Galatee Films / Mathieu Simonet Nearly 20% of all bird species migrate. Zoom In

Flying hot off the press

06-04-2010

BirdLife News Round-up: March 2010

Walking at a fast pace, without a single stop, it would take me 78 days to tramp the 9,000 km from South Africa back to the UK.

It, therefore, never ceases to utterly amaze me that birds cover these sorts of distances twice every year. And it's not just a few odd-balls - nearly 20% of all bird species migrate. That's billions of birds hurrying northwards right now.

This monthly news round-up seems like a timely reminder that migratory birds face a wide range of threats, and that BirdLife Partners around the globe are working together to provide safer flyways for them...

In March we helped to launch: a quiz to raise funds for migratory bird conservation in West Africa (Do you know your birds?); this year's World Migratory Bird Day (World Migratory Bird Day focuses on globally threatened migratory birds), and; the new World's Rarest Birds publication (The World's Rarest Birds through the lens).

In the East Asia-Pacific Flyway we heard some very encouraging news following the launch of International Action Plans for migratory waterbirds. One action plan highlighted a 10% increase in just one year for Endangered Black-faced Spoonbill Platalea minor following monitoring work coordinated by the Hong Kong Bird Watching Society (BirdLife Partner / Black-faced Spoonbill numbers up again as Action Plans are launched).

Another migratory species with a new action plan is the Spoon-billed Sandpiper Eurynorhynchus pygmeus. Last month we reported how the Bird Conservation Society of Thailand (BirdLife Partner) have been successfully working with local people to protect the most important non-breeding site for this Critically Endangered bird (Thai groups urges Ramsar designation for Spoon-billed Sandpiper site).

We also reported great news for the Critically Endangered Siberian Crane Grus leucogeranus thanks to an international effort by China, Iran, Kazakhstan and Russia, four countries along the bird's migratory routes. A new collaborative project will use a 'flyway approach' to conserve the remaining 3,000-3,500 cranes and 7 million hectares of wetlands (Hope for Siberian Crane).

In the African-Eurasian flyway, DOF, NABU and Vogelbescherming Nederland (BirdLife Partners in Denmark, Germany and The Netherlands respectively) joined forces to fight for the conservation of the Wadden Sea - a site important for millions of migratory birds (BirdLife Partners call to save the Wadden Sea). At the same time Partners from across Africa were meeting in Botswana to discuss a wide range of issues including migratory bird conservation, Important Bird Areas, vulture declines and much more (BirdLife: Champions for birds and people in Africa).

On the other side of the Atlantic, in the Americas Flyway, we reported how a new report by Audubon (BirdLife in the US) shows that climate change threatens hundreds of species of migratory birds ('State of the birds 2010' highlights threats to migrants). Whilst in the face of this mounting threat, it was good to read about collaborative work involving the Sociedad Ornitológica Puertorriqueña (SOPI, BirdLife in Puerto Rico) and the BirdLife Caribbean Program which helped to designate the Caribbean's first Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve.

Finally, it was fantastic to hear how BirdLife work in Barbados is changing an old culture of hunting migratory shorebirds (Saving waterbirds in Barbados). We're managing abandoned shooting swamps as shorebird refuges, but urgently need help to secure more sites whilst their leases are available. If you'd like to provide a safer journey for migratory birds, please support our work clicking here now...