Neighborhood Bird Project

Neighborhood Bird Project volunteers at Carkeek Park 

This project monitors bird species diversity in urban wildlife habitats (a.k.a. city parks and greenspaces) throughout the Seattle area thanks to the work of community scientists, and empowers community members to become advocates for wildlife habitat conservation.

How It Works

Volunteers conduct bird surveys at multiple points along a loop once a month in Seattle area parks, and then enter the data into an online database. Learn more about the survey protocol here.

The project’s name includes neighborhood because the intent is to enlist volunteers primarily from the neighborhood surrounding the park being surveyed. By regularly visiting their survey sites each month, volunteers are able to observe what birds use that space as the seasons change, as well as see how plants, bodies of water, and other wildlife change seasonally. In doing so, we hope volunteers develop personal connections to their survey routes and with their fellow surveyors, and become advocates for the wildlife and greenspaces in their communities.

Volunteer Resources

Frequently Asked Questions
Data Sheet
Training Packet
Extra Sheet
Protocol Training Video
Wetland Sheet (Magnuson Park only) 
Code of Conduct

Data Entry Website: www.nbpsurvey.org

NBP participants enter their data online to provide Seattle Audubon almost immediate access to the information they collected on their survey. This website not only hosts our data entry portal, but is an avenue to refresh yourself on our protocol, print off data sheets, and explore your survey history statistics and park-specific statistics. NBP data should be entered on a monthly basis shortly after your survey. Data enterers can refer to the data entry instructions or contact science@seattleaudubon.org with any questions.

Current project survey sites:

View Seattle Audubon – Neighborhood Bird Project in a larger map

Data Analysis

Restoration efforts on birds: Data from the Neighborhood Bird Project has been used to investigate the effectiveness of restoration work in four of Seattle’s urban parks – Carkeek Park, Discovery Park, Golden Gardens and Magnuson Park. The report that was produced from this analysis is entitled: Impacts of Habitat Restoration and the Status of Avian Communities in Seattle City Parks. download the report (1650 KB, pdf)

Rufous and Anna’s Hummingbird populations: University of Washington undergraduate, Lauren Rowe, analyzed Rufous and Anna’s Hummingbird presence data from the Neighborhood Bird Project, Christmas Bird Count, North American Breeding Bird Survey, and other datasets to learn about how these two species populations have changed in suburban and urban areas of Western Washington. This report was entitled: Rufous (Selasphorus rufus) and Anna’s Hummingbirds (Calypte anna) population changes in Western Washington. download the report (943 KB, pdf)

History

Read study based on NBP data

In 1994, Seattle Audubon launched the Neighborhood Bird Project in several King County habitat areas with the goals of assessing species diversity and empowering citizens to advocate for wildlife habitat in their communities’ land-use issues. The project began in Carkeek Park in Seattle, Shadow Lake Bog in Kent, and a private property in Woodinville. Additional sites were added as interest increased. The most recent additions to the project are Lincoln Park (January 2017) and Cheasty Greenspace (launching in 2021).

See a map of participating parks (link to Google Maps)