30% fewer migratory birds arrive in Spain due to climate change

Every year there are a series of animals that move to other places that are more suitable for them, where they can feed in the best possible way either in the summer or winter months. However, As global mean temperature increases, their migration patterns changeSo there are certain species that are stopping migrating. One type of them are migratory birds, such as geese or bustards that arrive in Spain in autumn.

Why? The main cause seems to be climate change. And is that, by having everything they need in their natural habitat, little by little they stop wasting energy to migrate.

The last census of migratory aquatic species, that is, those that settle in wetlands, carried out in 2016, showed a total of 73.689 specimens of 53 species that spend the winter only in Castilla y León. They may seem like a lot, but from the Ministry of Development and Environment they emphasize that it is the lowest result since the monitoring.

In the rest of the country, the situation is not much better: if an average of 110.000 copies arrived between 2006 and 2011, now around 75.000 arrive since 2013.

If we take into account that migrations are motivated by the availability of food, in addition to the existence of milder winters, migratory animals are losing their urgent need to go to other places due to climate change. Since the sixties the Spanish Society of Ornithology (SEO) has been observing how some species have changed or are changing their migratory pattern with the sole purpose of having food available when the breeding season ends.

Thus, as the years go by, unfortunately it will be more and more difficult to see such beautiful birds as spoonbills, red ducks or white-faced goose.