National Bird Week 2021 runs from Monday, October 18 until Sunday, October 24 with the official backyard count on Thursday, October 21.

Interest in a 'bird day' was originally established by the Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union in the 1900s.

BirdLife Australia organises and promotes Bird Week with the goal of inspiring Australians to take action and get involved in bird conservation efforts.

Keen bird watchers can count the wildlife in their suburban backyard, local park, forest, beach or main street of town during a 20 minute period and send the collected stat to BirdLife Australia.

Birdwatching Guide to the Macleay

The Bird Count hopes to give more understanding about the birds where people live.

In 2020, the Aussie Backyard Bird Count saw record-breaking numbers of people heading to their backyards and local green spaces to count their local birds.

Together, residents counted more than 4.6 million birds across the nation, compared to 3.4 million in 2019.

The Aussie Backyard Bird Count is quickly becoming one of Australia's biggest citizen science events and it's an activity that attracts counters of all ages.

"Overall, Rainbow Lorikeets finished on top of the list throughout Australia (in 2020), with more than half a million counted," said BirdLife Australia's chief bird nerd, Sean Dooley.

"These colourful birds have finished on top every year since the Aussie Bird Count began in 2014."

The rise of the Rainbow Lorikeet highlights the changes in Aussie backyards over the past half century, with traditional European-style cottage gardens making way for native backyards which provide the perfect place for these nectar-loving birds to forage on the flowers of eucalypts, bottle-brushes and grevilleas to harvest nectar and pollen.

This shows the impact that planting natives can have.

Enthusiasts can also visit the Hastings Birdwatchers website at www.hastingsbirdwatchers.org.au