Migratory birds undertake extraordinary journeys along defined flyway routes, and the welfare of billions of individual birds during migration depends on the quality and availability of stopover habitats along these routes.
Migratory bird welfare is a global conservation challenge because the welfare of individual birds during migration depends on habitats and conditions across entire continents. A reed warbler that breeds in England and winters in West Africa relies on suitable stopover habitats in southern Europe and the Sahel, hunting-free corridors through Mediterranean countries, and insect emergence timing that matches its arrival. Welfare failures at any point in this chain reduce breeding success and survival. International cooperation on flyway protection, hunting regulation, and light pollution reduction are welfare interventions that benefit billions of individual birds annually.