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Migratorybirds

Bird migration is one of the great wonders of the natural world. A huge variety of birds make the journey: the tiny Rufous Hummingbird migrates up and down the North American continent, while the Arctic Tern, BirdLife’s emblem, migrates from pole to pole. In fact, roughly one in five bird species migrate.

Birds know no borders

Migration is a huge feat of endurance requiring great strength and stamina. However, today birds face additional threats caused by human activity. Hungry, exhausted birds may arrive at a stopover site, only to find that it has been destroyed by farming or urbanisation. Every year, millions of birds are illegally killed by hunters, or collide with man-made structures such as powerlines. And climate change is causing habitats to shift or disappear.

Flyways

When travelling between their breeding and wintering grounds, birds don’t choose their paths at random. They follow set routes that include suitable habitats where they can stop to rest and refuel along the way. Many different species share broadly similar routes, which have been loosely split into eight major flyways – think of them as bird super-highways across the sky. BirdLife links together conservation organisations in countries along the length of the flyways, combining resources and coordinating action to protect birds on every step of their route. Our Flyways Programme focuses on protecting birds across all major global flyways.

Americas Flyway: three flyways that connect North America with Caribbean and Central and South America

African-Eurasian Flyway: three flyways that connect Europe and northern Asia with Mediterranean, Middle East, and Africa

Central Asian Flyway: connects northern Asia with southern Asia and Middle East

East Asian-Australasian Flyway: connects north-east Asia with south-east Asia, Australia and New Zealand.

Our network of over 2 million birders, scientists and local volunteers helps us to track, follow, analyse, conserve and understand every bird species in the world.

Select a flyway on our interactive tool and follow migrating birds to see
The Partnership in action.


How we protect birds everywhere they they fly, feed, rest and nest


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