Ospreys undertake remarkable annual migrations from European breeding grounds to sub-Saharan Africa. The welfare challenges of this 5,000km journey inform targeted conservation efforts.
Migration represents an extreme physiological challenge — ospreys cross deserts and seas on fat reserves accumulated at breeding grounds, sometimes covering hundreds of kilometres without rest. Individual birds that become exhausted and land for rest may be killed by hunters or die from dehydration. The welfare implications of illegal persecution during migration are acute: individually tracked birds with years of conservation investment behind them are killed in moments. Juvenile birds, with no experience of migration routes, are most vulnerable to wrong-turn decisions and exhaustion. Conservation of migration corridors through diplomatic engagement and anti-persecution work directly reduces welfare harm to individual migrating birds.