TBL Podcast - Season 15 Episode 2 - What Is a CAR Count and Why Should Birders Care?

Today we are chatting about a citizen science project that has been running for more than 30 years and has become an incredibly valuable source of information about some of South Africa’s large terrestrial birds.

I am joined by Dr David Ehlers Smith, Science and Spatial Planning Project Manager at BirdLife South Africa, to talk about CAR, or Coordinated Avifaunal Roadcounts.

We are going to unpack what a CAR count actually is, why these counts are done, what decades of data are telling us about species such as cranes, bustards, Secretarybirds and other large terrestrial birds, and, importantly, how ordinary birders can get involved.

We will also chat briefly about Birding Big Day 2026 and what birders can look forward to this year.

Visit our online store to get your birding related merchandise at great prices https://www.thebirdinglife.com/online-store

Intro and outro music by Tony ZA https://soundcloud.com/tonyofficialza

Links from show:

CAR Count website https://car.birdmap.africa/

BirdLife South Africa website https://birdlife.org.za/