This article is over three years old.
Birdlife Finland has once again highlighted the significance of its annual backyard bird count, an initiative that not only gathers valuable data on long-term population fluctuations but also reveals a consistent trend: the top three most common species remain steady from year to year.
Image: Asko Hauta-aho / Yle
Published on • Updated at
This weekend, Birdlife Finland proudly hosts the country’s largest ornithological event, known as Pihabongaus—a name that translates as “yard spotting.” This beloved tradition encourages individuals to report the birds they spot in their gardens or local areas within just one hour. It’s renowned as “Finland’s most popular nature event.”
As of Sunday evening, nearly 12,000 participants had submitted their backyard sightings from approximately 8,000 different locations. Consistent with previous winters, the standout species were the great tit, blue tit, and magpie, trailed closely by great spotted woodpeckers and bullfinches.
Regional distinctions in sightings paint a varied picture across the country. In Lapland, great tits, willow tits, and magpies took the lead. Conversely, in urban Helsinki, blackbirds emerged as the most common alongside great tits and blue tits. Notably, in the Åland Islands, bullfinches ranked highest, followed by great tits and blackbirds.
Recent years have seen sightings reported from more than 15,000 locations, with participation sometimes exceeding 25,000 observers, according to Birdlife. The organization is hopeful that the clear and relatively mild weather on Sunday might boost turnout, as sightings can continue to be submitted until February 3rd.
Valuable Insights for Science
Pihabongaus has been a fixture on the last weekend of January since its inception in 2006. Each year, the event yields reports of around 400,000 to 800,000 individual birds, typically spanning about 100 different species. While the most common species hold steady, variations among the numbers reflect shifts influenced by weather and food availability each winter.
Although Pihabongaus does not offer precise data on the exact number of common or abundant winter birds in Finland, it serves a vital role in monitoring population trends over the past 17 years. Many of the patterns observed during Pihabongaus echo findings from the winter bird census conducted by the Finnish Museum of Natural History.
According to Birdlife, this event is particularly beneficial for tracking changes among rare species that rely on garden feeding, such as the grey-headed woodpecker and house sparrows. Alarmingly, a 2020 publication by the Museum’s curator warned that climate change is affecting bird populations in Finland at an “astonishingly fast” pace.
For more details about this birdwatching event and information on submitting your sightings, please visit the Birdlife website, available in both Finnish and Swedish.