In Spain, around 60 million birds die each year from human causes, mainly from collisions with power lines, illegal trapping, electrocution and being run over. The NGO SEO/Birdlife came to this estimate after collecting data from the Fauna Recovery Centers of all communities in a decade and later performing an extrapolation that takes into account more factors – as most bodies are rarely found. Not included are winged animals killed by natural causes (hard to count) or legally hunted animals, which account for about 15 million specimens per year. “The numbers are brutal and getting worse every year. If this continues, several species will become extinct in the coming years,” laments Nicolás López-Jiménez, one of the report’s authors.
The facility’s work analyzes for the first time the 272,655 records of bird entries in Fauna Recovery Centers (CRF) across the country between 2008 and 2018 — a number the state does not centralize — caused by legal and illegal human activities. Collisions with power lines appear to be the leading cause of admission to these centers, with 31% of the total, to which should be added 8% of electrocution, also associated with these lines. Illegal trapping of specimens (which includes nest ransacking and illegal captive wild specimen keeping) now accounts for more than 17% of revenue. Rollovers are the cause of 8% of fatalities, while wind turbine collisions fall short of 4%, a similar figure to those dying from poison and illegal gunshots (3%).
Why do birds so often run into these electrical cables? “Any obstacle in the air that is not clearly visible can cause birds to collide with it. The cables don’t look good in many circumstances, on foggy days, on a fast flight… It’s something that affects birds big and small,” says López-Jiménez, who is also in charge of species at the Conservation Agency. “The problem can be reduced by attaching devices such as beacons, colored spirals or reflective tape to the cables. Laying new cable lines should be avoided at all costs on large bird passages, especially near wet areas. And power lines can be buried in many places,” he adds.
Regarding the occurrence of wind turbines, the expert points out that although they are not a major cause of death, they are carrying more and more electrical cables with them. Stumbling against these windmills are high-flying birds that fly over the tops of mountains and have little maneuverability, as well as migratory species. “When a griffon vulture collides with a wind turbine, it usually splits its body in half, but smaller birds are dismembered and the carcass is nowhere to be found,” he says.
Regarding data by species with a certain protection type, eagle owls, short-toed eagles and golden eagles are particularly affected by electrocution. For the black-headed gull, the main cause is poisoning or poisoning. Wind turbines, for their part, pose the greatest non-natural threat to Griffon Vultures, and rollovers, mainly by agricultural machinery, are the main cause of the Montagu’s Harrier, which is SEO/Birdlife’s Bird of the Year. Add to that one factor: light pollution, which is the leading unnatural killer of another endangered species: the Mediterranean shearwater.
Information is the first tool against climate change. Subscribe to her.
subscribe to
Two species in danger of extinction appear in the report: the Iberian imperial eagle, for which the greatest threat is electrocution and shooting by poachers, and the red kite, which is severely affected by poisoning – from poisoned baits they are often illegal to dispose of foxes or wolves are placed – as well as electric shocks and collisions with wind turbines.
These almost 300,000 entries are the dead or injured birds found by individuals as well as by agents of the Civil Guard’s Seprona or regional forest and environmental agents. This is a small fraction of the total mortality, as usually no more than 10% of carcasses are found, and the figure is even lower for small birds.
mathematical modelling
Based on this data, the Conservation Agency performs mathematical modeling that takes into account the population sizes of the different species, their ranges, rates of disappearance of bodies in the natural environment, and individual detection rates. This gives the figure of around 60 million birds that are killed each year through unnatural causes.
An owl was found dead. Juan Manuel Jimenez
“The number of dead birds will increase because there are more power lines every year, which will increase the number of electrocutions and electrocutions, there are more and more roads and highways, which will increase the number of accidents,” says López-Jiménez. For this reason, she calls on the administrations to take an interest in this issue fundamental to the ecosystem, providing for measures such as requiring companies to develop methods to avoid endangering these species and to pursue more poisoning and clandestine shooting of birds .
Citizen participation is also important. “Anyone who finds an injured or dead bird on the ground should call 112, which will liaise with Seprona or regional conservation officers. It is important to report it even if it is not a protected species as it can be an indicator that something is happening in the ecosystem. If you don’t pick up an electrocuted crow, you don’t know that there may later be a protected bird electrocuted there,” he summarizes.
Follow CLIMATE AND ENVIRONMENT on Facebook and Twitteror sign up here to receive our weekly newsletter