Just a reminder that this year’s 2023 New Zealand Garden Bird Survey is on this week, and they'd love everyone to get involved and become citizen scientists for the day.

The New Zealand Garden Bird Survey is an annual citizen science project led by Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research. Over nine days between 24 June and 2 July, people count the birds they see in their gardens, parks or school grounds. Here is a quick video for more information.

This is their 17th year, and they are hoping it will be the biggest and best survey yet. 

Why the survey is important

What can be learned from the information about the birds in your garden collected by citizen scientists helps the researchers understand how birds are coping with environmental challenges. It also helps them build a long-term dataset to understand the impact of climate change on ecosystems and biodiversity.

Here's how you can get involved

1. Visit the NZ Garden Bird Survey website to get started.
2. Find a spot in your garden or a nearby park.
3. Choose any ONE day between 24 June and 2 July 2023
4. Look and listen for birds on that day for ONE hour.
5. For each species, record the HIGHEST number seen or heard at one time.
6. Submit the results online at the NZ Garden Bird Survey website 

Competitions the students can take part in

They are also running a few competitions that you may be interested in taking part in:

• Colouring competition: Download the entry forms from our website and get creative with colouring in our most common garden bird species. Entries can be submitted on our website from 24 June.
• Photo competition: Do you have a child who has a great eye to get the perfect photo? Get them to enter our bird photography competition and they could win some great prizes, including the opportunity to have their image as the cover of our 2023 State of Garden Bird report.