Corncrakes migrate to sub-Saharan Africa and back each year, a journey that exposes them to illegal hunting, habitat loss, and exhaustion on migration staging areas.
Migrating corncrakes face acute welfare risks from illegal hunting and trapping along Mediterranean migration corridors. Individual birds caught in nets or shot experience acute trauma. The energetic demands of long-distance migration over thousands of kilometres make pre-migratory body condition critical: birds that reach the migration corridor undernourished face higher mortality risk. Welfare and conservation objectives align closely in corncrake migration: each bird that successfully completes migration in both directions and returns to breed contributes to a population under severe pressure. Protection of migration corridors and wintering habitat is as important as breeding season management.