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 The Society is dedicated to extending the knowledge of bird life in Andalucia and involving its members in the quest for this knowledge. A major step towards this achievement is to maintain a central database of bird sightings in Andalucia and make available to its members the information that is collected.
To achieve this the Society needs as many members as possible to provide their bird sighting information so it can be entered into the database to help us improve our records of the birds of Andalucia.
The Society has standardized on key data areas, such as bird names, status, age, sex and the habitat in which the bird was observed to ensure that data is consistent. However, it is recognised that not all members, when recording bird sightings, note all of the above information. Therefore, we have also established a minimum set of information which is acceptable. Information about the minimum and maximum sets of sighting data can be found below.
An ABS Bird Sighting Recording Forms has been produced for members who are providing the maximum set of bird sighting information. When the form has been completed it is to be returned by email (
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), marking it for the attention of the Project and Survey Officer.
For those members that are providing the minimum set of bird sighting information there are two alternative methods for getting their information to the Society. Send an email containing the information to be sent to
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and for it to be marked for the attention of the Project and Survey Officer. Alternatively you can post your sightings on the Province by Province Survey Board of the Forum on the appropriate Province child board.
The data contained in the returned emails and forms or Forum will be entered into the central database and reports posted on the website for members to access. Both current and historic records are equally useful so please dig out those old sighting records.
A web page will be produced that is dedicated to each province. All information related to bird sighting records for a particular province will be found on its respective web page. Where information is produced that relates to Andalucia as a whole it will be replicated on each province page.
Bird Sighting Recording
The Society provides three means for members to supply their bird sighting information. For those members that wish to only provide a minimum set of information then it is only necessary to either send an email to
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for the attention of the Project/Survey Officer or to post their sighting information on the Forum board called Province by Province Survey selecting the appropriate Province Child Board.
The email and Forum posting should contain your name and the name of anyone that was with you, the name of the Bird Site(s) where you saw the birds, the name of the birds you saw (please use the same name as that shown on the ABS Bird List to prevent confusion), and the date on which you saw the birds.
If you are able to supply any further information like the number of birds please add that as well.
We also provide a form for those members to use to record their bird sightings that wish to provide a full set of information. It is an Excel spreadsheet and contains the recording form, a help page, an example recording form that has been partly completed and an ABS bird list to provide a reference for bird names. It is only necessary to download the form once as it can be used repeatedly. However, new forms will be periodically issued, as the bird list will change as rarities are added to it.
Province Grid Maps
 10x10km grid maps are been produced for each of the provinces of Andalucia to provide us with sampling units. The benefit of having 10x10km sampling units is that the information that is collected will be not only valid for the Society projects but also other projects outside the Society. The grid maps on the website show enough detail to allow members to determine in which grid they have sighted their birds. If more detail is required the Centro Nacional de Imformación Geográfica has produced maps of the provinces of Andalucia on a scale of 1:200,000, which also show the 10x10km grid. They can be purchased from most large bookstores.
Members are free to send bird sighting information for as many grids as they wish however they may wish to concentrate on single 10x10k grid squares; maybe the grid in which they live or the grid they frequent on holiday.
To view the 10x10km grid map for a particular province go to the appropriate province web page using the side Resources menu. You will find the province name under Bird Sightings.
Habitats
The following habitat codes have been adopted by the Society to represent the large range of habitats in Andalucia. These codes are to be used by members when providing bird-sighting data. They are aligned to the habitat codes used by SEO to allow the interchange of data when necessary.
W - Woodland – Woodland covers habitat which has trees greater than 3 metres tall occupying more than 5% of the study area. Agricultural and urban woodlands are coded separately in Farmland and Inhabited Areas.
S - Scrub – Scrub includes habitat that have plants less than 3 metres tall occupying more than 25% of the study area. Agricultural and urban scrublands are coded separately in Farmland and Inhabited Areas.
P - Pasture – Pasture is defined as all those open habitats (<5% of trees and <25% of shrubs) in which the predominant vegetation is not woody, except in the case of agricultural and urban, which are coded separately in Farmland and Inhabited Areas.
F - Farmland – Farmland is habitats that are under agricultural management that clearly achieve coverage in the study area of more than 25%.
H - Inhabited Areas – These are habitats subject to constant human presence, except in the case of agriculture, which is coded separately.
WT - Interior Wetlands – Interior Wetlands includes habitats such as treeless river banks (rivers, streams, ditches, etc., more than a meter wide) and reservoirs, lakes, ponds, lagoons, marshes etc.
C - Coasts – Coasts includes habitats such as the open sea, cliffs, shore land, beaches, estuaries, coastal salt marshes and dunes.
R - Interior Rocky Terrain – This code includes habitats with little or no vegetation such as mountains, extensive areas of large boulders, scree, steep rocky gorges etc.)
