Every year, billions of birds migrate long distances with the changing of seasons — according to BirdLife Africa, 40 to 50 percent of avian species migrating to and from Africa are in decline.BirdLife Africa’s Kariuki Ndang’ang’a says climate change and infrastructure collision stand as three of the main reasons for the decline in migratory bird species.Because many birds rely on the same sites each year to make their transit, loss or degradation of even small areas can push an entire population towards collapse.
Each year in May, World Migratory Bird Day draws attention to the billions of birds that migrate long distances with the changing of the seasons, a living braid of ecosystems separated by thousands — even tens of thousands — of kilometers. According to Kariuki Ndang’ang’a, BirdLife International Africa’s regional director, about 2 billion birds fly along the African-Eurasian flyway every year: the populations of between 40 and 50 percent of these migratory bird species are in decline.
Ndang’ang’a told Mongabay added that the birds that travel furthest are at greatest risk. Some species, like Abdim’s stork (Ciconia abdimii), migrate relatively short distances within the continent, but palearctic migrants — those coming from distant landscapes in Europe or Asia — are particularly vulnerable, experiencing over a 30% decline in the past 30 years.
