A beginner's bird-observation checklist and field-notes template

The short answer

Pick one place, stay for a fixed time, and write down every bird you can identify, including the common ones. Keep your distance and leave nests alone. A plain list with a time, a place and honest counts is more useful than a photograph of one rare bird.

Before you go

• Choose a spot you can return to. A park, a stretch of river or your own garden works well. Repeat visits teach you more than a single trip somewhere new.
• Decide how long you will stay. Thirty to sixty minutes is enough for a first session.
• Bring something to write with. A notebook or a phone note is fine. Binoculars help but are not essential at the start.
• Check the local rules. Some reserves restrict access to nesting areas or ban audio playback.

During the session

1. Note the start time, place and weather.
2. Listen first. Many birds are heard long before they are seen.
3. Describe before you name. Size compared with a sparrow, pigeon or crow; shape; colour patches; how it moves; where it feeds.
4. Count, or estimate honestly. eBird asks for exact counts where possible, a best estimate otherwise. Mark a species as present without a count only when you could not count it.
5. Record everything you identified, not just the birds you wanted. A complete list tells researchers something about the birds you did not find.
6. Write “unidentified” when unsure. “Small brown bird, streaked breast” is honest data. A wrong name is not.
7. Note the end time.

Ethics in the field

The American Birding Association’s code of ethics asks birders to:

• Avoid stressing birds or putting them at risk. Take particular care near nests, colonies, roosts, display sites and feeding areas.
• Use recordings and other audio lures sparingly, especially in busy birding spots and for rare or threatened species.
• Approach, photograph and record with restraint. If a bird changes what it is doing because of you, you are too close.
• Stay on trails and minimise damage to habitat.
• Ask permission before entering private land, and follow site rules.
• Report sightings honestly and share them openly, unless sharing would put birds at risk.

Fitting your notes to eBird

You can turn your notes into an eBird checklist, which researchers can then use. eBird’s main rules:

• One checklist covers one date and one location.
• Report only live, wild birds you saw or heard yourself. Leave out captive birds, dead birds, and birds seen only in photos or video taken by someone else.
• Start a new checklist when you change location, habitat or birding style, or after roughly an hour standing in one spot or roughly a mile of walking.
• Keep stationary counts under about three hours and travelling counts under about five miles.

Watching birds on a camera or in a video is a good way to learn, but those sightings do not belong on an eBird checklist.

Field-notes template

Copy this into a notebook or a note on your phone:

Date:              Start time:        End time:
Location (be specific):
Habitat:           Weather:
Style:  stationary / walking (distance: ____)
Did I record every species I identified?  yes / no

Species (or description)       Count    Notes (behaviour, sex/age, sound)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.
2.
3.

Unidentified birds (describe):

Behaviour worth remembering:

Questions to look up later:

Using this guide with the catalogue

Browse the Birds subject on this site. Each item has a note on what to watch for: try watching one, then look for the same behaviour on your next walk.