Events
Anyone interested in birds is welcome to participate in our national events! You can participate anywhere in Finland, regardless of whether you are a member or not. By participating You can be involved in collecting valuable observational material from our birdlife.
Big Garden Birdwatch (Pihabongaus)
The Big Garden Birdwatch is Finland’s biggest birding event. Participants observe birds for one hour in their garden or another place of their choice and report the sightings to BirdLife Finland. Anyone can participate and it’s not a competition. The event takes place every year over the last weekend of January.
The purpose of the event is to inspire people to observe birds in their gardens and bird feeders and to familiarise them with the surrounding nature. At the same time, we gather important information on Finnish winter bird populations.
The Battle of Towers (Tornien taisto)
The Battle of Towers is a light-hearted contest, where teams of 3-8 people try to observe as many birds as possible from a tower for eight hours. Anyone can participate, and participation fees are used for bird protection work. The Battle of Towers is held every year in early May.
Birdwatching at Home (Bongaa päivä pihalla)
Birdwatching at Home was created out of the need for a coronavirus-safe spring event. The idea is to count how many birds you can identify in your neighbourhood, within a 100-metre sphere of your home. You can participate alone or with people from your household.
The observation time is from 5am to 5pm. You don’t have to observe the whole time – you can just make an occasional observation while gardening, for example. Most important is to enjoy nature and have a fun birding day.
Birding Week for Children (Lasten lintuviikko)
Birding Week for Children is a birdwatching event for families, daycare centres, schools and other child groups. The purpose of the event is to get to know birding and birds by seeking signs of their nesting.
We encourage all children and adults to take a birding trip together, in any place of their choice. In this event, you don’t have to identify bird species – you’re just invited to investigate their behaviour during nesting. Birding Week for Children has been organised since 2004 and thousands of adults and children take part in it every year.
Nest Box Birding (Pönttöbongaus)
In Nest Box Birding, you’re invited to observe the birds nesting in your nearby nest boxes and to report your sightings to BirdLife Finland. The event is meant for anyone interested in birds and its not a competition. The reported observations give valuable information on nesting birds.
Nest Box Birding has been organised since 2013. Every year about 5000 people participate in it and report observations of about 30 000 nest boxes.
EuroBirdwatch
EuroBirdwatch is held every year during the first weekend of October. The event covers the whole of Europe as well as Central Asia, and tens of thousands of people participate in it in public events or on their own. The most important goal of the event is to spark interest in migratory birds and their protection. Migrating birds don’t care about national borders, which reflects the importance of international cooperation in bird protection.
BirdLife Finland encourages you to take a birding trip and save the weekend’s observations in the Tiira bird observation database (www.tiira.fi). The observations from single countries are reported further for an overview of whole Europe.