site.btaEnvironmentalists: Dramatic Decline in Bird Numbers on Farmland Continues

Bird populations on farmland continue to decline at the fastest rate of any species, and are down by 37% compared to 2005, according to a monitoring of widespread bird species carried out for the 19th year in a row. It was organized by the Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds (BSPB) as part of the National Biodiversity Monitoring System, the BSPB said on Wednesday.

The analysis is based on 245 sites across the country which were counted in at least three years between 2005 and 2022. At 122, the count sites were at a nine-year high in 2022.

Assessing the status of 80 bird species based on the 2022 monitoring, the BSPB found that 26% of them declined, 7 percentage points more than in 2021; 19% increased; and 18% showed stable trends.

The decline was worst for the barn swallow, the common house martin, the calandra lark, the quail and the house sparrow. Insectivorous bird species are declining at a faster rate than grain-eaters.

The main causes of the decline in bird populations include the ploughing of grasslands, the removal of field boundaries, and pesticide use.

The BSPB will present the findings at an online event on October 27. They were published in a report on the state of widespread birds in Bulgaria in 2005-2022. 

The monitoring was carried out within a project for implementation of the common bird species monitoring scheme as part of the National Biodiversity Monitoring System. The project has a duration of three years (2020-2022). It is funded by the Enterprise for Management of Environmental Protection Activities (EMEPA) and is supported by the Executive Environment Agency.