Great Backyard Bird Count 2024—when the world comes together for the love of birds! - eBird (2024)

The annual Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) is Friday, February 16 through Monday, February 19. The GBBC was one of the first online projects to collect information on wild birds and was also instrumental in the creation of eBird back in 2002. Now there are more ways than ever to participate and share your love of birds!

If you’re new to birding, participate with Merlin: beginning bird admirers can participate in the GBBC using Merlin Bird ID—simply identify birds and save them with the app anytime February 16-19.

If you’re already eBirding, participate with eBird: go birding for at least 15 minutes anytime February 16-19, count all the birds you see or hear, and enter your observations via the GBBC website or eBird Mobile app. If you haven’t used eBird since the last GBBC, take the free eBird Essentials course for a refresher.

Below are some additional details about Great Backyard Bird Count and how to get involved.

Practice and Prepare

Want to practice your birding skills before the 16th? Join the Merlin Bird ID Trivia Webinars with Bird Count India and Birds Canada and test your birding knowledge!

MerlinBird ID Trivia – Birds of India: Great Backyard Bird Count Edition

Friday, February 9, 9:00-10:00 a.m. Eastern or 7:30-8:30 p.m. India Standard Time

Great Backyard Bird Count 2024—when the world comes together for the love of birds! - eBird (1)

What better way to learn India’s birds than with a fun-filled trivia game? The Merlin Bird ID app will be put to the test. Can the app outperform an experienced birder or you, our live audience? Using photos and sounds, we’ll determine who can accurately identify the most bird species found in India. This is an interactive game, so come ready to play! The birds of India are colorful and amazing.

Register Here

MerlinBird ID Trivia – North American Birds: Great Backyard Bird Count Edition

Thursday, February 15, 8:00-9:00 p.m. Eastern

Great Backyard Bird Count 2024—when the world comes together for the love of birds! - eBird (2)

What better way to brush up on North American bird identification than with a fun-filled trivia game? The Merlin Bird ID app will be put to the test. Can the app outperform an experienced birder and you, our live audience? We’ll use photos and sounds to determine who can accurately identify the most North American bird species.

Register Here

Connect and celebrate

The 2024 GBBC encourages you to spend time in your favorite places watching birds—and tell us about them! GBBC is a great opportunity to recognize these special places and share them with others.

Do you have a friend or family member you think might be interested in birds? GBBC is your chance to spark a new passion. Encourage loved ones to observe the birds around them during GBBC weekend as well. They can participate in GBBC by using Merlin Bird ID to identify species and even start their Life List right from the Merlin app.

Build a global snapshot of birds

Unlike other global birding events, GBBC represents a chance to take a 4-day snapshot of bird populations around the world. Everyone who submits an eBird checklist or saves a bird with Merlin Bird ID from Feb 16-19 will be part of the global effort. Help us make the best, most detailed picture possible by following these tips:

Get to know your local birds. Jump-start your GBBC by familiarizing yourself with nearby birds. Merlin Bird ID allows you to build a custom list of birds you’re likely to spot during GBBC wherever you are, complete with photos, example sounds, and identification notes. Tips for exploring nearby birds with Merlin.

Count correctly. A lot of GBBC birding happens in backyards and often at feeders. Be sure to review our article on proper counting protocol at feeders.

Boost the scientific value of your lists. Try these reporting practices so that your checklists have the biggest impact for science: submit ‘complete’ checklists; follow best listing practices; and if a report is flagged, document it thoroughly.

Add photos. If you get nice photos during the GBBC weekend, or anytime, be sure to add your photos to your eBird checklist. This is of course especially important to help document rare birds that you may find. Learn more on how to upload your photos and sounds. We also invite you to share pictures of yourself, family, or friends celebrating the joy of birds during GBBC.

Build a GBBC Trip Report. eBird Trip Reports are a great way to summarize the birds you find during the 4-day GBBC period. Simply create a Trip Report for February 16-19. The observations you contribute through eBird and Merlin will be added to the report automatically. Add friends and family and their GBBC observations will be included in your report as well. Create eBird Trip Reports at any time before or after the count period—you can also make Trip Reports for past GBBCs!

How to follow the GBBC

Follow along with the Great Backyard Bird Count on eBird, where you can filter sightings and recent GBBC checklists by region. You can also submit data here as well. Your My eBird stats will be the same here as they would be anywhere in eBird. The key difference is the Explore page. The output here is tailored for the GBBC, so you can see the following:

  • Explore GBBC data by location– Enter any location and see the species list, number of checklists and observers, recent visits, and other information restricted to this year’s count period.
  • GBBC species maps – See where and how often each species is found around the world during GBBC. Zoom in and click on the points to see individual records.
  • Top 100 for GBBC 2024 – Check out the region-by-region contributions of individuals in terms of both number of checklists and number of species reported.

