Birdingplaces

What Birdingplaces does

Birdingplaces is a Dutch-registered non-profit online platform that lets birdwatchers worldwide find, share and describe birdwatching areas through an interactive map. The core product is a free web application built on Mapbox with mobile-responsive design so users can access maps and follow set routes on their phone while in the field; each birding area includes a detailed description, mapped routes, viewpoints, hides, parking and facilities, and a user-contributed species list. The platform is operated by a small team of roughly ten volunteers led by founder Chris van der Heijden, with a wider network of country and state editors in 30+ countries, and is available in 22+ languages. As of mid-March 2026 the platform hosted 10,000+ described birding areas after launching in January 2020. Revenue is generated through voluntary user donations (preset tiers of €5–€100 plus custom amounts), a main-sponsorship relationship with optics brand Leica (jointly running promotions that reward area submissions with binoculars), and merchandise sales through a Spreadshirt webshop; there is no pricing charged to end users, no paid tier, no app-store distribution, no disclosed external funding rounds, and no parent organization. The primary customer segments are hobbyist birders, nature photographers, and conservation-minded nature lovers, with secondary usage by conservation NGOs and birding tourism operators.

Name

Birdingplaces

Legal name

Birdingplaces

Website

https://birdingplaces.eu

Company type

Private

Founded year

2019

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Birdingplaces is a free, non-profit online platform that lets birdwatchers worldwide discover, describe and share birding areas through an interactive Mapbox-based map, available in 22+ languages and supported by donations, a Leica sponsorship and merchandise sales.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Personnel, Others

Revenue model

1. User Donations: Free platform funded primarily through donations from birders, nature photographers, and nature lovers who value the resource.
2. Sponsorship (Leica): Main sponsor Leica supports the birding community and helps realize a free website. Sponsorship includes joint promotional giveaways.
3. Merchandise Sales: Webshop sells T-shirts and other items with bird designs. Proceeds support Birdingplaces operations.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Birdingplaces is a non-profit online platform where birdwatchers worldwide can discover, share, and describe birdwatching areas through interactive maps, searchable species lists, and country-specific guides. The service is offered free to users and is funded by donations, corporate sponsorship, and a small merchandise webshop powered by Spreadshirt.

Product overview

Birdingplaces operates as a single unified platform for birdwatchers, consisting of the core Birdingplaces website for discovering and sharing birding locations, supplemented by the Birders League gamification module and a Birdingplaces Webshop for merchandise. The core platform enables users to find and add birding areas on an interactive map, find bird species, access news, and save favorites. The mobile map feature extends functionality to on-location use. The platform is free for all users, supported by donations and the webshop.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Birdingplaces Platform Free, multilingual online platform for hobbyist birdwatchers that provides an interactive map of birdwatching areas, searchable directories of areas and species, country-specific landing pages, and community-edited area descriptions maintained by volunteer country editors.
• Birdingplaces Webshop Spreadshirt-powered online merchandise store selling Birdingplaces-branded apparel and accessories to birdwatchers and supporters, with proceeds helping to fund the non-profit platform.

Quantifiable outcome

• 10,000 birdwatching areas described in detail worldwide as of mid-March 2026
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered main sponsor, core and minor.

• Leicamain sponsorGTM or Marketing PartnerLeica is the main sponsor of Birdingplaces. They support the birding community and help make the free website possible. Together they organize promotional giveaways where users who add birding areas can win Leica binoculars (Trinovid, Noctivid models). Leica's high-quality optics are ideal for birdwatching, aligning the brand with the birding community.
• Mapbox CommunitycoreTechnology or IntegrationMaps on Birdingplaces are built with support of Mapbox Community. The interactive mapping functionality is essential to the platform's core value proposition of showing birding areas with detailed routes and points of interest.
• BirdLife InternationalminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerBirdingplaces encourages users to support BirdLife International or become members/donors of national BirdLife partners. The platform aims to contribute to bird protection by connecting more people to birdwatching.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• BirdLife International: Global partnership of conservation organizations (over 120 national partners). Already a partner of Birdingplaces; overlapping audience and conservation mission, and competes for conservation-related donor attention and brand association.
• iNaturalist: Joint initiative of the California Academy of Sciences and National Geographic. A broader nature observation platform that overlaps with Birdingplaces in user-generated nature-location data but covers all species, not just birds, and operates at much larger scale with institutional backing.
• National Audubon Society: Major US-based bird conservation organization with birding guides, mobile app, magazine, and local chapter network. Overlaps with Birdingplaces in serving birders looking for places to bird, with deeper North American coverage and far larger institutional resources.

Regional players

• Birdguides: UK-based birding news, sightings, and location information service, with subscription model. Comparable in serving active birders with location and sighting data, primarily in the UK and Western Palearctic.
• Surfbirds: Long-running international birding community with news, trip reports, and ID resources. Comparable audience and birding content focus, though primarily content rather than structured location guides.
• Ornitho: Swiss-based bird sighting portal run by the Swiss Ornithological Institute, with national and regional country variants across Europe. Directly comparable crowdsourced birding data and location-based use cases, especially across French, German, and Italian-speaking Europe.

Direct peers

• eBird: Run by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, eBird is the dominant global bird sighting database with millions of users. It is a direct peer in serving birders with location-based content and crowdsourced data, though it focuses on sighting records rather than area visit guides.
• Merlin Bird ID: Cornell Lab's free bird identification app with audio and photo ID, used by the same birder audience. It is a direct peer in tools-for-birders category and the most-downloaded native app competitor, complementing eBird with on-the-go ID.
• Observation.org: European nature observation platform (formerly waarneming.nl/waarnemingen.be) covering all species with crowdsourced records and location-based data. Directly comparable in European geography and community-driven nature content model.

Emerging players

• BirdNET: Cornell Lab and Chemnitz University of Technology's AI-powered bird sound identification app/tool. Adjacent to Birdingplaces' value proposition (helping birders in the field) but focused on acoustic ID rather than location guides.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/birdingplaces
• Instagraminstagram.com/birdingplaces
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/birdingplaces

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Birdingplaces