Wild Migratory Bird Habitat Loss

Migratory birds face threats at every stage of their annual journeys as critical stopover habitats are degraded or destroyed, creating welfare crises for billions of individual birds.

Key Facts

North American bird populations have declined by nearly 3 billion birds since 1970 - a 29% reduction
Migratory birds depend on chains of stopover habitats - losing any link can strand exhausted birds without food
Coastal wetlands, which millions of shorebirds depend on, have declined over 35% in the last 30 years
Migratory birds double or triple their body weight with fat stores before migration, requiring abundant food resources
Climate change is causing mismatches between bird arrival timing and insect emergence at stopover sites
Light pollution disorients migrants, causing them to circle lit buildings until they collapse from exhaustion

Welfare Considerations

Individual migratory birds at degraded or lost stopover habitats face welfare crises that are difficult to observe but profoundly real. Birds arriving at former wetlands now converted to agriculture find no food at a moment of maximum nutritional need. Exhausted migrants that cannot refuel cannot complete their journeys and starve or are predated. Light pollution disorients birds that circle lit towers and buildings for hours until they collide or collapse. These welfare impacts are experienced by billions of individual birds annually across migration routes that span continents.

What You Can Do

Reduce light pollution by turning off unnecessary lights during spring and fall migration seasons
Plant native trees and shrubs that provide insects and berries as migration fuel
Support wetland conservation organizations protecting coastal and interior stopover habitats
Participate in citizen science migration monitoring programs like eBird
Advocate for dark-sky ordinances and bird-safe building design in your community
Donate to organizations protecting critical migration stopover habitats from development