1.9 million garden birds counted in annual count; Great tit most spotted for 1st time
Participants in the annual garden bird count recorded a massive 1.89 million birds this year, the Dutch Bird Protection Society reported on Monday. For the first time, the great tit was the most frequently spotted bird.
A record number of 136,903 people participated in the annual bird count, recording and submitting the birds they spotted over the weekend. The last figures were submitted at noon on Monday.
For years, the top three birds have been the house sparrow, the great tit, and the blue tit. This year, the great tit took first place with 273,142 sightings. The house sparrow dropped to second place with 257,870 sightings. The blue tit was still in third place with 197,544 sightings.
The shift in the top three positions is due to fewer house sparrows. The number of these little brown birds in the Netherlands has been declining since the 1980s. “The fact that the house sparrow is struggling has everything to do with how we design our gardens and public spaces,” Timo Roeke of the Dutch Bird Protection Society told ANP. “Lots of stone, few or exotic plants. A house sparrow can’t survive on that.”
The top 25 garden birds spotted in the Netherlands:
- Great Tit
- House Sparrow
- Blue Tit
- Blackbird
- Chaffinch
- Jackdaw
- Wood Pigeon
- Starling
- Magpie
- Robin
- Collared Dove
- Carrion Crow
- Dunnock
- Long-tailed Tit
- City Pigeon
- Ring-necked Parakeet
- Great Spotted Woodpecker
- Jay
- Mallard
- Wren
- Black-headed Gull
- Greenfinch
- Fieldfare
- Goldfinch
- Greylag Goose
