Test your bird counting skills

Practice your counting technique using the photo below to estimate how many birds are flying overhead.

How to count birds:

• For 10 or fewer birds, or in open spaces, it should be relatively easy to count exact numbers of birds - it may be useful to use binoculars if counting birds perched in a tree a distance away.

• For large flocks flying overhead fast or in areas with limited vision, binoculars may not be useful and you may have difficulty counting them individually.  Don’t give up! Instead, count a subgroup of 10 or 25 birds and see how large that group looks. Look at your count site and figure out how many groups of that size you can see. Multiply the number of groups by the size of your subgroup (for example, 5 groups x 10 birds/group = 50 birds). To get the best estimate, repeat this procedure several times. For very large flocks of birds (many hundreds or thousands) you may need to count a small subgroup (eg 10 birds), estimate the size of a subgroup (eg 100 birds) then use the apparent size of the larger subgroup to estimate the numbers in your flock.

Remember, a flock will fly very quickly so count the birds below within 30 seconds!    Click here for answer!

A flock of Carnaby's cockatoos flying over Yanchep National Park.

© Eleanor Adams