Step outside to the countryside, breathe fresh air, and join forces with citizen science. This triple aim of bird day, organized by SEO/BirdLife, takes place on October 1 and 2 under the banner “Enjoy and get to know the birds that surround you.” Guided walks, kids’ workshops, talks, bird-watching hotspots, and more await participants. Bird-watching events welcome everyone at more than fifty locations across Spain.
In this fresh annual celebration focused on enjoying and understanding birds and nature, the organization highlights insights from two key publications that chart the state of Spain’s avifauna: the III Bird Atlas during the Breeding Season and The Red Book of the Birds of Spain.
The Atlas provides crucial information for understanding the topic: distribution, trends, and populations of 450 species detected in Spain in spring. The outlook is sobering: more than half of the species assessed show declines, and about 90 face varying levels of threat.
The publication confirms eight unique Spanish endemics on a global scale and ten more endemics on a European scale, with five considered endangered at the European level and one, the Moorish coot, listed as critically endangered in Spain and Europe.
Danger of extinction
This endemism spans worldwide but remains concentrated in the Balearic and Canary archipelagos, within Spain. Endemic species include the Balearic Warbler (Sylvia balearica), the Canary Chiffchaff (Phylloscopus canariensis), the Rabid pigeon (Columba junoniae), the Turquoise Dove (Columba bollii), the Balearic Shearwater (Puffinus mauretanicus), the Gran Canaria blue finch (Fringilla polatzeki), the Tenerife blue finch (Fringilla teydea), and the Canary Stonechat (Saxicola decotiae).
At the European level, endemics span diverse habitats, such as the ricoti lark found in Spain (Chersophilus duponti), the Houbar bustard (Chlamydotis undulata), the orange nightingale (Pycnonotus barbatus), the field wren (Cursorius cursor), the oriental sand partridge (Pterocles orientalis), the Canary Blue Tit (Cyanistes teneriffae), the Cape Swift (Apus caffer), the Moorish Swift (Apus affinis), the Barbary Warbler (Iduna opaca), and the Moorish coot as noted earlier.
All of this information appears in the cited online publications, which have become essential tools for bird conservation researchers, publishers, governments, and the general public.
Moorish grass. Shizhao
For its part, The Red Book of Birds of Spain indicates that 56% of the species evaluated in Spain face conservation challenges, and 90 are within IUCN threat categories.
Species most at risk include those categorized as Critically Endangered, such as the capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus), the swamp bunting (Emberiza schoeniclus), or the Balearic shearwater.
Other species are listed as Endangered, including the common quail (Coturnix), the harrier (Circus cyaneus), or the gray shrike (Lanius excubitor).
Inadequate protection of birds
The Red Book of the Birds of Spain describes ongoing under-protection of the country’s avifauna, citing a lack of adequate management plans and an urgent need to update the Spanish Endangered Species Catalogue and regional lists.
For example, only seven of the 22 species listed as Endangered in the national conservation strategy approved by law have a formal protection plan.
Climate change ranks among the top threats to birds for the first time, alongside pollution, habitat changes, and intensive farming practices.
Tenerife blue finch. Bartkauz
As SEO/BirdLife notes, Spain bears a major responsibility to safeguard endemic species, particularly those from the Canary archipelago such as the Gran Canaria blue finch or the Rabid pigeon.
It is also crucial in the European context to protect other species with larger, better-preserved populations, such as the ricoti lark, the Iberian sand partridge, or scavenging birds of prey.
Birds are a highly informative animal group, offering the best data for assessing the health of ecosystems. Through birds, researchers can track changes related to climate change and biodiversity loss.
List of events planned for Bird Day 2022: https://seo.org/diadelasaves22/
Bird Day 2022 events participation form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdXStYRBMIILXsQnMyaZCINA6K93_TMUpoOjxiu8o4q6BQ9yA/viewform
III Atlas of Birds in the Breeding Season in Spain: https://atlasaves.seo.org/
Red Book of Birds in Spain: https://www.miteco.gob.es/es/biodiversidad/temas/inventarios-nacionales/lrcompletoparaweb_tcm30-207942.pdf
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