State of the Netherlands’ Birds 2023, newly published

The English version of a yearly public report about how wintering and breeding bird populations are doing in the Netherlands. Thanks to 50 years of censuses and research by volunteers and professionals, Sovon, Dutch Centre for Field Ornithology, produces the trends of 199 breeding and 209 migratory and wintering bird species annually.

This 2023 edition focuses on some striking developments.

• Partly due to increasing drought in Southern Europe, southern bird species are increasingly managing to reach the country and are even starting to breed.
• On the other hand, highly pathogenic avian influenza has been haunting wild birds for years and has long-term effects on populations.
• Research on species such as the Northern Wheatear and Northern Lapwing shows the bottlenecks but also sheds light on the best protection measures.

The report, therefore, shows that birds remain important indicators of the state of our natural world.

You can download the report.

Authors: Albert de Jong (editor-in-chief), Chris van Turnhout, Ruud Foppen, Marcel Wortel, Caroline van Oostveen (final editing)