Bird counter · Free · No sign-up
Bird Counter
A bird counter records how many birds of each species you see. This one keeps two numbers per species: how many are in view now, and the high count, meaning the most seen at one time. The high count is what checklists ask for, because it does not double-count a flock that keeps circling back.
Everything stays in this browser and works offline in the field.
No species yet. Add the first one you see and two numbers appear: in view, which you count up and down as the group in front of you changes, and high count, which keeps the largest that in view ever reached. The high count is the number that goes on the checklist.
Click a row to select it, then + and − change what is in view and 0 clears the group once it has moved on. Ctrl+Z undoes.
This holds a tally. It does not identify birds and it does not submit anything. It has no species list, no range or date filters, and no idea whether what you have typed is plausible where you are standing. Identification is yours, and the checklist is submitted wherever you normally submit it.
Every tally counter pointed at birds gives you a running total, and a running total is the one number a checklist does not want. This one records the high count instead.
A bird counter is a tally used during birdwatching to record how many individuals of each species were seen, normally as the highest number observed at one time rather than as a cumulative count of sightings.
- No sign-up
- Free to use
- Counts never leave your browser
- Works offline
- Unlimited counters
Key facts
| Detail | Answer |
|---|---|
| Price | Free, no sign-up |
| Counts | A row per species, added as you go |
| Numbers kept per species | In view now, and the high count for the session |
| Reported figure | The high count, the most seen at one time |
| Can the count go down? | Yes. In view falls as birds leave; the high count does not |
| Species per checklist | Up to 200 |
| Keys | + and − for the selected row, 0 to clear the group, Ctrl+Z to undo |
| Where counts are stored | This browser only, never a server |
| Works offline | Yes, once the page has loaded |
| Identifies birds | No. It holds a tally and nothing else |
| Submits to eBird | No. Copy checklist, then enter them yourself |
How to count birds on a walk
The counting is the easy half. Not counting the same bird twice is the half that needs a method.
Add the species the first time you see it
Type the name and it gets a row. Nothing is pre-loaded, so the checklist is only ever the birds you actually identified, in the order you met them.
Count what is in front of you, not what has been
Use plus and minus to make in view match the group you can see at this moment. It is a live figure, so bring it down when birds leave rather than letting it drift upward.
Let the high count look after the record
Each time in view reaches a new maximum, the high count takes it. You never set it by hand and it never falls, so the largest group of the session is captured whenever it happened.
Clear the group once it has gone
Press Clear, or 0, when the flock moves off. In view returns to zero and the high count stays. If the same species reappears, count the new group from zero and only a genuinely larger one will raise the record.
Add known extra individuals deliberately
If you can tell that the birds now are different from the birds earlier, count in view up to the combined figure. That is the clearly-different-individuals rule, and it is a judgement only you can make.
Copy the checklist before you close the tab
Copy checklist puts the species and their high counts on the clipboard, ready to type into wherever you submit. The count lives only in this browser.
Where a bird counter gets used
Anywhere the question is how many of each, and the birds will not hold still long enough to be sure.
Checklists on a morning walk
A row per species as you meet it, with the high count ready to type in at the end rather than reconstructed from memory over breakfast.
Garden and feeder watching
The case the high count was made for: the same regulars return all morning, so only the most at one time is meaningful.
Organised counts and bird races
A backyard count, a big day or a Christmas count, where species totals are compared across observers and a cumulative tally would not be comparable.
Point counts and transect surveys
A fixed station for a fixed time, where the protocol asks for one number per species and a clean reset between stations.
Migration and seawatching
Long sessions of birds passing in groups, where clearing between groups keeps each flock separate instead of blurring into one total.
Teaching field skills
Showing a group why the running total and the reported number differ, which the tally marks guide covers from the other direction.
Why a running total is the wrong number for birds
Here is the mistake that every general tally counter makes the moment it is pointed at birds, and it is not a small one. A tally counter gives you a cumulative sum: one tap, one bird, forever upward. Birds do not hold still for that. The same six starlings that lift off the wire, circle the field and settle again are six birds, but a tally counter that was tapped each time they came past reports twenty-four.
