Shorebird count and census report software
Migratory shorebird counts happen at high tide, when birds crowd onto a few roost sites, and the timing has to line up with the tide table. Bird groups and environmental consultants count each roost, record disturbance, and compare totals with earlier counts and with the thresholds that mark a site as important. A missed roost or a count during the wrong tide can change what the site appears to support.
Built for bird groups running teams of roughly 3–50 inspectors.
Sample Shorebird census report
An illustrative excerpt. The site, readings and findings are fictional; the layout is yours to set.
Shorebird census report
Summer count — Fictional Estuary roost sites
- Count date
- 18 January 2026, high tide 11:42 (2.1 m)
- Count window
- 10:45–12:45
- Counters
- 6, across 4 roosts
| Roost | Key species counted | Note |
|---|---|---|
| R1 — sand spit | Bar-tailed godwit 412; red-necked stint 380 | Note: Pass |
| R2 — saltmarsh | Eastern curlew 23 | Note: Listed species |
| R3 — oyster lease | Whimbrel 15; flushed twice by jet skis | Note: Disturbed |
| R4 — rock wall | Not counted; access closed | Note: Not counted |
Fields captured on site
Your firm builds the form in-app, so these are a starting point rather than a fixed schema. Every field is captured on the device, with or without signal, and lands in the shorebird census report where your template puts it.
Per count event
- Date and high tide time and height
- Count start and end
- Weather
- Counters
Per roost
- Roost (linked register)
- Species
- Number counted
- Count method (direct, estimated flock)
- Banded or flagged birds sighted
Disturbance
- Source (dogs, boats, people)
- Number of flushes
- Birds displaced to
Standards the report works to
- EPBC Act Policy Statement 3.21 (2017)Industry guidelines for avoiding, assessing and mitigating impacts on EPBC Act listed migratory shorebird species
- Sets how counts should be timed and how a site’s importance to migratory shorebirds is assessed.
Load the standards you hold into your reference library and the drafted prose is written against them rather than against a general model.
How the shorebird census report gets built
Capture it once, offline
Your firm builds the shorebird count form in-app — 25 field types, nesting repeatable groups, compound AND/OR visibility rules, reusable modules and calculated fields. Field capture works with no signal: jobs, forms, photos, notes and audio all queue in an idempotent outbox that only clears once the server confirms receipt.
Link it to your sites, transects and plots
Enter sites, transects and plots once, as a register. Every one of your species observations and survey events then points at a stored row rather than a name somebody typed — and the links survive a disconnected device.
Render your own template
The shorebird census report renders into the Word template you already use — your letterhead, your section order, your clause library — with conditionals, loops over repeats, composable sub-templates and photo grids.
Reviewed before it leaves
You write the review framework: a checklist of what a shorebird census report must contain, plus the prose standards you would mark a junior against. Link it to a report template and it runs every time that template renders. Each finding comes back graded info, minor or major, quoting the sentence at fault, and a person accepts or dismisses every one.
Because the structured submission behind the report is held too, the review is a comparison rather than a proofread: The report concludes no threatened species were recorded; the survey event on Transect 3 carries an observation that says otherwise.
Checks a ecology framework usually carries
- Survey effort described meets the guideline for the species being assessed
- Every species in the results table is carried through to the discussion
- Weather, season and access limitations are recorded, not left implied
- Each approval or offset condition is addressed explicitly
Questions
- Can we record the tide for every count?
- Tide time and height are fields on the count event, and a visibility rule can ask why a count started outside your tide window.
- Can several counters submit roosts for the same event?
- Each counter fills in their roosts on their own device, and all roost records link to the same count event for the report.
- Can we track leg-flag sightings?
- Add a repeat for flag or band sightings on the roost record, and the report can list them per roost.
What this is not
Worth knowing before you book a demo, so neither of us wastes the half hour.
- Not field-service dispatch. No timesheets, no parts, no inventory. Scheduling exists to get an inspector to a site.
- No signature capture. If your deliverable has to carry a signed sign-off on the artefact itself, this is not the tool yet.
- Field capture is what works offline — jobs, forms, photos, notes and audio. Reports, chat, scheduling and the inbox need a connection.
- No client portal. Reports go out as a file or a password-protected link.
Other ecology work we cover
- Fauna surveysFauna assessment report
- Fish surveysFish assemblage report
- Flora surveysVegetation assessment report
- Frog surveysFrog census report
- Habitat tree assessmentsHabitat tree register
- Koala habitat assessmentsKoala habitat report
- Marine mammal observationsMMO shift report
- Nest box monitoringNest box occupancy report
Other disciplines
Rebuild your shorebird census report in SurveyThanks
Bring the Word template you already send clients. If you are coming off another field-forms tool, a filled report can be uploaded, read field by field, and re-rendered into your template.