Bird counting 2025: Surprising numbers and the future of our feathered friends!

Bird counting 2025: Surprising numbers and the future of our feathered friends!

In January 2025, the popular campaign “Hour of Winter Birds” took place in Austria, in which over 27,000 people observed and counted the bird population in their gardens. This initiative, launched by birdlife Austria , has proven to be extremely successful. This year, impressive 650,000 birds were counted, with the coal tits stuck out as the most common guest on the feed houses. Their striking yellow belly plumage and the black head made them the star of the count. The house sparrow and the field sparrow landed in places second and three, better known than sparrows. Surprisingly, the high number of mountain finches, which normally hibernate in Scandinavia, was all the way, but this year all came to Austria to enjoy the extensive food.

bird protection in sight

Despite these positive observations, there are also worrying developments. The Grünling in particular is affected by an illness and suffers from a significant decline in his population. An analysis from recent years shows that the number of birds in the gardens of the Austrians has decreased: in 2008, an average of 48 birds per garden were spotted, today there are only 31. However, this is not only due to the total number of birds, but also because of the climatic conditions that influence the habitats of the birds. A mild winter with sufficient food in the forest pulls many birds there so that they come less into the gardens.

In order to make it easier to survive birds in the cold months, it is recommended to install essential feed dispensers in gardens or on balconies. How exactly one can build such "winter snack bars" for birds yourself shows a guide to the NABU . The NABU expert Julian Heiermann also offers tips every month and answers questions about nature conservation about the house and garden. This not only strengthens the observation of the feathered friends for pleasure, but also the contribution to the protection and preservation of the bird population.