Counting Backyard Birds in Winter: The Bird Counts Anyone Can Join

The Christmas Bird Count, December 14 to January 5

It started on Christmas Day in 1900, as an alternative to competitive bird hunting: count the birds instead of shooting them. That idea has become one of the world’s longest-running community science projects: for more than a century, the Audubon Christmas Bird Count has brought together thousands of volunteers across the Americas [13]. Not a bad way to start a holiday tradition.

The count runs every year from December 14 to January 5 [13], so this season from December 14, 2026, to January 5, 2027. Participation is free and open to bird enthusiasts of any level [15].

It’s organized in count circles, each with its own count day: all count activities must fall within that circle’s 24-hour period. You can do a feeder count, counting every bird you see or hear at a stationary feeder in your backyard or a local park within a circle, with no binoculars or hiking required; or join a field count, surveying an area alone or in a group during daylight hours. Some counts even add nighttime surveys for owls [15].

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Counting without counting the same bird twice

Whatever the count, stick to one spot you can see clearly, ideally from a discreet place indoors or out so you don’t disturb the birds [8], and note when you start and finish [3]. Europe’s garden counts only want birds that land, not those flying over [10]; the Christmas Bird Count’s feeder counts include every bird you see or hear [15].

Here’s the detail that changes everything: Europe’s big garden counts ask for the highest number of each species seen at any one time, never a running total [10]. See 5 chickadees, then 7, then 4? Record 7, not 16, because some of them almost certainly came back [6].

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A busy feeder makes the job harder, with species jostling and the same birds coming and going. France’s LPO suggests counting birds with identical plumage separately: 4 male chaffinches at one moment and 2 females at another make 6 chaffinches [8]. And for a feeder that does its visitors no harm, see our guide to feeding backyard birds in winter.

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Signing up and taking part

For the Christmas Bird Count, everything goes through a count circle [15]:

1. find a count near you with Audubon’s CBC Circle Finder and register to take part;
2. on your circle’s count day, count within its 24-hour window, from your feeder or with a field group;
3. dress for the weather, and bring water, snacks, and anything that helps you count, like binoculars or a field guide.

In Canada, Audubon partners with Birds Canada, which helps coordinate the counts there [15]. Europe’s garden counts work differently: in France, you create an account and a “garden” on the observatory’s website, then enter your counts by clicking on bird thumbnails; the printable counting sheet is only a memory aid and is never mailed in [5]. In 2026, French participants had until the end of February to enter their data [7].

What happens to your data

By taking part, Christmas Bird Count volunteers collect data that power critical bird conservation work throughout the year, and Audubon makes the count’s data available on its CBC data platform [13]. In France, garden counts fill a gap: ornithologists’ monitoring schemes leave private gardens out, and the counts help show how far gardens act as a refuge for birds [3].

Results are published every year. In January 2025, 20,027 French gardens took part in the national count, with 493,919 birds recorded, 25 per garden on average; great tits, robins, and blue tits were seen in more than 70% of them [4]. The counts also show that the most frequent bird isn’t always the most numerous: the great tit is seen most often in French gardens, but the house sparrow holds the record for numbers [1].

The longer the series, the more it says. In Britain, where the Big Garden Birdwatch has run since 1979, average house sparrow counts in 2025 were the lowest since 1998, 64% below the first count [9, 10].

Winter bird counts in Europe

Across the Atlantic, the idea has caught on too. In Europe, the golden rule is almost always the same: one hour of watching, and for each species the highest number seen at once.

In France, the national garden bird count run by the LPO and the French National Museum of Natural History will take place on January 30 and 31, 2027 [2]. It asks for one hour on one of the two days [4], in a well-defined garden, square, park, or balcony, with a form limited to 52 common species [5, 6], and a second weekend in late May covers breeding birds [3]. In Germany, the Stunde der Wintervögel, run by NABU and its Bavarian partner, the LBV, will take place from January 8 to 10, 2027, with results sent online from January 8 or by mail until January 18 [12]. In Switzerland, BirdLife Switzerland’s “Oiseaux en hiver,” also held in Germany, Austria, Czechia, and Slovakia, runs from January 7 to 10, 2027 [11]. Belgium’s Natagora also holds a winter count [4], but its website, under maintenance on October 22, 2026, didn’t give the date yet.

The best known of them all is Britain’s Big Garden Birdwatch: more than 650,000 people took part in 2026, counting 9.4 million birds [9]. You watch for one hour, count only birds that land, and give the highest number of each species seen at once [10]; even an hour with no birds counts [14].

Getting kids involved

Counting birds suits kids well, as long as you prepare. Feeder counts are a gentle start, with no binoculars or hiking required [15]. In the days before, practice identifying birds from photos: France’s schools program, Vigie-Nature École, uses quizzes and an identification key to train pupils [6], and the French observatory’s printable counting sheet shows all the birds on its form [5].

On the day, teach them to take a “mental photograph” of the bird before looking it up: its size, its color, and where that color is [6]. No need to drag them out of bed at dawn: in winter, according to observations by French participants, the hours between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. seem ideal [1]. An hour is a long time when you’re six, so take turns at the window if you need to: what matters is that the spot is watched for the whole hour.

All that’s left is to find your circle before December 14, with a hot cup of tea and a field guide within reach. Count carefully: you’ll be adding your line to a story that began on Christmas Day in 1900.

Worth watching

A four-minute primer on the Christmas Bird Count from a Wisconsin birding channel: how the count got started, what taking part involves, and how to get involved through Audubon.

The video is hosted by YouTube (Google): nothing loads until you play it, and Google may then set cookies.

Nolwenn Bastide

Trail running, snow, water, nature and destinations

Nolwenn covers trail running, snow, water, nature and destinations for Outfarer. Curious about everything, from meteor showers to night-train schedules, she has a knack for digging up the one detail that changes everything, and nailing it in a single sentence.

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