This dataset contains survey data for bird species across various river and wetland locations in the City of Melbourne. Bird transect surveys were conducted by Ecology Australia at the following locations: Dynon Road, West Melbourne, Wildlife Sanctuary (1), Dynon Road, West Melbourne, Tidal Drain (2), Moonee Ponds Creek lower catchment near Racecourse Road, Kensington and Dynon Road, West Melbourne (3), Maribyrnong River near Newells Paddock and Dynon Road, West Melbourne (4), Royal Park Oak Street Wetland (5), and Stony Creek Backwash, Footscray (6). Surveys were undertaken during daylight hours and were repeated on various dates throughout February and March 2018. Bird surveys were conducted by completing transects along the waterbodies and identifying bird species and numbers. These surveys were undertaken to primarily track bird species richness at Site (1) with Site (3) existing as a reference site with comparable habitat characteristics.

This bird survey dataset includes the bird’s common name, scientific name, the corresponding Victorian Biodiversity Atlas Code, the date the survey was conducted, and the location of the survey (including the latitude and longitude). The Victorian Biodiversity Atlas (VBA) is managed by the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) and provides a list of species observations in Victoria. Each species has an identification ‘code’ number.

Please get in contact with the Urban Forest and Ecology Team (nature@melbourne.vic.gov.au) if you wish to view the full report by Ecology Australia or if you have any questions about the dataset.

The Our City's Little Gems study observed butterfly biodiversity and flower-butterfly interactions in the City of Melbourne between January - March 2017. The Our City's Little Gems project is a direct extension of The Little Things that Run the City project that assessed the insect biodiversity of green spaces in the City of Melbourne. The Little Things that Run the City project did not originally feature butterflies, so the Our City’s Little Gems project was created to solely look at butterfly-flower interactions in our city. Please use the detailed legend for all species, environmental and location information. All species records are butterflies. All records have coordinates.