Hour of the winter birds

Salzburg surprise at major bird count

A find: A great tit foraging in winter.

(Bild: © Manfred R. Christian)

The Hour of Winter Birds campaign marked the end of an Austria-wide bird counting campaign. The great tit was the most frequently spotted bird nationwide. There was a surprise in Salzburg.

The country's largest participatory campaign mobilized 26,897 people throughout Austria to count birds in winter villages and towns together with the bird conservation organization BirdLife. 

As in the previous year, the great tit is again the most common winter bird in Austria this year, followed by the house sparrow and tree sparrow

Salzburg with a surprise
1,446 bird counters from Salzburg reported a total of 33,398 birds from more counting locations than ever before (1,142). The consistently high participation shows that the Hour of Winter Birds has established itself as a popular tradition for Salzburg's nature enthusiasts since the start of the campaign.

The house sparrow is number one in Salzburg.

(Bild: Michael Dvorak/Birdlife)

The race to the top of the podium was close: with 5,138 sightings, the house sparrow - the sparrow - won by a wafer-thin margin (twelve birds), relegating the great tit, last year's winner, to second place.

While the great tit was seen in nine out of ten Salzburg gardens as the most loyal feeder visitor, the house sparrow only fluttered into every second garden (but likes to appear in larger groups). As in the previous year, the blackbird was Salzburg's third most common winter bird - 3,144 individuals were found in 80 percent of gardens.

On average, 29 birds per garden were reported in this year's census, which is roughly the same number as last year. Since 2020, the number of birds per garden has remained stable across Austria at around 30 individuals.