Climatic change and the conservation of migratory birds in Europe: identifying effects and conservation priorities

Birds are one of the best groups of animals for monitoring the effects of climate change. They are day-time active, conspicuous, easy to identify, and are popular with many groups of people. In many parts of Europe, their distributions and numbers, as well as the timing of their migrations and breeding seasons, have been well monitored for decades. Migratory birds are likely to be more vulnerable than non-migrants because they can be influenced by conditions in three different geographic locations: their breeding grounds, their wintering areas, and their migration routes. Individual birds also experience “carry-over effects,” such as when conditions experienced in wintering areas influence subsequent breeding success, or when conditions experienced on the breeding grounds influence subsequent over-winter survival. Furthermore, field evidence indicates that large numbers of migrants are killed by storms encountered when they are migrating. Climatologists predict that storms and other extreme events are likely to increase in frequency in the years ahead. Therefore we can expect that migrants will suffer greater storm-induced losses, which could cause noticeable reductions in populations regardless of other climate changes.

This report summarises available information on climate change impacts on migratory birds and lists the main actions or responses that could reduce such impacts.