New Zealand Garden Bird Survey 2025
Keen to connect with nature, flex your citizen science muscles, and help protect our feathered friends? The NZ Garden Bird Survey is back from 28 June to 6 July, and your backyard is a key research site!
Birds are fantastic indicators of ecosystem health, and your counts help scientists track trends in native and introduced species within our beautiful urban ecosanctuary and across Aotearoa.
You don’t need to be a bird expert – just set aside one hour, find a comfy spot (thermos of tea optional but encouraged), and record the birds you see. Stuck between a tūī and a blackbird? No worries - gardenbirdsurvey.nz has easy ID guides, and we have a local expert from University of Otago who has generously offered to personally assist NEV community members complete counts in their backyards.
This is community research at its finest – a moment to pause, tune into nature, and be part of something bigger. Who knows? You might just spot a kererū doing loop-the-loops or a pīwakawaka showing off its aerial acrobatics.
So grab your binoculars, invite the whānau, and join thousands of others in this joyful backyard adventure. Let’s count for conservation! Visit gardenbirdsurvey.nz/ for more information about the survey, or email openvue@northeastvalley.org if you would like assistance in your backyard count.
