Delaware county birders joined thousands of people across the world for the Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC), February 14-17, 2025! This year, a total of 80 bird species were reported in Delco. BCDC hosted several field trips during the timeframe, and birders spent hours surveying favorite hotspots with various habitats to look for waterfowl, gulls, raptors, owls, and winter songbirds. Notable GBBC finds include: Canvasback, Lesser Scaup, Common Goldeneye, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Common Raven, Purple Finch, and Rusty Blackbird.
The GBBC is a phenomenal community science initiative. Over four days each February, a half-million birdwatchers submit about 300,000 eBird checklists from 200 countries. More than 7,700 avian species – two-thirds of all known birds in the world – are documented during the GBBC timeframe. Individuals, clubs, schools and community groups flock to the GBBC as a means to discover, learn, and connect over birds.
Participants use eBird or Merlin to count birds in their backyard, favorite park, national wildlife refuge, or anywhere. Birds are everywhere, and everyone can count them, spending as little as 15 minutes to watch and report sightings. The GBBC website hosts a world map with live-time submissions.
Each year in mid-February, the Birding Club of Delaware County (BCDC) joins birders across the globe for this worldwide community conservation project. Whether you count one bird or hundreds, participating is easy and fun for all ages. Check-out the cumulative county species list below.
Pennsylvania tallied 138 species for the 2025 GBBC, with 7,006 complete eBird checklists. Delco birders showed strong – Bob Suter was the top ebirder in the state, reporting 70 species; Deborah Hansen was third with 62 species. Counties in the southeast region led in the number of species, championing strong community-science efforts. (GBBC stats reflect eBird data through 2/21/25, 10:00 am; results subject to change with future submissions).
- Lancaster (100 species)
- Chester (98)
- Berks (95)
- Philadelphia (94)
- Bucks (92)
- Montgomery (91)
- Allegheny (84)
- Northampton (81)
- Delaware (80)
- York (78)
Thank you to everyone who participated in the Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC), counting birds for conservation and community! We hope you’ll join us again next year.
GBBC beginnings: Launched in 1998 by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and National Audubon Society, the Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) was the first online community-science project to collect data about wild birds and display results in near real time. Birds Canada joined in 2009 to support participation in Canada. In 2013, the GBBC went global when they integrated eBird, the world’s largest wildlife database dedicated solely to birds. Participation has soared ever since, involving hundreds of thousands of people from 200 countries. The Great Backyard Bird Count brings the world together to watch, learn about, count, and celebrate birds!