Migratory Bird Welfare During Long-Distance Migration

Long-distance bird migration involves extreme physiological demands and specific threats that require conservation action to protect individual and population welfare.

Key Facts

Some migratory birds travel over 10,000 kilometres each way between breeding and wintering grounds.
Bar-tailed godwits complete non-stop transoceanic flights of over 11,000 kilometres in a single journey.
Migratory birds undergo extreme physiological changes including organ size reduction and fuel accumulation.
Stopover habitat loss forces longer non-stop flights or inadequate rest periods that reduce survival.
Light pollution disorients nocturnal migrants, causing collision mortality and wasted energy.
Hunting during migration is legal in many countries along migration routes causing significant mortality.
Climate change is altering migration timing in ways that mismatch with food availability at key stopover sites.

Welfare Considerations

Migratory birds face welfare challenges concentrated into two seasonal journeys that are among the most physiologically extreme events in the animal kingdom. The welfare of individual migrants is shaped by the quality of stopover habitat, the amount of light pollution encountered at night, and the safety of migration corridors from hunting. Mass mortality events at lit structures and communication towers kill millions of individual birds annually in distress-free deaths compared to hunting wounding rates that leave survivors injured. Conservation of stopover habitat, light reduction at key migration periods, and hunting restriction along migration routes are the most impactful welfare-protective actions available to human communities along bird flyways.

What You Can Do

Reduce outdoor lighting during spring and autumn migration seasons to prevent disorientation mortality.
Support habitat conservation organisations protecting critical stopover sites along major migration flyways.
Advocate for hunting restrictions during peak migration periods to reduce wounding and mortality.
Report large-scale bird mortality events at lit structures to relevant wildlife authorities.
Donate to BirdLife International and partner organisations protecting migratory bird welfare globally.