Migratory birds undertaking extraordinary journeys face multiple human-caused threats including habitat loss at stopover sites, hunting, light pollution and building collisions that cause significant individual welfare harm.
Migratory birds undertaking their seasonal journeys face welfare risks at every stage that compound across the flyway. Exhausted birds that land in unsuitable urban environments face starvation, predation and building collisions. Birds unable to find adequate food at key stopover sites are forced to continue migration with depleted fat reserves, reducing survival probability. The cumulative welfare costs of habitat loss, illegal trapping, urban infrastructure and climate change across flyway routes are vast and affect billions of individual birds annually. The alignment of conservation and welfare interests is particularly clear for migratory birds — protecting stopover habitats and reducing human-caused mortality at all stages of the flyway simultaneously serves individual welfare and population conservation.