July 18, 2025

Count birds with us

Scientists from the Haribon Foundation need help counting birds in Philippine towns and cities. By keeping track of bird numbers in these areas, they can determine a number of things including: unique bird species in certain areas, rates of growth or decline of species, towns with important parks and green areas, and more.

To achieve this they’re asking the general public, everyday people, to join in the count. A free online orientation will be conducted tomorrow morning (Saturday, 1030am PH time), with the actual count taking place on the weekend of July 26 and 27.

Birdwatchers showing off their keen eye for distant birds - by Albert Balbutin — People of all ages can join in the count. And you don’t need binoculars! Birdwatching (and counting) is best at sunrise or before sunset, when birds are usually most active in the cities. Here birdwatchers are enjoying an outdoor excursion on the campus of the University of the Philippines, Diliman.

Counting birds is as easy as sitting at your window with a cup of coffee, a pen, and a pad. Haribon is also giving away a downloadable bird count list which show the different possible species in your area. If you can’t identify a species, there is an area on the list where you can still count the species with a short description of the bird.

20 of those species are depicted in my artwork above. Some of them I actually haven’t seen in person yet, but I hope to one day. More than 30 birds are in this art, see if you can count them all, or even better identify some of them!

Then join the count for Haribon’s Birds in the City campaign. And become a citizen scientist!

Register here: bit.ly/HARIBON2025BirdCount