Taking part in BirdTrack is easy and fun. You simply provide some information about yourself, the sites where you go birdwatching, when you go birdwatching and most importantly, the birds you identify!
BirdTrack allows you to store all of your bird records in a safe, easily accessible and interactive format.
How to take part
To participate in BirdTrack you just need to do the following:
- Go birdwatching and note all the species that you see.
- Go to the BirdTrack app and register an account. If you have taken part in any other online survey organised by the BTO then please use your existing username and password.
- Enter the location of your chosen site(s) or select from a popular site.
- Enter the date and time of your visit and the site you visited.
- Record the species you saw or heard on your visit.
Explore your data
We hope that you will have great fun participating in BirdTrack and that you will return to the website frequently to enter more data and to find out what's happening in your area and around the country.
- National and regional summaries updated every night throughout the year.
- View all of your own records and compare them with the regional figures.
Health and safety
Although BirdTrack is not a structured survey, the BTO's health and safety information for volunteer fieldworkers contains relevant advice.
Code of Conduct
Volunteers must follow BTO’s Code of Conduct. This code applies to our staff, our members, and volunteers, including surveyors and participants in the Ringing and Nest Record Schemes, (hereafter referred to collectively as ‘staff and supporters’). It applies to all BTO activities, whether online (including meetings and events, telephone, letter, and email) or offline (any face-to-face interaction). We've also written some guidance for volunteer fieldworkers, which will help beginners in particular.
Important note about auto-ID tools
We recognise the growing popularity of auto-ID tools that use audio or image inputs to provide species identification, but we currently ask volunteers not to solely rely on these tools when submitting data to us.
- Please read our full statement on the use of auto-id tools for more detail and clarity.