The whinchat, which has become rare, and the tree sparrow currently have the beak in the lead in the vote for “Bird of the Year”.
According to the German Nature Conservation Union (Nabu), almost 118,000 people have voted online so far. Bird fans can still vote for their favorite among the five candidates until October 27th. Then Nabu and the Bavarian State Association for Bird Protection (LBV) want to announce the winner for the year 2023.
Since 1971, the two nature conservation associations have chosen a “Bird of the Year” to draw attention to the threat to bird life. This time there is a choice of whinchat, tree sparrow, red-backed shrike, moorhen or pied flycatcher. According to the LBV, each species represents an important nature conservation issue.
The tree sparrow needs more natural gardens, the endangered whinchat needs wild, well-structured meadows and the moorhen needs green banks. The red-backed shrike finds less food because of the loss of insects. The pied flycatcher is particularly suffering from the climate crisis.
