Anyone who watches birds in gardens, parks and from balconies can increasingly discover species that actually live in forests.
“Our figures show that typical forest birds such as great spotted woodpeckers, jays and wood pigeons have conquered settlement areas in the last 20 years because they apparently find a good supply of food and safe conditions in gardens and parks,” said Nabu Federal Managing Director Leif Miller during the Presentation of the results of the hands-on counting campaign “Hour of the Garden Birds”.
Insect-eating species that breed in buildings, such as house martins, barn swallows and black redstarts, have become increasingly rare in populated areas, said Miller. He cited the death of insects and a lack of nesting opportunities as possible reasons for this. Anyone who wants to help the affected bird species can best do this by creating natural gardens or nesting aids on the building, said Nabu bird protection expert Martin Rümmler.
According to Nabu, more than 58,000 people across Germany took part in the bird count from May 9th to 12th in cooperation with the Bavarian State Association for Bird Protection and reported more than 1.2 million animals. As in many years before, the house sparrow was seen most frequently, followed by the blackbird and great tit. However, due to the warmer than average spring, migratory birds such as the chiffchaff were reported significantly more frequently than in the previous year. The wren was also seen more frequently than last year.