John Carey BirdLife's Spring Alive campaign invites young children from all European countries to observe the arrivals of four migratory species to Europe, of which one of them is the Common Cuckoo Zoom In | Hi-Res

BirdLife’s European birdwatching campaign a big success

27-06-2008

The Spring Alive 2008 online campaign finished on a high this week. Since February, children from 30 European countries have watched the arrival of four popular migratory species, and entered their observations on the project website. Altogether BirdLife International – organizer of the campaign - has received over 50,000 observations. The country with the most observations was Italy with over 15,000 sightings from events and school programmes organised by LIPU (BirdLife in Italy). This was closely followed by observations from children in Ireland, Poland, Russia and Belarus.

Young participants observed the arrivals of White Stork Ciconia ciconia, Common Cuckoo Cuculus canorus, Common Swift Apus apus and Barn Swallow Hirundo rustica back to Europe. The first arrivals were again very early. White Storks were spotted in February in central European countries like Poland, Germany and Slovakia – locations where they normally arrive at the beginning of March.

Nevertheless, Spring Alive data showed that the average arrival date was several days later than previous years. In Ireland, Common Cuckoos arrived 5 days later and Barn Swallows 3 days later, whilst in Poland White Storks arrived 7 days later and in Russia 10 days later.

"The cause of late arrivals may be weather conditions – this year spring arrived slowly, and after a warm start of the year, a colder period stopped birds from further migration" —Joanna Kalinowska, Spring Alive coordinator

The cause of late arrivals may be weather conditions – this year spring arrived slowly, and after a warm start of the year, a colder period stopped birds from further migration. “The results from the Spring Alive Campaign clearly demonstrate these small changes”, said Joanna Kalinowska, Spring Alive coordinator. “On average arrivals were later. However, in the longer-term it appears that birds are returning back to Europe earlier”.

One of the Spring Alive goals is to track the changes in arrival dates over many years. Thanks to the help of European children, BirdLife International is increasing our understanding of climate change and migratory birds. “Observing the weather conditions during one year is one argument in the discussion about the arrival of migratory birds to Europe, but climate changes over many years are much more interesting to witness. Thanks to Spring Alive we can see how these things are connected and how they influence birds” commented Kalinowska.

Overall, the European BirdLife Partners managed to encourage around 25,000 Europeans to share the beauty and fascination of bird migration. For the 2008 season, the Spring Alive campaign received the generous support of the Mitsubishi Corporation Fund for Europe and Africa.