Great Backyard Bird Count Summary: The First International GBBC: 2013 Results
By Dick Cannings, Marshall Iliff, Geoff LeBaron, and Zach Slavin - April 2013

In the first-ever global Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) this year, participants set all kinds of new records. During the count on February 15-18, 2013, participants reported birds from all 7 continents, including 111 countries and independent territories.

Bird watchers reported 4,004 species from about 180 bird families--39% of the world’s bird species and 78% of bird families. (Species total differs from the number on the GBBC home page because that page is no longer being updated.) It is truly remarkable that participants recorded such a high percentage of the world’s avian biodiversity within four days.
Participation continued to soar in the United States and Canada, where the Great Backyard Bird Count has been conducted since 1998.

Many countries new to the count also made impressive contributions, including India, Mexico, Costa Rica, Australia, Peru, the United Kingdom, and others.
We hope GBBC participants will unite again next year to see how many of the world’s 10,240 species can be found! For further information see: www.birdsource.org/gbbc/science-stories/2013summary