O - Other – This code covers any habitat that is not covered by the habitat codes above. When using this code please state what habitat you are referring too.
Bird Watching Sites
 A list of bird watching sites for each province of Andalucia is being provided by the society together with their 10x10km grid location and map reference. These are sites that are recommended by the Society for seeing birds. Members can add new sites to the Society’s list by completing a “New Bird Site Registration Form” and sending it by email (
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) and marking it for the attention of the Project/Survey Officer. Due to workload, initially, all of the bird watching sites will not have descriptions. Members whom are willing, can help to add descriptions to existing sites by using the “New Bird Site Registration Form” and sending it by email (
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) and marking it for the attention of the Project/Survey Officer.
The Society Bird List
The Society produces a list of all the birds that can be seen in Andalucia and it is constantly reviewed and kept up to date. An important aspect of recording bird sighting information is the consistency of the data, especially bird names. Therefore, the only bird names that are accepted in the database are those on the Societies list.
To assist the bird-sighting recorder with an easy reference to check a bird name an alphabetical look-up version of the list is provided.
This version of the list also provides a coded Status column, which provides information about whether the bird breeds in Andalucia, its abundance and its movement. The abundance information will take time to complete and the list will be updated as we do so. An explanation of the Status code is provided with the list. A fuller explanation of movement is also provided below.
View or download the Andalucía bird list or download the list as an Excel file.
Migratory Movement – Migratory movement of bird populations occur due to changes of habitat brought about by the changes of seasons, which cause birds to move to locations where food is more easily obtainable and where the climate is more to their liking.
In Andalucia there are a lot of different types of movement of species due to its unique position on a major migration path. We have resident breeding species, migratory breeding species, migratory non-breeding species, species that only visit Andalucia in winter, species that only visit Andalucia on passage as they travel to or from Africa, Sea bird species that migrate between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic and Vagrants that visit Andalucia in small numbers annually or on rarer occasions.
It is useful to look at each of these different types of movement in more detail as follows.
Resident breeding species – Most resident breeding species remain in Andalucia for the breeding and non-breeding seasons. The species that are in this category are identified in the Status column of the Bird List with R. In most cases though, there is some movement within Andalucia that takes place before the start and after the end of the breeding season. This usually involves birds moving from higher altitudes to lower altitudes at the end of the season and the reverse at the start of the season.
A small number of some of the resident breeding species do migrate to Africa for the non-breeding season and these species are identified in the Status column of the Bird List with rmB.
Migratory breeding species – Most of the migratory breeding species travel to Africa for the non-breeding season and they are identified in the Status column of the Bird List as mB. However, a small number of these species do remain in Andalucia during the non-breeding season. In some of these cases they do move from their breeding location to another location for the non-breeding season. The species that are in this category are identified in the Status column of the Bird List as mrB
Migratory non-breeding species – During the breeding season migratory, non-breeding birds visit Andalucia. These are usually immature birds. They are identified in the Bird List as S.
Winter Visitors – These are species that move from northern Spain or other countries in northern Europe to Andalucia where they remain for the non-breeding season and return after the non-breeding season has ended. These species are identified in the Status column of the Bird List as W.
Passage Visitors – These are species that pass through Andalucia at the end of the breeding season (Autumn or post nuptial migration) on their way to Africa or at the beginning of the breeding season (Spring or pre-nuptial migration) on their way back from Africa. Some species are seen passing through during both migration periods but often a species is only seen in one of the migration periods. These species are identified in the Status column of the Bird List as P.
Sea bird Migrants – Whereas most species migrate on a north/south or south/north movement, migrating sea birds migrate on an east/west or west/east movement as they move from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic and back. These species are not identified separately and are therefore identified in the Status column of the Bird List as P.
Vagrants – The movement of species that we refer to as vagrants is usually due to climatic conditions that cause a bird to be in a place it is not usually seen. Some vagrants are seen regularly but in small numbers and are either species that are migrating and have been caused to move out of what is regarded as their normal population zone during the migration process or they are a species that is expanding their normal population zone and sometimes attempts to breed in Andalucia, which is regarded as being outside its normal population zone.
Other vagrants are seen spasmodically and very rarely and these are species that have encountered severe climatic conditions that have caused them to be completely outside their normal population zone. Examples of these are birds that have crossed the Atlantic from North America to Europe. Species regarded as Vagrants are identified in the Status column of the Bird List as V.
Bird Sighting Information
A regular summary of data entries will be provided so that members can see what information has been entered in the central database, when and by whom.
Also, Bird Sighting information will be provided so that members can view the information by province, 10x10km grid, species, site or time period.
As the data flows into the database these information reports will begin to appear.
To view the Bird Sighting Information for a particular province go to the appropriate province web page using the side Resources menu. You will find the province name under Bird Sightings.
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