Migratory birds face welfare challenges across entire flyway systems, requiring international cooperation to address threats at breeding grounds, stopover sites and wintering areas.
Migratory bird welfare spans entire hemispheres, making it one of the most complex welfare challenges. Individual birds undertaking migrations experience significant physiological stress including extreme energy expenditure, navigational challenges and exposure to novel hazards at each stopover. Population declines indicate that welfare threats are causing mortality at a scale that exceeds population replacement capacity. The welfare of individual migrating birds depends on the condition of multiple geographically distant habitats — breeding grounds, stopover sites and wintering areas — all of which must provide adequate resources for successful migration. International treaty frameworks protect migratory birds but enforcement is inconsistent.