There are about 50 billion individual birds in the world, according to new research that uses citizen science observations to try to estimate population numbers for almost 10,000 species. Sean Dooley, the national public affairs manager for BirdLife Australia, is a longtime birdwatcher and contributor to citizen science programs. “The whole idea came from the fact that there are a few bird species that get really, really well studied,” Cornwell said. “But there is this huge collection of citizen scientists travelling all over the world counting every bird that they see. He said it also showed the role citizen science could play in those efforts.

Source: The Guardian May 17, 2021 19:00 UTC