as on mobile devices. The resulting data is open, free and can be used by everyone without restriction.

Video

This project fulfilled version 1.1 of the quality criteria for citizen science projects on Österreich forscht.

The Austrian wide winter bird count of BirdLife Austria

Every year, the bird conservation organisation BirdLife Austria hosts the "Hour of Winter Birds", the Austrian winter bird count. All nature lovers are invited to count birds for one hour on the days around January 6th. All participants actively contribute to bird research with their personal count results.

Anyone can take part even without much prior knowledge in bird identification. The campaign focuses on the most common and widespread bird species such as blackbirds, sparrows, finches and tits, that spend the winters in Austria. The main focus is on counting birds at feeders (though they are not mandatory) in settlement areas – in gardens, on balconies or in parks. Aim of the project is to answer the following questions: what is the most common bird species and where does it occur? Which bird species have become rarer? Or: How does the climate crisis affect winter birds?

Counts take place on similar dates in Germany, Czechia, Switzerland and, since 2024, also in Slovakia and Serbia. Therefore, the results can also be compared beyond Austria's borders.
Since 2021, citizen scientists are also invited to upload the best snapshots or video sequences from their own winter bird count.

• Adults and children counting birds in winter Adults and children counting birds in winter
• Eurasian siskin (Spinus spinus) Eurasian siskin (Spinus spinus)
• Great tit (Parus major) Great tit (Parus major)
• family bird observation family bird observation
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How to count?

It is up to the birdwatchers to decide on which of the specified days (e.g. January 4^th to 6^th 2025) and at what time they count. The maximum number of each species observed at one time during the hour has to be recorded. If help in bird identification is needed, a leaflet with illustrations of the most common winter bird species can be ordered from BirdLife Austria or downloaded from the website. The results can be reported by mail or online (www.birdlife.at). Deadline for reporting is about a week after the count period – the exact date varies from year to year. Participants will also be entered into a draw for prizes intended to promote fun in birdwatching and enthusiasm for nature.

The results can be tracked in real time on the reporting platform of the project "Hour of Winter Birds".

Results

During the 15th winter bird count from January 5^th to 7^th 2024, 27,821 bird enthusiasts counted almost 700,000 birds. A new participation record!

The data of the last few years clearly show that the number of feathered guests in our gardens is continuously decreasing. This alarming trend is reflected in many habitats across Europe: according to a recent study by BirdLife International, around 600 million breeding birds have disappeared in the last 40 years! The good news is that every garden owner can actively help to stop the current bird decline, at least in their own garden! A natural garden, rich in structure and with a variety of native trees, shrubs, wildflowers and herbs, can help garden birds through spring, summer, autumn and winter by providing important food and breeding possibilities.

Podcast episode

In december 2022, former project leader Katharina Loupal was guest on the Österreich forscht podcast Wissen macht Leute - you can listen to the episode here (in German). 

Contact & further information

Interested parties who have raw data on birds can contact the project manager Evelyn Hofer (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. / 0660 9225868). 

All information about the "Hour of Winter Birds" can be found on the BirdLife Austria website (in German).

BirdLife on Social Media: 

• Facebook
• Twitter (X)
• Instagram

 
BirdLife Österreich
T ++43 / 1 / 523 46 51
Fax ++43/1/523 46 51 50
A-1070 Wien, Museumsplatz 1/10/8
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
www.birdlife.at

This project fulfils version 1.1 of the quality criteria for citizen science projects on Österreich forscht.

Since 2006, a wide variety of nature observations can be reported on naturbeobachtung.at. Specially designed reporting masks for various groups of animals, plants and fungi allow detailed entries. The reporters can, as far as possible, identify their observations taxonomically or report them as "undetermined species". The latter can then be subsequently identified by the community. Optionally, more precise reports are possible, e. g. with weather data or a detailed description of the site including site photos. Uploading photos of specimens is explicitly encouraged (and mandatory in the app, which also provides mobile access to naturbeobachtung.at). The possibility to upload "picture series" of an observed individual makes it much easier for the experts to check the reports, especially for species that are difficult to identify.

