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EuroBirdwatch 2025: raising everyone’s eyes to the sky!

On 4-5 October 2025, more than 27.000 people took part in EuroBirdwatch 2025, the largest birdwatching event in Europe.

Across Europe and Central Asia, 34 national BirdLife partners hosted over 800 events, inviting participants to witness the spectacular autumn migration. Together, they observed over 2.8 million birds heading south to their wintering grounds. The data was collected, analysed, and published by BirdLife Slovakia.

A glimpse of the highlights 

While many bird lovers shared the same enthusiasm all across the Partnership, some countries flew to higher results than others. Here are a few highlights: 

Top 1 – Most events 

  1. MME/BirdLife Hungary (183)
  2. Vogelbescherming Nederland (79)
  3. HOS/BirdLife Greece (67)

Top 2 – Most participants 

  1. MME/BirdLife Hungary (10.891)
  2. HOS/BirdLife Greece (5.700)
  3. SVS/BirdLife Switzerland (2.181)

Top 3 – Most observed birds 

  1. BirdLife Finland (1.235.000)
  2. SOS/BirdLife Slovakia (422.408)
  3. BirdLife Sweden (277.641)

Top 4 – Most abundant bird species 

  1. Barnacle Goose (Branta leucopsis)
  2. Common Starling (Sturnus vulgaris)
  3. Common Chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs)

The events across Europe yielded sightings of many rare and elusive species. Among the ornithological highlights were: 

  • Pallas’s leaf warblers (Phylloscopus proregulus) in Estonia and Finland
  • Glossy ibis (Plegadis falcinellus) in Austria
  • Sooty shearwater (Ardenna grisea) in Belgium
  • Steppe Eagle (Aquila nipalensis) in Bulgaria
  • Pied Wheatear (Oenanthe pleschanka) and Red-flanked Bluetail (Tarsiger cyanurus) in Finland
  • 54 Lesser White-fronted Geese (Anser erythropus) in Lake Kerkini in Greece
  • Yellow-browed warbler (Phylloscopus inornatus) and Sociable Lapwing (Vanellus gregarius) in Hungary
  • Arctic tern (Sterna paradisaea) in Romania
  • Cetti’s warbler (Cettia cetti) in Serbia
  • Richard’s Pipit (Anthus richardi) in Netherlands
  • Yelkouan shearwater (Puffinus yelkouan) in Turkey

Find out which other species were spotted here. 

Picture by Yves Adams, Artic Tern (Sterna paradisaea)
Picture by Rollin Verlinde, Glossy Ibis (Plegadis falcinellus)

Picture by Societatea Ornitologica Romana 

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Stichting BirdLife Europe gratefully acknowledges financial support from the European Commission. All content and opinions expressed on these pages are solely those of Stichting BirdLife Europe. The European Commission is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains.
 
Birdlife Europe & Central Asia