May - July

North American Breeding Bird Survey

Hop in the car and put your bird ID skills to work, counting every bird you can see or hear along a 40 km route.

Two Tree Swallows in flight — ©Tree SwallowsPhoto: Daniel Huang

Across Canada

Skilled volunteers travel down a sideroad, and at each stop they observe the chirps, fluttering of wings, and twinkling songs that make up a landscape – counting all the birds they can find, while contributing to an effort that’s been ongoing for over 50 years.

Detecting changes in bird populations as they happen helps guide timely conservation action and ensures decisions are grounded in strong science. The data you collect is the primary source of long-term bird population trends across the continent.

As a volunteer you carry out your assigned roadside route(s) one day during the breeding season (May 28-July 7) and record all the birds you see or hear at each stop, continuing for as many years as you can participate. Routes consist of 50 stops spaced 0.8 km apart along a 39.4 km stretch of road. At each stop, you record the total number of individual bird species you hear or see within 0.4 km during a three-minute observation (known as a point count). These data are carefully analyzed yearly to provide information on bird population trends, relative abundance, and species composition at the local, regional, and continental scale.

We encourage people with strong bird ID skills to sign up!

How to participate:

1. Know your birds

Know how to identify by sight and sound, the expected bird species in your region from late May through early July.

3. See if there is a route in your region

View the routes

2. Read the requirements and expectations for running a breeding bird survey route

Survey Instructions

4. Contact your regional coordinator to sign up

Find your coordinator

Over 50 Years of Data

The North American Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) is the primary source of long-term, large-scale population data for over 400 breeding bird species. Conducted since 1966, this standardized roadside survey relies on volunteer participation, where you contribute directly as a skilled birder. It is coordinated in Canada by Environment and Climate Change Canada (Canadian Wildlife Service), in the United States by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center), and in Mexico by the National Commission for Knowledge and Use of Biodiversity (CONABIO). Birds Canada provides provincial coordination in Ontario.

The BBS data are freely available, and are used by scientists, wildlife and land managers, educators, students, and the general public to track bird population changes over time. By contributing to the BBS, your data is used by countless individuals and institutions to uncover population trends, prioritize habitat protection in important areas, identify knowledge gaps in survey methods for various species, assess the impact of emerging threats, and more. The State of Canada’s Birds Report (2024) was produced in part by using BBS data to provide an easily accessible and digestible foundation for understanding population trends to direct conservation action for our most at-risk species in Canada.