Kenya Bird Map (Full protocol and Adhoc records)
Latest version published by FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology on Apr 19, 2025
A species' distribution is the most fundamental information needed in order to conserve it. Almost 30 years ago bird records were collected across Kenya that resulted in the book, A Bird Atlas of Kenya, that mapped and described the status of all the 1,065 species of birds then recorded in the country. Since then much has changed in terms of habitats and climatic conditions in Kenya and as a result the distributions and status of many of our birds have also dramatically changed – but we don’t know how or to what extent! The Kenya Bird Map project aims to map the current distribution of all of Kenya’s bird species and describe their status with the help of valued input from Citizen Scientists – volunteer members of the public who are keen to contribute through going birding and submitting their observations to the project. By pooling the efforts of many Citizen Scientist birders, Kenya Bird Map will tell the story of changing bird distributions and abundance - and in so doing provide a powerful tool for conservation
Downloads
Download the latest version of the resource data as a Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A) or the resource metadata as EML or RTF:
| Data as a DwC-A file | download 725099 records in English (17 MB) - Update frequency: monthly |
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| Metadata as an EML file | download in English (12 KB) |
| Metadata as an RTF file | download in English (10 KB) |
Versions
The table below shows only published versions of the resource that are publicly accessible.
Rights
Researchers should respect the following rights statement:
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC-BY-NC) 4.0 License.
GBIF Registration
This resource has been registered with GBIF, and assigned the following GBIF UUID: 1cd0cb6d-d8ab-4e4c-9672-70d22fec96b3. FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology publishes this resource, and is itself registered in GBIF as a data publisher endorsed by South African Biodiversity Information Facility.
Keywords
Occurrence; ornithology; birds; tempral; spatial; genus; species; citizen science; volunteer; Observation
Contacts
Who created the resource:
Who can answer questions about the resource:
Who filled in the metadata:
Who else was associated with the resource:
Geographic Coverage
This resource covers bird sightings and surveys throughout Kenya
| Bounding Coordinates | -5.39, 4.95 / 33.51, 42.61 (min, max Latitude / min, max Longitude) |
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Temporal Coverage
| Formation Period | 2012 - ongoing |
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Project Data
Africa's rich biodiversity provides critical ecosystem services. It contributes substantially to the continent’s economy and serves as a buffer to climate change. However, the continent is experiencing a dramatic loss of biodiversity even before we are able to fully identify, document and enjoy the benefits of these natural resources. Biodiversity loss affects livelihoods and lessens resilience to extreme events, particularly for people in rural areas who are often the poorest (World Bank/GEF, Feb 2019). Integrating biodiversity into decision making is a key strategy for mitigating these losses, and a ready availability of relevant data is critical for informed decision making. Focusing on birds, which are excellent indicators of general environmental health, the African Bird Atlas Project (ABAP) - a well-established citizen science project is designed to capture bird distributional data across wide spatial scales. It is exceptional in its ability to report biodiversity changes in real time and thus provide decision-makers with current information. Country-level projects have been running successfully in southern Africa since 2007, and there has been a concerted effort to expand coverage to east and west Africa in the last 5 years. The proposed project seeks to mobilize and strengthen collaborative data management among ongoing national projects across the continent to establish an up-to-date distributional database for Africa's birds under the ABAP. It will also develop institutional capacity of partners for managing and using this data to improve environmental management decisions, while also connecting more people to nature. Success will be measured via sustained growth of data coverage, establishment of new country-level atlases under ABAP framework and the development of user-friendly tools to summarize, visualize and analyze the data. Impact will be measured through the inclusion of this data in key conservation-management decisions throughout the continent.
| Title | African Bird Atlas Project - mapping the distribution of Africa's birds |
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| Identifier | BID-AF2020-039-REG |
| Funding | This project is funded from a GBIF research grant |
The personnel involved in the project:
Sampling Methods
The standard protocol is as follows: Spend at least two (2) hours recording as many different species in the pentad by visiting all (or as many different) habitats as possible. This is known as the initial intensive survey, or grid bash. These surveys will help us get fairly comprehensive bird lists for each grid cell. Record the species in the order that you see and/or hear them. This will help us gauge which are likely to be the more common species in the pentad. Keep a note of the end of each hour during your initial intensive survey. This helps us work out how much effort you put in during each survey and which birds are easier detected than others. The maximum survey period for any one pentad is five (5) days. The initial intensive survey should, where possible, take place on day 1 of the five days and you can then add any new species (in the order that you see them) to the list after the initial intensive survey up until the end of the fifth day. A new survey or checklist should only be started after each five day period for each pentad. Keep track of how much time you spend (to the nearest hour) adding any new species after your initial intensive survey.
| Study Extent | The study region is divided into pentads (5 minute x 5 minute squares) and each pentad is surveyed for a minimum of 2 hours covering all habitats representatively. The maximum survey time period is 5 days |
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| Quality Control | All records are vetted against multiple know occurance datasets, out of known range records are queried and verified before inclusion |
| Step Description 1 | The standard protocol is as follows: Spend at least two (2) hours recording as many different species in the pentad by visiting all (or as many different) habitats as possible. This is known as the initial intensive survey, or grid bash. These surveys will help us get fairly comprehensive bird lists for each grid cell. Record the species in the order that you see and/or hear them. This will help us gauge which are likely to be the more common species in the pentad. Keep a note of the end of each hour during your initial intensive survey. This helps us work out how much effort you put in during each survey and which birds are easier detected than others. The maximum survey period for any one pentad is five (5) days. The initial intensive survey should, where possible, take place on day 1 of the five days and you can then add any new species (in the order that you see them) to the list after the initial intensive survey up until the end of the fifth day. A new survey or checklist should only be started after each five day period for each pentad. Keep track of how much time you spend (to the nearest hour) adding any new species after your initial intensive survey. |
Additional Metadata
| Alternative Identifiers | 1cd0cb6d-d8ab-4e4c-9672-70d22fec96b3 |
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| http://aduipt.uct.ac.za:8080/ipt-2.3.2/resource?r=kenyabirdmap |