The New Zealand Garden Bird Survey, run by scientists at Manaaki Whenua - Landcare Research, is the country’s longest-running citizen science project. Why not take part yourself?
It’s a great way to spend a pleasant hour connecting with nature. Birds keep our gardens vigorous, they reflect the state of our environment’s health, and encourage people to get involved in conservation.
People who participate in the survey say it enhances their learning about birds and nature. Since 2007, more than 77,000 surveys have been submitted from gardens, school grounds and parks across the country. A record number of people joined in the survey in 2024. More than 17,000 New Zealanders spent one hour during the week of the survey counting the birds they could see or hear, and submitted nearly 8,000 surveys to add to this valuable dataset.
The survey helps our researchers understand how birds are coping with environmental challenges. It also helps us build a long-term biodiversity dataset to understand the impact of climate change on ecosystems and biodiversity.
One early indicator from the 2024 data is that silvereye (tauhou) are showing a new shift away from declines, and many regions are showing increases. Additionally, fantail (pīwakawaka) counts are showing a shallow increase nationally over 10 years.
The survey runs in the week of late June to early July, and it’s easy to take part. More details, including how to do the survey, how to submit your results and lot’s of bird identification information can be found on The NZ Garden Bird Survey website at gardenbirdsurvey.nz