That is not a rounding error, it is a fourfold overcount, and it is why the number a tally counter produces is the one number the protocol tells you not to submit. eBird’s rule is to “report the highest number of individuals seen at one time during the observation period, as well as any clearly different individuals”. A running total cannot produce that figure, because it has thrown away the information needed to work it out.
| Cumulative tally counter | High count (this page) | |
|---|---|---|
| What a tap means | One more bird, permanently | One more bird currently in view |
| After the first pass of six | 6 | 6 in view, high count 6 |
| After four passes of the same six | 24 | 6 in view, high count 6 |
| If a seventh joins on the last pass | 31 | 7 in view, high count 7 |
| Number reported | 31, of which 24 are duplicates | 7, which is what was there |
| Is it submittable? | No | Yes |
The two numbers, and why both are on screen
Each species row carries in view and high count. In view is a live figure you drive with plus and minus as you count the group actually in front of you; it goes down as well as up, because birds leave. High count is the largest value in view has reached this session, and it only ever rises. When the flock moves on, Clear zeroes in view and leaves the high count exactly where it was.
That is the whole mechanism, and it is deliberately the same shape as the field practice it replaces: birders scan a group, arrive at a number, note it, and later replace it only if they see more at once. The counter just stops you having to remember which of the two numbers you were holding in your head.
The “clearly different individuals” exception
The rule does not stop at the highest simultaneous count, and the second half is the part most often dropped. eBird’s own worked example: if you see six female cardinals and three males, and later see six males together, you have had at least twelve different cardinals, even though you never saw twelve at one moment. The checklist should say twelve.
No extra control is needed for that here, because you drive in view directly rather than only tapping it upward. Count it to twelve when you know there were twelve distinguishable individuals, and the high count follows. The judgement stays where it belongs, with the person holding the binoculars, and the counter records the figure without arguing.
Being conservative, and false precision
Two further points from the same guidance are worth carrying onto the page, because a counter makes both easier to get wrong. Count in the moment rather than reconstructing the morning afterwards; a number written down while the birds are in front of you beats one recalled at lunch. And beware false precision: do not mix an exact count with an estimate for the same species on one checklist, because the result reads as exact when half of it is not. If you counted 40 gulls exactly and estimated 300 more, the honest entry is an estimate of the whole, not 340.
What this is not
It is not an identification aid, and nothing here narrows what you should have typed. It has no taxonomy, no regional checklist and no rarity flagging, so a misspelling or a bird that does not occur within a thousand miles will be accepted without comment. It does not connect to eBird, FeederWatch or any other project, and Copy checklist exists precisely because transferring the numbers is a manual step. Everything stays in this browser, which is what makes it work in a reserve with no signal, and also means clearing site data clears the count.
Which number each big bird count asks for
Most organised bird counts ask for the highest number of each species seen at one time, the figure each row here keeps as its high count. The Christmas Bird Count is the exception: a team counts every bird in its part of a circle across a whole day, and only its feeder watchers use the highest-at-once rule. The counts also differ on how long you watch and which birds you include, so the number on your screen is only right once you know which count it is for.
| Count | Run by | When | How long | The number to report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aussie Bird Count | BirdLife Australia | 19–25 October 2026 | 20 minutes per count, anywhere in Australia | The birds of each species seen in the 20 minutes; BirdLife’s page sets no peak-count rule, so the high count is the safe figure |
| Project FeederWatch | Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Birds Canada | A season starting 1 November | As long as you choose; you report the time you watched | “The highest number of each species seen simultaneously” |
| Christmas Bird Count | National Audubon Society | 14 December 2026 to 5 January 2027, one day per circle | The count day | Every bird your team finds in its part of a 15-mile (24 km) circle; feeder watchers inside the circle report the highest number at one time |
| Big Garden Birdwatch | RSPB | A weekend in late January (23–25 January in 2026); registration for 2027 opens 9 December | One hour | “The highest number of each species you see at any one time”, counting only birds that land |
| Great Backyard Bird Count | Cornell Lab, National Audubon Society and Birds Canada | 12–15 February 2027 | 15 minutes or more, on one or more of the four days | Entered as eBird checklists: the highest number seen at one time, plus any clearly different individuals |
Garden and feeder counts: the most at once, never the sum
The RSPB puts the rule in one example: “if you saw a group of eight Starlings but then towards the end of your hour you saw six together, record ‘8’ as your final Starling count.” Not fourteen, because the six may be birds from the eight. Project FeederWatch asks for the same figure for the same reason, and says plainly that it may undercount: the highest simultaneous count is the most you can be sure of, and everyone counting the same way is what makes the results comparable.
