In This Article

The Patch listing and Yard listing pages provide an easy way to aggregate your observations from the sites that you care about. Once you define your patch or yard, a summary of your birding in that area will appear on top of the page. Click on any of the totals (for life, year, or month) to see all the birds you've reported in your patch for that period. The summary pages will also show how your yard or patch compares to others in your region, and around the world!


Keeping Patch and Yard lists in eBird provides a fun way to share your sightings, start friendly competitions with other local birders, and encourages everyone to do repeated surveys of their local habitats.                                

                                           Rosy-patched Bushshrike

Rosy-patched Bushshrike by Marco Valentini/Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab (ML199392701)                                   

What is an eBird Patch?


An eBird Patch is a series of locations, generally referring to the same area, that can be aggregated and summarized as a single unit. A "patch" can be your local park, neighborhood walk, favorite lake or sewage plant, or refuge wildlife drive - and all your eBird checklists therein.


What makes a good patch?


A patch is meant to be a fairly small area that you bird regularly. Patches should be possible to thoroughly cover in a morning, or a few hours of birding by foot or car. These can include transects of up to 5 mile (8 km) long, or areas of up to about five square miles (12.9 square km).


A patch can consist of a single eBird location or a group of locations. We encourage patches that consist of multiple small locations. If your patch is large, use many precise personal locations for your bird recording, and then aggregate these to form the patch.


Patches should NOT cover: entire counties, multiple widely-separated hotspots, or exceptionally large areas.

How does an eBird Yard list differ from a Patch?

Your eBird Yard list is simply the Patch where you reside. "Yards" should be limited to the property you own or rent. See below about what birds are countable in your yard.


For example: your eBird Yard list might combine the locations of all checklists submitted from your front porch, back yard, driveway, kitchen window, etc.

What birds count for my patch or yard? 


Feel free to count any bird seen or heard from your yard or patch. Even if the bird is not actually in the patch, as long as you are within the patch when you detect that bird, it counts! Fly-over birds are also fair game.


Birds that you do not personally see or hear (e.g., a friend sees it in your yard, or you record it on a feeder cam) should NOT be counted. 

How do I create a patch or yard list?


Add a Patch to eBird


  1. From the My Patch Lists or My Yard Lists page, click the green "Add a Patch" or "Add a Yard" button.
  2. Give your new Patch or Yard a descriptive name
  3. In the "Locations" search bar, enter the name(s) of the location(s) you would like to be part of your Patch or Yard. Select locations from the drop-down to include them in your Patch or Yard summary.

    Note: If you can't find or remember a location you'd like to include, go to Manage My Locations to browse and even rename your existing locations to make them easier to find.

  4. As you select locations, they will be added to your "Currently in your Patch" or "Currently in your Yard" list. Remove locations from this list by clicking the blue trash can icon next to individual sites.
  5. When you are done selecting locations, click "Save Patch" or "Save Yard" to return to the summary page. 

Repeat this process to create as many patches as you like. 


If you create a new checklist location within your patch or yard at a later date, make sure you go back and "Edit" the patch to include the new site!


How do I edit or delete an existing patch or yard?

To edit an existing patch or yard, open My Patch Lists or My Yard Lists and click the box-and-pencil icon next to any patch in your list. 


To delete a patch or yard, click the trash can icon instead - careful, this cannot be undone!


Patch delete and edit icons


How many patches or yards can I have? 

You can have as many patch lists and yard lists as you want! For example if you keep a seasonal cottage away from your primary residence, you are encouraged to keep a Yard list for both homes. For patch lists, feel free to create one for your neighborhood walk, workplace, local park, Five Mile Radius circle, and more!


We recommend that you limit your patches to places that you visit on a regular basis.

eBird and Five Mile Radius (5MR) Patches


An eBird Patch is a great way to track your Five Mile Radius (5MR) lists. Follow the "Add A Patch" instructions above, selecting all personal locations or hotspots that fall within a 5 mile circular radius of your home or other location. Any time you visit those locations, your checklists will be added to your 5MR summary. It is helpful to give this patch a name that indicates it is a "5MR" patch.


Don't forget to regularly "Edit" your 5MR patch to include any new locations as you add checklists to your 5 mile circle!

Patch and Yard Privacy


eBird Patch and Yard lists are an easy way for eBirders to summarize and compare local lists. However, a few considerations are worth remembering:

  • The most recent eBird checklist submitted from a location in your Patch or Yard list will always be visible to others unless you hide the checklist from public output.
  • Only species on publicly visible checklists from your patch will count towards your Patch Total and Rank. Species on hidden checklists will appear on your patch species list (visible only to you). However, species on hidden checklists will not count towards your patch totals, and will not display in the summary statistics. 

The Patch Listing pages are a way for other eBirders to see what you have been seeing. Keep in mind that they are a bit more public, and may not be appropriate if you regularly bird areas with sensitive species or privacy issues.         

                                           Pectoral-patch Cisticola                                    

Fun Fact: There are only two recognized species with "Patch" in their common name; both are featured on this page!   


Pectoral-patch Cisticola by Ian Davies/Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab (ML33610171)