77% of agricultural birds have reduced their presence in Europe in the last decade

Crops, pastures and other open spaces are habitats that host emblematic bird species. New research by the European Bird Census Council, published in Conservation Biology and led by CREAF, the Catalan Institute of Ornithology (ICO) and the Forestry Technology Centre of Catalonia (CTFC), has analysed 43 bird species linked to these agricultural landscapes in all European countries and warns that 77% have reduced their presence in the last decade, a figure that is also related to the decline in their population. This can have serious consequences, because, among other things, these birds can contribute to the natural control of pests and insects, disperse seeds and, in general, act as indicators of the health of ecosystems. Among the most affected regions are the Iberian Peninsula, France and Italy, as well as several countries in central Europe such as Poland or the Czech Republic. To do this, the team has developed a new tool capable of generating bird distribution maps that can be updated very frequently, with the aim of guiding conservation and restoration policies.

The study has been the result of extraordinary collaborative work between different components of the scientific community, from field ornithologists to modelers, and with the participation of all ornithological organizations that monitor birds in European countries.

Some species that show a clear regression in the Iberian Peninsula are the shrike ( Burhinus oedicnemus ), “which is most likely suffering the effects of agricultural intensification”, explains Herrando. Two other species in decline are the senator shrike ( Lanius senator ) or the hispanic wheatear ( Oenanthe hispanica ), “in fact, the latter has suffered a general loss of probability of appearance throughout Europe, of 3.7% in just ten years”, highlights Guillem Pocull, CTFC researcher and one of the main authors. In contrast, there are some species that, although there is a general negative trend, have increased in specific points , such as the blue jay ( Coracias garrulus ), which despite the general scenario of loss shows significant improvements in some sectors of the northeast of the Iberian Peninsula, “this improvement may be explained, at least in part, thanks to the conservation efforts that have been made”, adds Herrando.

Although the causes of the decline have not been directly analyzed in this work, the team points out that it could be a combination of several factors. For example, the use of chemicals in intensive agriculture; rural abandonment , which causes forests to gain ground and displace birds linked to open spaces; torrential rains , which can damage nests and eggs; or the increase in temperature , which makes it difficult for some birds to maintain their populations in the Mediterranean area.

To create the maps, bird tracking data collected through the PECBMS ( Pan-European Common Bird Monitoring Scheme ) have been used. “As a result, they have a very high resolution on a European scale, of 10×10 km. This is like having a magnifying glass, because we can see how bird populations change on a very local scale,” highlights Pocull. Specifically, the research has analyzed changes between two five-year periods, 2013–2017 and 2018–2022.

The information from this study is key to guiding restoration and conservation measures, and also to knowing whether they are working or not. For example, thanks to the research, the IUCN has new information to assess the threat status of the black- backed shrike ( Lanius meridionalis ). The data indicate that this species, which is found only in the Iberian Peninsula and southern France, would be in a category close to threatened. “The information we have shows that not only has it not recovered in the last 10 years, but there are large areas where the species is losing presence significantly .”

Another case is the wood turtledove ( Streptopelia turtur ), which as this work shows had lost its presence between 2013 and 2022, but thanks to a moratorium on further hunting ruled by the European Union, it is known that it has experienced a recent improvement and today it can be hunted again, "with the methodology we have developed, we will be able to monitor its short-term evolution on a local scale , and alert if it decreases again and where", explains Pocull.

The study also involved CREAF and CSIC researchers Lluís Brotons, and Sara Fraixedas, a CREAF and ICO researcher. In addition, dozens of scientific institutions, monitoring entities and ornithological organizations from all over Europe participated, mainly coordinated by the European Bird Census Council (EBCC) through the PECBMS project. “We hope that these maps can contribute to the management, conservation and restoration of bird populations in Europe,” concludes Herrando.

Reference article: Herrando, S., Pocull, G., Fraixedas, S., Gamero, A., Martí, D., Solà, O., Villero, D., Keller, V., Voríšek, P., Klvanová, A., Gargallo, G., Ajder, V., Anton, M., Aunins, A., Balmer, D., Brambilla, M., Chodkiewicz, T., Chylarecki, P., Domșa, C.,... Brotons, L. (2026). Providing regular and frequent maps of losses and gains of farmland birds based on European monitoring data. Conservation Biology . https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.70268