The RSPB adds a second rule the others do not: “Only include birds that land, not those flying over.” A skein of geese crossing the sky is real, and on an eBird checklist it counts, but it is not a Big Garden Birdwatch record. Leave it off that list, or keep it on a second checklist for wherever else you submit.
The Christmas Bird Count: a day’s census of a circle
The Christmas Bird Count works differently because its question is different. The goal, in the words of one circle’s organisers, “is to census every bird within a pre-defined, 15-mile diameter circle over a 24-hour period.” Each circle has a compiler who sets its one count day inside the 14 December to 5 January window, decides which team counts where, and collects and submits the circle’s results to Audubon. The circles began with 25 counts on Christmas Day 1900, proposed by the ornithologist Frank Chapman as a count in place of the Christmas bird hunt.
So a team walking its route adds up birds through the day, but only birds that are genuinely different. The flock of geese in the same field at nine and again at three is one flock. In this counter that is the “clearly different individuals” case: when a new group is plainly not one you have counted, such as a different flock on a lake you have only just reached, count in view up to the combined figure and the high count follows. A bird you might already have counted stays out.
Feeder watchers inside a circle follow the garden rule instead. The guide quoted above gives the example of two Blue Jays at a feeder: when one lands later, “do not add this ‘new’ Jay to your count because it may be one of the same Jays from earlier.” The number only rises when three or more land at the same time.
Keeping to the time limit
This counter does not time the session, so set a phone timer for the count’s period: 20 minutes for the Aussie Bird Count, an hour for the Big Garden Birdwatch, at least 15 minutes for the Great Backyard Bird Count. When it ends, use Copy checklist, submit, and start a New checklist for the next count, because a second count is a separate record, not a continuation. The RSPB accepts one birdwatch per person per location, so a second one that weekend needs a different place.
Sources: the RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch how-to guide (2025), its Big Garden Birdwatch page and FAQs; Project FeederWatch, Why only count the most birds seen at once?; Audubon, History of the Christmas Bird Count and its CBC compiler position description; the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania, Christmas Bird Count: Guide for Feeder Counting; Audubon, About the Great Backyard Bird Count; BirdLife Australia, Aussie Bird Count.
Online counter vs a clicker, an app, paper and a spreadsheet
Every counting method trades something away. This is what each one actually costs you.
| Feature | This online counter | Handheld clicker | Counter phone app | Pen and paper | Spreadsheet |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free | $5–$15 | Free with ads, or paid | Cost of paper | Subscription |
| Anything to install | No | Buy the device | App store download | No | Yes, or a web login |
| Several counts at once | Unlimited | One per device | Usually limited | Yes, messy | Yes |
| Fix a miscount | Undo and redo | Start over | Sometimes | Cross it out | Edit the cell |
| Counts by more than one | Any step size | One at a time | Sometimes | Manual maths | Yes |
| Below zero | Yes | No | Rarely | Yes | Yes |
| Keeps the count if you close it | Saves automatically | Until you reset the dial | Yes | If you keep the paper | Yes |
| Works with no signal | Yes, after first load | Yes | Yes | Yes | Often not |
| Keyboard and shortcuts | Full | None | None | None | Partial |
| Sends your counts anywhere | Never | Never | Often, for accounts and ads | Never | Yes, to the cloud |
Other counter types
The same counter, set up and explained for a specific job. Your counters are shared across all of them.
