An hour in the garden counting your birds

The health of the nation’s environment will be explored as the New Zealand Garden Bird survey returns on June 29.

The survey is run by Manaaki Whenua — Landcare Research which says it helps provide a "backyard barometer" about the health of the environment.

Researchers at Manaaki Whenua have been able to use supercomputers to distil information from bird counts gathered by New Zealanders from more than 45,000 garden surveys since 2013.

People can take part by spending one hour between June 29 and July 7 to count the birds they can see from one location.

You can sit inside near a window in the kitchen or living room, or at a desk near a window in the classroom and watch birds through the window. Or you can sit outside on the veranda or at a garden table.

Bird identification resources and a form to submit the final count will be available at gardenbirdsurvey.nz.