Migratory birds face welfare threats at multiple points along their journeys. Understanding these threats helps target conservation and welfare protection most effectively.
Migratory birds experience welfare threats that are distributed across thousands of kilometres and multiple countries — a governance challenge that mirrors the ecological complexity of migration itself. Building and vehicle collisions cause acute trauma and death to hundreds of millions of individuals annually. The suffering of birds that strike buildings and are injured but not killed — found at building bases struggling with head injuries, broken wings, or internal trauma — represents individual welfare harm at an enormous cumulative scale. Light pollution causes disorientation and exhaustion that leaves migrants vulnerable to predation and collision. Each threat can be addressed: bird-safe building design, lights-out programs during migration, and lead-free ammunition requirements each provide welfare protection at scale.