Have you ever dreamt of traveling the world to witness exotic birds in their natural habitats? Imagine spotting Torrent Ducks in the Peruvian Andes, Ivory Gulls in the Arctic, or Black Kites in the Australian outback, all without leaving the comfort of your home. This might sound like a fantastical dream, but it’s the reality for a growing community of enthusiasts engaging in Google Street View birding.
Google Street View, a feature within Google Maps, offers panoramic street-level views from around the globe. It’s an expansive digital atlas, encompassing over 10 million miles of roads and trails across more than 80 countries. While many initially used it to find their own homes virtually, a niche community has emerged, using this tool for a surprisingly engaging and rewarding hobby: birdwatching.
My own journey into Google Street View birding began with a simple curiosity. Like many, my first interaction with Street View involved trying to locate my house. While that initial search was unsuccessful, it sparked a different kind of exploration. Instead of closing the window, I wondered if it might be possible to spot birds within these virtual landscapes.
The nuances of Google Street View birding quickly became apparent. The world is teeming with birdlife, but within the Street View environment, stretches of scenery can seem devoid of any living creatures. Navigating roads virtually, clicking and dragging to pan the camera, becomes a patient hunt, hoping to glimpse a bird perched on a wire or fence post. Even when you do spot a bird, it often appears as a tiny, indistinct speck, challenging the limits of the Street View camera’s resolution. Adding to the challenge is the temporal aspect; each Street View frame is not just a few meters away geographically, but also seconds apart in time. A bird in flight in one frame might vanish in the next, having moved out of the camera’s view.
Despite these challenges, the occasional success is incredibly rewarding. My initial finds, dating back to 2013, included easily recognizable species like Laughing Gulls in Florida and a Great Egret in Texas. I documented these early discoveries on my blog. As Google expanded Street View with backpack-mounted cameras for pedestrian areas, even more exciting possibilities opened up. I uncovered incredible birding opportunities in locations like Midway Atoll and the Falkland Islands, and dedicated virtual trips to Mexico, Florida, and other diverse locations, all documented online.
Yet, for a long time, Google Street View birding felt like a solitary pursuit. This changed when I decided to bring the concept to Facebook.
In November, I created the “Google Street View Birding” Facebook group and shared a link in a larger birding meme group, hoping to attract some tech-savvy birders to join me in exploring Google Maps for avian life. The response was beyond my expectations.
Within weeks, over 750 birders had joined the group, collectively scrolling through countless miles of Street View imagery in search of birds. And they were finding them – in abundance. While my solo efforts had yielded only a few dozen of the most obvious species, the community quickly expanded this to over 580 different bird species, representing approximately 5% of all bird species known globally. The group became a vibrant hub, with members constantly sharing screenshots, links, and engaging in lively discussions about bird identifications.
The sheer scope of the group’s virtual searches and the collaborative effort in identifying birds from often grainy images has been truly remarkable. Together, we’ve identified over 30 gull species, including the stunning Ivory Gull in Nunavut. We’ve spotted Kelp Geese in the Falkland Islands and Laysan Ducks on Midway Atoll. Bald Eagles in Texas, and both California and Andean Condors have been virtually sighted. Remarkably, even smaller birds have been found, such as a Vermilion Flycatcher in the Galapagos and a Rufous Hummingbird in Alaska. Each discovery is shared with a screenshot and a Google Maps link, allowing other members to confirm or contribute to the identification process.
