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EuroBirdwatch 2024: birdwatchers unite for nature once again

Over the past weekend, over 24,000 bird enthusiasts joined EuroBirdwatch 2024, Europe's largest birdwatching event. Organised by 36 BirdLife Partners across Europe and Central Asia, nearly 1,000 events were held, giving participants a front-row seat to witness the migration of more than 3.5 million birds heading south for the winter. A preliminary report from 29 BirdLife Partners revealed impressive figures: 984 events, 24,614 participants, and over 3.57 million birds spotted. The data was collected, analysed, and published by BirdLife Slovakia.

A glimpse of the highlights 

While many bird lovers shared the same enthusiasm all across the Partnership, some countries flew to higher results than others. Here are a few highlights: 

Top 1 – Most events 

  1. MME/BirdLife Hungary (195)
  2. Vogelbescherming Nederland (156)
  3. Natuurpunt & Natagora Belgium (90)

Top 2 – Most participants 

  1. HOS/BirdLife Greece (5 500)
  2. MME/BirdLife Hungary (4 120)
  3. SVS/BirdLife Switzerland (2 963)

Top 3 – Most observed birds 

  1. BirdLife Finland (1 400 000)
  2. BirdLife Sweden (617 808)
  3. Vogelbescherming Nederland (383 269)

Top 4 – Most abundant bird species 

  1. Barnacle Goose (Branta leucopsis)
  2. Common Starling (Sturnus vulgaris)
  3. Common Chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs)

The events across Europe yielded sightings of many rare and elusive species. Among the ornithological highlights were: 

  • Yellow-browed Warbler (Phylloscopus inornatus)in Hungary and the Netherlands
  • Red-necked Phalarope (Phalaropus lobatus) in Poland
  • Parasitic Jaegers (Stercorarius parasiticus) in Romania
  • Levant sparrowhawk (Accipiter brevipes) in Serbia
  • Dusky Warbler (Phylloscopus fuscatus) in Sweden and Finland
  • Northern bald Ibis (Geronticus eremita) in Turkey
  • Ruddy Turnstone (Arenaria interpres) in Austria
  • Slavonian Grebes (Podiceps auritus) in Belarus
  • Little Buntings (Emberiza pusilla) in Belgium
  • Red-footed Falcons (Falco vespertinus) in Bulgaria and Belgium
  • Pied Wheatear (Oenanthe pleschanka) in Cyprus

Find out which other species were spotted here. 

Picture by Yves Adams, Common Starling (Sturnus vulgaris)
Picture by Lars Soerink, Barnacle Goose (Branta leucopsis)

Some special remarks

  • In Bosnia and Herzegovina, the planned trip to the Hutovo Blato Nature Park, was unfortunately cancelled because of catastrophic floods which hit the southern part of the country during the night between 4-5 October, which damaged the roads. This unfortunate event happening at the same time as Eurobirdwatch24 it’s a sad reminder of why it is so important to tackle the climate and biodiversity crisis through nature conservation and restoration.
  • In Georgia, a strong migration of hundreds of Red-veined Darters was spotted on Saturday 6 October.
  • In Latvia, during the cleaning of a birdhouse, four yellow-necked mice (Apodemus flavicollis) were found in it.
  • In Malta, a Black Stork with gunshot wounds was observed, a testament to how poaching in Malta is still a problem for large and rare birds.

Picture by Rollin Verlinde; Common Chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs).

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Stichting BirdLife Europe gratefully acknowledges financial support from the European Commission. All content and opinions expressed on these pages are solely those of Stichting BirdLife Europe. The European Commission is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains.
 
Birdlife Europe & Central Asia