How to watch birds responsibly

During the 20th century, miners would carry caged canaries underground with them. The birds were so sensitive to carbon monoxide that if they succumbed, it would serve as an early warning for the miners that they needed to get out. Birds are ‘sentinel species’. Vulnerable to environmental changes, shifts in their behaviour can indicate when a threat is getting worse. With climate change, the alarm is sounding louder and louder.

One of the most significant ways that climate change is affecting birds can be seen in their migration patterns. Many bird species will travel to other regions to feed and to breed, sometimes flying epic distances, across entire continents, oceans, or deserts. Those undertaking these perilous journeys need stopping places along the way where they can safely rest and find food to fuel them the rest of the way. And when they eventually arrive at their destination, often weak and exhausted, they need shelter and sustenance to recover. These places of sanctuary are disappearing.

Other birds are departing earlier, but the trouble with getting an early start is that when they reach their destination and start breeding, a changing climate can mean they are out of sync with natural processes there. Warm spring weather can cause vegetation to bloom and insects to begin their life cycles earlier too, reducing the amount of food available for newly hatched chicks. Birds help to control pest numbers and pollinate plants, and serve as prey for other animals. Declining birthrates, or declines in chicks surviving into adulthood, will have a significantly disruptive effect on ecosystems.

Other migratory birds are either changing their routes, making it harder for bird watchers to find them in their usual places, or they are simply not migrating at all. However, staying put leaves them at the mercy of unexpectedly harsh winters that many may not survive. Those that do make the journey, whether earlier or later, or by a different route, face greater challenges along the way, from increasingly common storms and droughts to sea level rise, which reduces the amount of habitat available. All of which are linked to climate change.

What you can do:
Choose a responsible tour operator when you are booking your bird watching holiday; they will have the welfare of birds at the heart of the trip.

If you live on a migration route, or in an area that birds migrate to in winter, put out high-fat, high-energy food for birds from autumn through to spring. Place one or two feeders around, not too close to windows, and ideally close to a tree or bush where birds can find safety if needed. Obviously if your garden is used by lots of cats, don’t do anything to attract birds.

Climate change will have profound effects on wildlife and ecosystems. Unfortunately, while birds are beautiful singers, they can’t give voice to their right to exist. But we can do it for them. Campaign, write to politicians, protest, and raise awareness. The movement to fight climate change has taken flight.

In Kerala, India, the Kadalundi mudflats on the south-west coast make fertile foraging territory for migrant shorebirds. Yet this vital expanse is shrinking, as sandbanks grow, making it harder for birds to feed. Additionally, mangroves are proliferating, which provides cover for predators.

Sathyan Meppayur is a hugely experienced birding guide in India, and works with our partner Kalypso Adventures to show their groups around key destinations such as Kerala, the Western Ghats, and northern India. “There are several aspects killing the habitat. Development is part of it, for example when they built a bridge near the mouth of the estuary. Then the mudflats drastically changed. If you look at a map you can see at a glance what has happened. Many species depend on these mudflats, including terns.”

“Most birds in India are now under threat from things like climate change and land reclamation and urbanisation, the same threats they face in other countries,” says Sathyan. “The government here is aware of the problem, and the forestry department does a lot for conservation, but there is also a need for development and the two do not always go hand in hand. We know that people come to India because they are interested in nature, in biodiversity, in wildlife. But many people here are just focused on survival. Sadly, they do not have the time or money to spend on protecting nature.”

All over the world, the habitats that birds depend on are becoming degraded or disappearing altogether. Rising sea levels, desertification, agriculture, and development are all culprits. In the Sahel region of Africa, the transition zone between the dry Saharan north of the continent and the more humid south, land use is intensifying as populations grow, and graze more livestock. Rainfall is lower, due to the warming climate, and once fertile land is becoming desert. For birds making the journey from Europe to Africa or back the other way, exhaustion threatens, as their long-used resting places become unsuitable.

As habitats shrink, migratory birds naturally come into competition over food and breeding grounds with resident species. Weakened by flying for long distances, they are at a disadvantage, and over a few years this will again have severe knock-on effects on population sizes.

