Six years ago, a group of birdwatchers in Europe came up with the idea to create a non-profit, free international platform where birdwatchers could share and describe their favourite birding areas.
The idea didn't just come about out of nowhere. Only 10 years ago finding good and detailed information about birdwatching areas was hard to do in almost all countries. Yes, there were websites where you could find information. But often the info was fragmented, incomplete, or outdated. Websites like e-Bird were certainly handy, but provided hardly any information on how to visit an area. There was room for improvement!
In addition to describing interesting bird areas, the platform also wanted to contribute to the protection of birds by getting more people enthusiastic about birdwatching. Because the more people watch birds, the greater the support base for bird protection will be. Therefore, 'Enjoy and Protect!' was chosen as the slogan, and users are encouraged to support Birdlife International or a national Birdlife partner.
And so they set to work to realize the platform and called it Birdingplaces. The site was officially launched in January 2020. The basic principle was that every birder could add their own favourite birding area or local patch. Adding an area was made easy by a simple step-by-step template. Innovative was the way in which users could very easily create a detailed map of the area to accompany the description. On the map, you could mark a walking route, bird hide, viewpoint, parking lot, and other useful information. This allowed birders to design a beautiful personal page about their favourite birding area.
It seemed as if many birders had been waiting for a platform like Birdingplaces, because users started adding birding sites right from the start. Already hundreds of birding areas were described within the first few months.
Birdingplaces grew rapidly. First in Europe, but following requests from birders from other parts of the world, it became possible in 2022 to add areas worldwide. And that proved to be a good move. New users flocked in from Australia to Africa, and from America to Asia. By mid-March 2026, the incredible milestone of 10,000 described birdwatching areas worldwide was reached! All areas described in detail by local birders and containing a wealth of information for birdwatching.
Birdingplaces founder Chris van der Heijden: ‘I am incredibly proud that our community has been able to reach this milestone in six years. I know the amount of work that went into those 10,000 described areas was enormous. Therefore I would like to thank all our volunteer editors and everyone who has shared a birding area on Birdingplaces for their contribution. And I also want to thank the tens of thousands of birders from all over the world who have joined us. Together we have created a huge worldwide birdwatching community that shares the love for birds and nature. That is wonderful to see happen. I hope that Birdingplaces will continue to inspire many more new people to discover the joy of birdwatching in the future.’
- The team of Birdingplaces continues to to improve Birdingplaces every day. But they also need your help…
great if you support the Birdingplaces community!
- > Support Birdingplaces financially with a donation. ‘We can only keep the website running if we receive enough donations from our users. Thank you in advance!’ You can donate here.
- > Add a new birding area to Birdingplaces. Is your favourite birding area or local patch not listed yet? If you add an area before April 1, 2026, you can now win a pair of top binoculars from Birdinplaces sponsor Leica! To add an area click here.
- > Become a Country Editor or State Editor for Birdingplaces. You help as a volunteer to edit, update and review areas in your country or state and become part of the team of volunteers. Click here for more info.
- > Buy a bird T-shirt in our webshop. The proceeds benefit Birdingplaces. Go to our webshop here.
- > Spread the word, and get other people excited about Birdingplaces! Follow Birdingplaces or share the posts on Blue Sky and Instagram or Twitter.
New features
Over the past few years, Birdingplaces has added many new and useful features to enhance ease of use, such as:
- > The 100 best birding areas in every country
- > Find a Bird
- > Create your own page with favorite birding areas
- > Handy feedback tools
- > Share your bird photos
#EnjoyAndProtect!
