Kickstart your BirdTrack Year

14 Jan 2022

BirdTrack is BTO’s finger on the pulse when it comes to monitoring birds in the here and now. The data are used in a number of ways, from informing local trends, charting movements in and out of Britain and Ireland as they are happening and providing additional data to many of BTO’s core surveys.

BirdTrack is also a great place to keep your observations, allowing you to carry out lots of different analyses, from when different species peak on your local patch to how many times you have seen a particular species and much, much more, and your data will be there forever, whilst also providing valuable information for the BTO’s scientists. Complete lists are the most valuable for BTO research and monitoring, these help BTO scientists to understand patterns of migration and are also being used to measure population trends for scarce species.

75% of county bird clubs use data from BirdTrack for their reports, including records of scarce breeding species that are passed on confidentially to the Rare Breeding Birds Panel, helping to improve knowledge about, and the conservation of, some of our most sensitive species. An easy way to increase the value of any observations is to add breeding evidence, such as signs of territoriality and nesting behaviour.

2022 will be an exciting year for BirdTrack with new features and developments planned to help birdwatchers get the most from their birdwatching, whilst adding to the rich datasets the BTO already holds.

Kickstart your BirdTrack Year by taking part in a big year; as the year progresses BirdTrack will identify some target species that you are missing. Compile a local year list, #LocalBigYear or build a #LowCarbon Year List, but don’t forget to record all of your observations in BirdTrack and make your birdwatching count.

Ps, don’t forget you can also now record dragonflies, butterflies and mammals on BirdTrack, giving even more value to your observations.

Sign-up or sign-in to BirdTrack today