Stopover habitats along migration routes are critical pinch points where food and rest conditions determine the success of bird migrations and individual survival.
Stopover sites represent welfare bottlenecks in the lives of migratory birds. Birds arriving at depleted or degraded stopover sites face the impossible choice of continuing migration in poor condition or delaying in inadequate habitat. The suffering of birds that fail migration — dying of exhaustion over water or starving in inhospitable terrain — is real but largely invisible. Protecting and restoring stopover habitats has multiplicative welfare benefits by enabling successful migration rather than managing individual failure.