BirdID Training Course

BirdID, abbreviation of “Bird Identification”, is a course and website for the identification of Western Palearctic birds. BirdID is developed by Nord University and local partners in more than eight different countries. It is one of the Best Bird Identification courses in the world. Students who follow this course and successfully pass the online exam for images and sounds of birds receive a certificate issued by Nord University. Neither the course, nor the online exam (nor the certificate) do require a participation fee.

BirdID was implemented for the first time in Albania in 2018 from the Albanian Ornithological Society (AOS). Dr. Taulant Bino (Head of AOS and an expert in the field of ornithology with more than 30 years of experience) is the main teacher of the course. Two biologist from AOS assist teaching throughout the course, Msc. Erald Xeka and Msc. Klea Duro.

Normally, the course has a time span of 6 months (during the breeding season). It is composed by 4 short theoretical sessions and 24 days of field practice (organized every two weekends).

The traditional locations for the field practices during the course are:

- Urban parks (Tirana Lake Park);

- Coastal lagoons (National Park Divjaka-Karavasta, Narta Lagoon, Lagoon of Orikumi, etc);

- Lakes (Shkodra Lake, Prespa Lake, etc)

- National Mountain Parks (Dajti National Park, Llogara National Park, Qafë-Shtamë National Park, etc).

Furthermore, the students have the opportunity to exercise for the identification of birds based on their image and sound through ongoing tests on the website: www.birdid.no.

At the end of the theoretical and practical sessions, students will be tested online for images and sounds on the Nord University website (www.birdid.no).