Make our birds count
We need you to help make a difference

The New Zealand Garden Bird Survey took place between 26 June and 4 July 2021. It’s a fantastic reason to spend time outdoors, and you’ll be doing your bit for science.

Healthy bird populations can indicate that the environment is healthy. We know lots about endangered native birds in the bush, but we don’t always know what’s happening in the populations of all the birds around us, particularly in urban and garden environments.

That's why we need you to help us count them.
 
What we learn from information about the birds in your garden collected by you and your fellow citizen scientists helps our researchers make decisions to protect our environment. It also tells us if what we are doing in areas such as predator control is working.
 
Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research has led this nationwide initiative since 2007.
Join thousands of New Zealanders and count the birds that make our world sing.

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Take part

It’s important we have as many New Zealanders complete the survey as possible to get a full picture of what’s happening to our garden bird populations across the country.
Taking part is easy:

  1. Select your garden, park, or school
  2. Choose one day from 26th June to the 4th July
  3. Look and listen for birds for ONE hour.
  4. Record the HIGHEST number of a bird species observed at one time.
  5. Submit your survey results below.
Make recording bird counts easy:

  • Print out the tally sheet or make your own.
  • For bird survey areas with internet access, you can enter your results straight into the online survey form.
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NZ Garden Bird Survey Tally Sheet

Competitions

​We're running two exciting competitions this year for those who take part in the 2021 New Zealand Garden Bird Survey!

Identifying birds

Need to polish up your bird identification skills?  

We’ve made identifying our birds easy with a collection of beautiful bird images, a list of key characteristics and bird sounds on our commonly seen birds.
Check out our identification guide
Check out our identification guide

Resources

Resources for teachers

Additional resources for schools and learning hubs, and tips for teachers wanting to run the survey for classes or groups.

Resources for community groups, media, and organisations

Resources to help you share the NZ Garden Bird Survey on your organisation’s community channels.

Bird quizzes

Test your identification skills, and your knowledge of Māori bird names – and challenge your friends!

State of NZ's Garden Birds 2020 | Te āhua o ngā manu o te kāri i Aotearoa

The New Zealand Garden Bird Survey acts as the ‘canary in the coalmine’ for our nation’s common garden bird species. It helps us understand the health of garden bird populations and the wider environment by showing how bird counts are changing across Aotearoa over two time-frames – 5 and 10 years.

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#NZGardenBirdSurvey

About the survey
Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research has proudly led this biodiversity study of urban and rural landscapes  since 2007. This survey is the only one of its kind that informs policy makers, scientists, bird enthusiasts and other organisations nationwide who have an interest in the state of our garden birds and their environment.  

The survey acts as the ‘canary in the coalmine’ for our nation’s garden birds. It’s an early warning system to highlight any health issues, as well as evidence that our birds are thriving. 

Using cutting-edge techniques, Manaaki Whenua - Landcare Research monitors changes in bird populations over time by analysing a substantial number of bird counts gathered by New Zealanders from over 35,000 garden surveys, and distilling them into meaningful metrics. 

Thank you to our long-term supporters

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