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eBird and avifaunal monitoring by the Ornithological Society of New Zealand

Since the Ornithological Society of New Zealand (OSNZ) was founded in 1939 its primary objective has been the collection and dissemination of information on New Zealand’s birds. For 70 years the Society has maintained databases on all aspects of the behaviour, population sizes and movements of New Zealand’s avifauna. This paper summarises what information members of the OSNZ collect and curate and discusses an Internet initiative (eBird) the Society has recently put in place to allow members to record observations and give researchers easy access to these data.