Volunteer Opportunities

The Audubon Christmas Bird Count, a tradition first proposed by ornithologist Frank M. Chapman on Christmas Day 1900, is the nation's longest-running Community-Science bird project. Learn how you can get involved in the 2024 Christmas Bird Count and help researchers, conservation biologists, and other interested individuals to study the long-term health of bird populations across North America.

Oftentimes, people find an injured bird in need of treatment but are unable to bring it to a rehabilitation center themselves. Injured Bird Transporters are needed to travel to locations throughout the City and carry injured or orphaned birds to the Wild Bird Fund or another rehabilitation center. Transporters can determine, based on their schedule and location, whether to answer a request sent to the Injured Bird Transporters team. This is a year-round volunteer opportunity. The time commitment varies and is dependent on the transporter’s own location and the pickup location for the bird.

If interested, please email Senior Manager of Community Science & Collision Reduction Katherine Chen at kchen@nycbirdalliance.org for more information on how to get involved. 

Feathered Friends is an afterschool program created by NYC Bird Alliance board member Christian Cooper. Together with AmPark Neighborhood School in the Bronx, NYC Bird Alliance volunteers take 4th and 5th grade students to Van Cortlandt Park for weekly hour-long bird outings. The kids get to enjoy time outside and learn about the natural world! Volunteers will meet at AmPark Neighborhood School one day a week from May to the first week of June.

If you would like to volunteer, please contact Michele Gennaoui at mgenn@att.net.

Public Festival volunteers engage the public at NYC Bird Alliance festivals, primarily held on Saturdays and Sundays across New York City. Volunteers should be able to communicate comfortably with festival participants about conservation and wild birds. Contact Public Programs Manager Tasha Naula at tnaula@nycbirdalliance.org with any questions.

Interested in volunteering? Please fill out our quick and easy form to indicate your availability and we will be in touch when opportunities arise!

Governors Island volunteers engage the public at NYC Bird Alliance's seasonal environmental center on Governors Island. Volunteers are needed during our open season from May-October, Saturdays-Sundays. Volunteers should be able to communicate comfortably with Island visitors about NYC birds and conservation. Before applying, please read more about our Governors Island programs. Contact Senior Advocacy Associate Jesse McLaughlin at jmclaughlin@nycbirdalliance.org with any questions.

Interested in volunteering? Please fill out our quick and easy form to indicate your availability and we will be in touch when opportunities arise!

New Yorkers find injured and baby birds year-round but are unsure of how to help. Injured Bird Response Team volunteers answer injured bird inquiries sent to NYC Bird Alliance via phone or email, and -- if needed -- put out alerts to our Injured Bird Transport Team to take the bird to a rehabilitation center. This is a completely remote, year-round position.

Signups are currently closed. Please check back in March 2025 to learn how you can get involved or subscribe to our eGret newsletter to receive monthly email notifications about all of our volunteer opportunities.

Did you know that up to a quarter million birds die from collisions with New York City's buildings each year as they migrate through our area in the spring and fall? Volunteers help NYC Bird Alliance study the causes of these collisions and ways to prevent them by monitoring select street routes located throughout the five boroughs early in the morning for dead and injured birds.

Signups for fall 2024 are now closed. Please check back in March 2025 to learn how you can get involved in the spring or subscribe to our eGret newsletter to receive monthly email notifications about all of our volunteer opportunities.

Horseshoe crab monitoring is a fun and easy volunteer activity, and an important way to contribute to scientific research and bird protection. Volunteers gather on beaches in Jamaica Bay in Queens or Brooklyn on 12 nights in May and June to count, measure, and tag Atlantic horseshoe crabs, the eggs of which are a critical food source for migrating shorebirds like the Red Knot.

Monitoring for 2024 has concluded. Please check back in April 2025 or subscribe to our eGret newsletter to receive monthly email notifications about all of our volunteer opportunities.