Discuss with like-minded people

A special highlight of the web version is the lively discussion forum with over 250,000 text contributions from over 42,500 discussions. Here, registrants can exchange information with other nature enthusiasts, show their most beautiful nature photographs or ask experts for identification help.

Report even easier with the app!

In 2018, the web version was expanded to include a free app for smartphones with the same name. Reporting via the app is simple, straightforward and fast: images (Exif data) and GPS data "automatically" provide all relevant data that are important for reporting an observation. The reports from the web and app are synchronized and can therefore be viewed on all devices.

Android App

iOS App

What will happen with the records?

All reports are checked regularly by experts. For reports with already assigned species name, the determination is checked and evaluated as "confirmed", "plausible", "doubtful" or "wrong". If the species name has not yet been assigned, the expert "determines" the species. If the reporter was only able to assign the observation to one species group, experts have the possibility to "specify" the finding on species level. The reporters are automatically informed of the result of the data check or determination - via email in the web application, via push message in the app.

Who checks the data?

More than 60 experts from all biological disciplines provide naturbeobachtung.at with their expertise. Most of them are volunteer experts from universities, museums or technical offices. In the course of time, more and more "amateur experts" with profound knowledge of species have also been authorized to validate data on the platform. The introduction of people to scientific activities is a declared goal of this Citizen Science project!

Teaching species knowledge - with fun

In 2021, the web version and app were expanded to include two new functions especially for schoolchildren and newcomers: Firstly, competitions - searches for a small number of easily recognizable species over a certain period of time - are intended to provide a playful introduction to observing, recognizing and reporting species. Species knowledge can secondly be tested and improved in an exciting way with various species quizzes: In increasing degrees of difficulty, the task is to assign the correct species name to a photo shown.

What has happened so far 

To date, over one million observations have been reported by over 21,000 contributors and more than 760,000 photos have been uploaded. The data obtained are used for further conservation measures and provide an excellent basis for current scientific work.

The most common examples of the use of data from naturbeobachtung.at are master and doctoral theses, as well as scientific studies. Data from naturbeobachtung.at is also used in the compilation of Red Lists and distribution atlases. Observation data is also made available to various institutions as part of project cooperations: For example, data on amphibians and reptiles, will be entered into the database of Naturhistorisches Museum Wien in 2025, while data on plants will be entered into the Haus der Natur biodiversity database. Work is currently underway to integrate naturbeobachtung.at data into GBIF.

In this way, the Naturschutzbund with its Citizen Science platform naturbeobachtung.at significantly supports biodiversity research in Austria! Join us – as a nature observer or expert!

Podcast episode

If you would like to learn more, you can listen to the "Wissen macht Leute" podcast episode about the project (in German). More information can be found here.

Citizen Science Seminar

In 2021, poject coordinator Gernot Neuwirth held a lecture about naturbeobachtung.at as part of the lecture series "Citizen Science Seminar" at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna (BOKU): "Factors for a successful contribution of Citizen Science to biodiversity research" (in German). At the end of this page you can watch the video recording of the lecture.  

• Fire salamander Fire salamander
• Ladybird spider Ladybird spider
• Fire Salamander Fire Salamander
• Bombus argillaceus Bombus argillaceus
• Southern festoon Southern festoon
• Cypripedium calceolus Cypripedium calceolus
• European stag beetle European stag beetle
• Common European viper Common European viper
• European mantis European mantis
• Bleeding fairy helmet Bleeding fairy helmet
• Stoat Stoat
• Eurasian pygmy owl Eurasian pygmy owl
• Exemplary project page Exemplary project page
• Image Gallery (web version, details) Image Gallery (web version, details)
• Express input mask Express input mask
• Raster chart with farmland filter Raster chart with farmland filter
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This project fulfils version 1.1 of the quality criteria for citizen science projects on Österreich forscht.

Responsible for the website contents:

Institute of Zoology
Department for Integrative Biology und Biodiversity Research
University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences
Gregor-Mendel-Straße 33
1180 Wien

You will also find references ("links") to information offered by other providers outside of www.citizen-science.at in the information on www.citizen-science.at. The Institute of Zoology is not responsible for the content of this information, but the respective provider.

Contact

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