Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) weekend is underway
Each February, for four days, the world comes together for the love of birds. Over these four days people everywhere are invited 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.
Participating is easy, fun to do alone or with others, and can be done anywhere you find birds.
Step 1: Decide where you will watch birds.
Step 2: Watch birds for 15 minutes or more, at least once over the four days, February 14–17, 2025.
Step 3: Identify all the birds you see or hear within your planned time/location and use the best tool for sharing your bird sightings:
- If you are a beginning bird admirer and new to bird identification, try using the Merlin Bird ID app to tell us what birds you are seeing or hearing.
- If you have participated in the count before and want to record numbers of birds, try the free eBird Mobile app or enter your bird list on the eBird website (desktop/laptop/smartphone).
If you already use Merlin or eBird, all entries over the 4 days count towards GBBC. Keep doing what you are doing! No need to register or sign-up separately for GBBC.
Note that the Great Backyard Bird Count and Project Feeder Watch are two different projects. Their observations are recorded separately. However, if you are enrolled in Project Feeder Watch and your observation days overlap with the GBBC period, you can choose to designate your feeder also as a stationary GBBC count location and submit your feeder observations to both projects. The principal purpose of GBBC, though, is to identify all birds one can see and hear. Because relatively few species of birds are attracted by feeders, it is important to obtain counts from locations beyond your feeder and beyond your own backyard to gain a better understanding of bird biodiversity.