Work & field4
Counting that produces a record someone else relies on: stock, occupancy, lab work.
Inventory counter
A count sheet holding the book quantity beside the counted one, with the variance per line.
Open inventory counter →Knitting counter
Rows, pattern repeats and a shaping schedule that names the increase rows and then ends.
Open knitting counter →Differential counter
Eight keys for a manual white cell differential, nRBCs beside the total, an auto-stop and live percentages.
Open differential counter →People counter
In and out at a door, with live occupancy against a capacity and a fix for drift.
Open people counter →
All 72 counters, by category: Everyday (7) · Sport & scores (44) · Fitness & health (7) · Work & field (5) · Faith (9)
Frequently asked questions
What is a bird-watching counter?
A tally kept in the field to record how many birds of each species were seen. A mechanical one is a single clicker with no species at all, so the birder keeps the names on paper. This one gives each species its own row and records the high count, which is the figure checklists are normally built from.
How do I count birds without counting the same one twice?
Count what is in view at a single moment rather than tapping once per sighting. A bird that leaves and returns is already inside that figure, so it cannot be added again. That is why this page keeps a live in-view number you can bring down, instead of a total that only ever rises.
What number should I report when a flock keeps moving?
The highest number you saw at one time during the observation, plus any individuals you can tell were different. Four passes of the same six starlings is six, not twenty-four. The high count on each row is that figure, captured automatically as in view reaches each new maximum.
How does multi-species tracking work?
Every species you add gets its own row with its own in-view count, high count and keys, so nothing has to be selected before it can be adjusted by tapping. The total at the top is the sum of the high counts across all rows, which is the checklist total rather than a count of taps.
Can I add species during the walk?
Yes, and that is the expected way to use it. Nothing is pre-loaded: type a name and the row appears, in the order you actually met the birds. Adding a name that is already on the checklist selects the existing row instead of creating a duplicate.
How do I count a large or moving flock?
Count a manageable subset one by one, see how much of the group that block covers, and extrapolate across the whole. Then enter the estimate as the in-view figure. Do not mix an exact count and an estimate for the same species, because the result reads as precise when only half of it is.
Does it work without cell signal in the field?
Yes. It runs entirely in the browser and keeps working after the first load with no connection, which is the normal condition in a reserve or on a hillside. Nothing is sent anywhere, so there is nothing for a lost signal to interrupt.
Will my count save if I close the tab?
Yes. The checklist is written to this browser's local storage as you go and is still there when you come back on the same device and browser. It is not synced, so it will not appear on your phone if you counted on a laptop, and clearing site data removes it.
How is this different from eBird or Merlin?
Those identify birds and hold your records; this does neither. It has no taxonomy, no range maps and no rarity checks, and it submits nothing. It is the counter you use while the birds are in front of you, and Copy checklist hands the numbers over for you to enter wherever you keep them.
Which number do the big bird counts ask for?
Most ask for the highest number of each species seen at one time, which is the high count on each row: the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch, Project FeederWatch and the Great Backyard Bird Count through eBird. The Christmas Bird Count is the exception, a census of every bird in a 15-mile circle over one day, with only its feeder watchers using the highest-at-once rule.
Counting guides
Longer answers to the questions behind the counting.
- Birding
How to count a flock of birds
Blocks, tens, and why the number to report is the most seen at one time.
- Tallying
Tally marks explained
Groups of five, the five-bar gate, and why the convention has survived for centuries.
- Reference
Types of counters explained
Synchronous vs asynchronous, mod-N, ring and Johnson, industrial and PLC counters, plus mechanical and software counters.
- Haematology
How to do a manual differential count
Why the pattern matters, how many cells is enough, and the imprecision built into the method itself.
- Knitting
How to read knitting shaping instructions
Every 4th row, alt rows, at each end, AT THE SAME TIME — translated, with the rows they land on.