Drum up support in your local birding community by sharing a link to these statistics on your blog, Facebook page, listserv, or your favorite social media of choice.

And make sure to check in with the eBird Live Submissions Map this weekend. The hottest times to watch this map are likely to be 4-9 pm (Eastern Standard Time or GMT -5) on Sunday and Monday. Our best hour may be 5 pm (EST) on Sunday night when 3000+ checklists are usually submitted.

Have a great time at this year’s GBBC and thank you for being a part of the global eBird team!

Great Backyard Bird Count 2024—when the world comes together for the love of birds! - eBird (2024)

FAQs

What are the results of the great backyard bird count in 2024? ›

2024 Final Results

The world turned-out in a big way to share their joy of birds. This year we had more 210 countries or subregions report approximately 7,920 of the world's known species, this is remarkable.

What is the point of the Great Backyard Bird Count? ›

Over these four days we invite people to spend time in their favorite places watching and counting as many birds as they can find and reporting them to us. These observations help scientists better understand global bird populations before one of their annual migrations.

How many people participate in the Great Backyard Bird Count? ›

Recently, more than 300,000 participants submitted their bird observations online, creating the largest instantaneous snapshot of global bird populations ever recorded. The 27th annual GBBC will be held Friday, February 16, through Monday, February 19, 2024.

What is the 150 million year old bird? ›

This theory was born with the discovery of a 150-million-year-old fossilised creature in a swamp in Germany in the 1860s. Archaeopteryx was possibly the most controversial prehistoric remain ever dug up. It is the oldest known bird fossil. Most biologists accept it as conclusive proof that dinosaurs sired birds.

Who started the Great Backyard Bird Count? ›

The Great Backyard Bird Count was started in 1998 by the Cornell Ornithology Lab and the National Audubon Society.

What is killing birds in my backyard? ›

Other common human-caused and natural threats to birds that are known, but not listed below include various entanglement and entrapment threats e.g., open pipes and nets); predation by other animals besides cats, including humans (e.g., poaching); weather events; starvation; and disease.

Why are there a million birds in my yard? ›

Non-migratory birds flock to your home in search of food and shelter. If you want to keep them away, you have to make sure they can't find either of those things. Pick up fallen nuts, berries, and other plant debris from your yard regularly. If you have plants, consider covering them with sheets.

How many birds are in the world in 2024? ›

With over 50 billion birds worldwide, you may wonder what species accounts for the largest proportion of this figure.

What state has the most birds? ›

Maps of the diversity of birds in the USA, including endemics, threatened species, and priority conservation areas. GIS data available. According to an article I read about birds, Alaska has the most species of birds. They have over 500 species.

What city in the US has the most birds? ›

Researchers factored in everything from the number of birdwatching groups and bird species to the number of Audubon chapters and wildlife refuges. In total, the company used 14 total metrics to calculate a score (out of 100) for each major city. At the top of the list is New York, N.Y.

Why is the Great Backyard Bird Count important? ›

Your information becomes part of an extensive database that is analyzed by scientists to better understand important trends in bird populations, range expansions, habitat changes and shifts in migration patterns. Participating in GBBC is now more important than ever, because birds need our help.

What time is best for bird count? ›

There is never a bad time to count birds; you can count at any time of day or night. However, birds are more active at dawn and dusk, so if you choose to do your count then, you may see more birds.

Is the eBird app free? ›

As always, eBird is free to join and the app is free to download, both for iPhone and Android. When I first downloaded the eBird app, I assumed that I'd also be able to easily explore the eBird website—and all the fun Explore Species features, recent visits, etc.

Is the bird population increasing or decreasing? ›

But the birds we love, are vanishing. An alarming new study reveals that the population of North American birds has dropped nearly 30% since 1970.

Where have all the backyard birds gone? ›

Bird populations fluctuate seasonally and from one year to the next for a range of reasons. Often when someone reports that birds have gone missing from their yard, they are just seeing normal variation. Causes for these regular changes include: Fluctuating food supplies/requirements.

What is the largest bird collection in the United States? ›

Our National Collection, known in the ornithological literature by the acronym USNM (referring to our former name of United States National Museum), has representatives of about 85% of the approximately 10,000 known species in the world's avifauna.

How many birds has North America lost in the last 50 years? ›

Slowly, steadily and almost imperceptibly, North America's bird population is dwindling.

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