The Garden Bird Survey is a simple yet important activity that can help inform policy makers, scientists, and many other organisations.

Birds are a bioindicators meaning they can help us understand the health of our environment, whether it’s our wetlands, forests, beaches, or our suburban areas! The survey acts as a backyard barometer 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.

To date, over 42,000 the Garden Bird Surveys of gardens and parks have been undertaken by individuals, schools, and community groups. Last year only 217 gardens were surveyed in Te Tai Tokerau, an increase of 5% on 2020 but still only the 7th highest of all of NZ. Let’s beat Manawatu this year!

It’s simple to take part and just requires an hour of your time!

1. Choose your garden, park, or school
2. Choose one day from 25th June to the 3rd July 2022
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 here

Want to learn more about the manu commonly found in our backyards?

Click here to learn more about bird identification

Unsure how to best record your findings?

You can use this tally sheet here. A te reo Māori version can be found here.

June 20, 2022