Welcome to the British Trust for Ornithology | BTO

A world inspired by birds and informed by science.

Making birdwatching count

We empower 60,000 bird-enthusiasts to gather vital data, develop their skills and be part of a vibrant community.

Championing impartial science

We answer the most pressing questions about birds, through our thorough and impartial scientific research.

Sharing our bird knowledge

We communicate our knowledge and expertise to increase the value of birds and other wildlife for all.

Publication

Open access atlases

BTO has been working with volunteer-sourced atlas data for many decades. Now we are taking the bold step of making the full archive of distribution data freely available for anyone to use.

Publication

Associations between gamebird releases and general predators

Pheasants and Red-legged Partridges for commercial shoots may be boosting numbers of the avian predators and scavengers.

Tagged Lesser Black-backed Gull. Gary Clewley

Article

Bird tracking - a masterclass

Phil Atkinson explains the technology behind tracking.

Find a project

Use our project finder to find the project that matches your level of bird expertise and the time you have available.

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BirdTrack

BirdTrack is a free and convenient way of storing your bird records online. BirdTrack lets you keep up to date with what others are seeing, view the latest trends, and contribute your data to BTO science

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News

Become a member before summer ends

Join BTO before 23 September and enjoy 12 months of membership for the price of 9.

Monitoring breeding birds. David Tipling

News

Updated biodiversity indicators

BTO monitoring data has contributed to the updated set of 24 goverment Biodiversity Indicators for 2019.

Reed Warbler perching in reeds by Amy Lewis, BTO

Publication

Population growth rates affected by climatic variables

Research by BTO and Natural England, suggests that climate change has had a detectable impact on a sizeable proportion of England’s avifauna over the last 50 years.