The Birds in Reserves Project, or for short BIRP, started in 1992 and is run as a National “Citizen Science” project by the Animal Demography Unit (ADU), based at the University of Cape Town (UCT). The primary aim of the project is the collection of bird occurrence data, specifically inside South African protected areas (PAs). The process is fairly simple; volunteers go out to any PA and simply make a list of all the bird species observed. Data can be collected up to a maximum of seven days. This project is well suited for people that simply want to contribute their sightings (within protected areas) to a worthwhile cause. Equally, the BIRP project can serve as an avifaunal baseline monitoring tool for all protected areas, whether big or small. The data is submitted to the ADU, processed and made available on this website.

The data collected serves a variety of users; private, recreational, institutional and academic. The project is supported and endorsed by both the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) as well as BirdLife South Africa (BLSA).