Privacy notice

Provincial Migrant Bird Tracker. Last updated 22 October 2026.

This notice explains what the tracker stores about you, who can see it, and how to have it erased. It is written to meet the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA).

Who runs the tracker

The tracker is run by the tracker's organiser, who is responsible for your information. Contact: the organiser, through the group where you found this link.

What is stored when you record a sighting

• The bird, date, whether you saw or heard it, and the place you type.
• The name you type in "Your name". This is shown to everyone with the record.
• Your location, only if you tap "Add my location". Other people see it only to about 10 km.
• A scrambled code made from your internet connection's address, used only to stop spam. The address itself is not stored.

What is stored if you sign in

• Your email address. With Google sign-in, also the basic profile Google shares (usually your name).
• Which sightings you recorded, so they can appear in My record.

Your email address is never shown to other users and is never sold or shared for marketing. Signing in is free and you are never charged to use the tracker.

Leaderboards

If you sign in, your leaderboard name and your season's totals (species logged and first finds) appear on that province's leaderboard. You choose the name under Account, and you can switch off "Show me on leaderboards" at any time. Sightings recorded without signing in never appear on leaderboards.

Who can see what

• Everyone: the bird, date, seen or heard, place, the name you typed, and an approximate location.
• You: the exact location of your own sightings.
• The tracker's administrators: exact locations, so records can be checked, and the list of signed-in accounts.

Why it is used

To build a shared record of when migrant birds return each year, to show you your own records, to sign you in, and to keep the tracker free of spam and mistakes.

Where it is kept

Records and accounts are held by Supabase, the database service the tracker uses, which may keep data on servers outside South Africa under its own security and privacy commitments. Sign-in emails are sent through an email delivery service. Fonts and a code library are loaded from Google Fonts and jsDelivr, which see your device's internet address while delivering them. The tracker has no advertising and no tracking or analytics.

On your phone the tracker keeps your typed name, sightings waiting to be sent, and your sign-in, so you don't have to enter them again.

Donations

Donations are made through the payment service or bank you choose. The tracker never sees or stores card details.

How long it is kept

Sightings are kept as a long-term record, because comparing years is the purpose of the tracker. Accounts are kept until you delete them.

Your rights and deleting your account

You can ask to see, correct or erase your information. To erase your account yourself, sign in, tap Account, then Delete my account. This removes your email address and sign-in details at once. You choose whether the sightings you recorded while signed in are deleted, or kept for the group record with your name replaced by "Former member".

Sightings recorded without signing in can't be linked to you automatically. To have those changed or removed, contact the organiser with the bird, date and name used.

If you are unhappy with how your information is handled, you may complain to the Information Regulator (inforegulator.org.za).