Friends of Westgate Park Bird Surveys

The avifauna of Westgate Park has been well studied since March 2007. Regular monthly surveys are conducted over the entire park including a section where it abuts the lower Yarra River. The survey begins in the morning usually on the first Monday of each month and always follows the same route to ensuring consistent results.

Before we commenced our regular surveys members of Birds Australia, now Birdlife Australia, have contributed to our list of species for the park from surveys they conducted late last century and prior to 2007. These surveys have assisted us in our understanding on how recent changes in vegetation establishment to the park have attracted new bird species, but also made the park less suitable for others, for example Australasian Pipit and Black-fronted Dotterel which prefer open space rather than areas covered in trees and shrubs.