What you can do:
Perhaps the single most important element of conservation is protecting and restoring existing habitat, something that many of our responsible bird watching holidays do well. Birds don’t need to be taught how to feed and breed; so long as they have the habitat, they can be left to get on with it.

If you know of places local to you that birds depend on, and that are under threat, get involved with campaigns to protect them. If you have a garden, even a tiny plot of land, you can plant trees and bushes that birds can use. And when you’re on holiday, learn about bird conservation efforts in the place you’re going to. Often there will be a visitor centre offering information, or perhaps a way to financially support the organisation.

Avian flu, which has a high death toll among both captive and wild bird populations, and can also spread to humans, has reached the Antarctic region for the first time. Many species there are found nowhere else in the world, and it’s thought they may never have been exposed to a flu virus in the past. The effects on breeding populations are likely to be catastrophic. Especially for penguins, whose vast colonies cluster closely together. Parts of South Georgia are already closed to tourists because of the virus, and if the situation worsens then further restrictions may be imposed.

The avian flu is nothing new. It’s been around since at least the 19th century. But the outbreak that began in the early 2020s has been particularly devastating, and is thought to be the largest ever worldwide, killing millions of birds. Around 80 UK bird species, including most breeding seabirds have tested positive for avian flu. Populations of great skuas, gannets, guillemots, kittiwakes, and herring gulls, are among those to have been decimated. Some colonies have lost up to 60 percent of their birds, and recovery can take a very long time, as seabirds take a few years to reach breeding age, and typically only rear one or two chicks in a year.

What you can do
Sadly there’s very little that can be done for birds afflicted with avian flu. In captive populations the policy is usually to cull them, to minimise the risk of infection spreading. If you see dead or ill wild birds, never touch them, but instead report them to the correct authorities.

The British TV presenter and wildlife campaigner Chris Packham is not someone who is easily intimidated. His efforts to combat wildlife crime through the UK courts have seen him face many unpleasant threats, including having dead crows left hanging on his gate. Yet he, and his organisation Wild Justice, persevere. One of their initiatives is Hen Harrier Fest, a festival to raise awareness of the plight of this bird of prey. Hen harrier numbers are in critical decline in the UK, and around 60 percent of those that ‘go missing’ do so near grouse moors.

Birds of prey in the UK are in conflict with gamekeepers and their wealthy employers, because their presence is a risk to profits from shooting birds such as grouse and pheasants. These majestic creatures are regularly shot, trapped, and poisoned, their nests destroyed – illegal behaviour that is very hard to effectively prosecute. It’s difficult to detect wildlife crimes in remote rural areas is difficult if the birds aren’t tagged, and even if they are, it’s rare for the culprits to be found.

The argument goes that birds of prey are a threat to countryside jobs and a traditional sport. But realistically, they don’t put that much of a dent in profits, and shooting plump pheasants as they fly terrified overhead isn’t much of a sport, either. What’s actually happening is that the pleasure of a few very wealthy people is being put ahead of these beautiful birds’ right to exist, and the benefits of their presence to biodiversity.

For 20 days every April, Malta is the stage for an orgy of cruelty. In 2017, hunting turtle doves was outlawed after they were added to the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) ‘red list’ of species most at risk of extinction. But they remain a target for hunters’ guns, along with many other species, because the Maltese government has sidestepped the law by allowing for 5,000 quail to be shot in April.

What a surprise then, that only a tiny percentage of the birds shot out of the skies during the Malta bird slaughter are actually quail, and that many hunters have been observed actively aiming for turtle doves. The environmental organisation BirdLife Malta has estimated that over 7,000 birds per square kilometre are killed in Malta every year. As with birds of prey in the UK, it’s a disgusting crime against wildlife that benefits a privileged few and is enabled because ‘it’s part of traditional culture.’

What you can do
If you witness wildlife crime, always report it to the appropriate authorities. The more people who report these offences, the more people who raise a fuss, the greater the likelihood that the authorities will start taking wildlife crime seriously, and provide suitable funding to police it effectively.

Help end wildlife crime by supporting campaigning organisations such as Wild Justice and the League Against Cruel Sports.