Kenya Bird Map (Full protocol and Adhoc records)

Peter Njoroge1, Michael Brooks2

1 Nairobi Museum, Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya; 2 FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology, 1 Lovers Lane, 7701, Rondebosch, Cape Town, South Africa

Corresponding author(s): Peter Njoroge (pnjoroge@museums.or.ke), Michael Brooks (michael.brooks@uct.ac.za)

Received {date}; Revised {date}; Accepted {date}; Published {date}

Citation: Combination of authors, year of data paper publication (in parentheses), Title, Journal Name, Volume, Issue number (in parentheses), and doi of the data paper.

Abstract

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

Keywords: Occurrence, ornithology, birds, tempral, spatial, genus, species, citizen science, volunteer, Observation

Project details

Project title: African Bird Atlas Project - mapping the distribution of Africa's birds
Personnel: Michael Brooks
Funding: This project is funded from a GBIF research grant

Data published through GBIF: http://aduipt.uct.ac.za:8080/ipt-2.3.2/resource?r=kenyabirdmap

Spatial coverage

General spatial coverage: This resource covers bird sightings and surveys throughout Kenya
Coordinates: 5°23'24''S and 4°57'0''N Latitude; 33°30'36''E and 42°36'36''E Longitude 

Formation period: 2012 - ongoing

Methods

Method step description: 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 description: 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
Sampling description: 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.
Quality control description: All records are vetted against multiple know occurance datasets, out of known range records are queried and verified before inclusion

Datasets

Dataset description
Object name: Darwin Core Archive Kenya Bird Map (Full protocol and Adhoc records)
Character encoding: UTF-8
Format name: Darwin Core Archive format
Format version: 1.0
Distribution: http://aduipt.uct.ac.za:8080/ipt-2.3.2/archive.do?r=kenyabirdmap
Publication date of data: 2025-04-19
Language: English
Licences of use: This work is licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/legalcode">Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC-BY-NC) 4.0 License</a>.

Metadata language: English
Date of metadata creation: 2019-02-13
Hierarchy level: Dataset