Stadsvogels

THE number of smaller birds across Hampshire represents a “worrying trend” according to the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. According to the charity, there are almost 30 per cent fewer blackbirds in the county, which follows the national crash in numbers of the house sparrow and starling. Across the south east, blackbirds are down 22 per cent, and robins dropped 18 per cent, while sightings of the tiny wren went down 14 per cent in the region.

There has been a steep decline in bird populations in Balochistan (one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Its provincial capital and largest city is Quetta), said conservator of forests and wildlife Balochistan Sharifuddin on Wednesday. The official confirmed that there has been a decline in the overall population of sparrows among other birds in Quetta and other parts of Balochistan. The revelation comes just a day after bird lovers marked the World Sparrow Day on Tuesday (March 20). “Even crow, which was a common bird, has decreased in number,” he remarked.

Readers are being asked to regularly clean out their bird baths and feeders – to help stop the decline of chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs),and greenfinch (Chloris chloris) numbers in the Falkirk district. In recent years, the RSPB has been worried about the decline of both species in its annual Big Garden Birdwatch poll. Last year’s results were no different. In 2016, chaffinch was fifth in the poll in Falkirk, with an average of 2.3 birds being spotted in 47.6 per cent of gardens.

Während im Rahmen der Stunde der Wintervögel des NABU in Niedersachsen mehr Vögel als im Vorjahr gezählt wurden, ist das Ergebnis im Landkreis Uelzen nicht ganz so rosig. „Wir haben bei drei der fünf bisher am häufigsten gezählten Vogelarten Rückgänge zu verzeichnen“, berichtet der NABU-Kreisvorsitzende Karl-Heinz Köhler. So sind die Zahlen beim Haussperling Passer domesticus– gemeinhin als Spatz bekannt – im Vergleich zu 2017 rückläufig. 2018 wurden noch 1014 Haussperlinge gezählt – ein Rückgang von 18 Prozent im Vergleich zum Vorjahr.

Die Zeiten, in denen man im Herbst Tausende Stare (Sturnus vulgaris) in großen Wolken fliegen sah, scheinen vorbei. Eine Stunde vor Sonnenuntergang sammeln sich die Stare an ihrem Schlafplatz, am liebsten in der Nähe von Schilf, und fliegen rasant durch die Lüfte. Mit ihren Flugmanövern zeigen sie, dass sie mehrere Formationen und „Gestalten“ am abendlichen Himmel mühelos beherrschen. Der Beobachter staunt, dass sie nicht versehentlich zusammenstoßen. In ganz Deutschland sind in den vergangenen zwei Jahren circa eine Million Brutpaare verlorengegangen.

The number of turtle dove (Streptopelia turtur) breeding pairs in the UK has dropped to a record low of 14,000, making an 84 percent drop since 1995."The turtle dove is the fastest declining bird in the country [England] and within ten years we could lose this icon of the British countryside completely,” said a spokesman for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. Turtle doves in the United Kingdom are found in just a few areas of Southern England and migrate during the winter toward Africa.

The 20th annual BirdTrends report highlights the rapid decline of the greenfinch, whose population has dropped by 59pc in the UK in just ten years. Bird experts say the decline is caused by a widespread and severe outbreak of a disease called trichomonosis, which first affected bird populations in 2006. The steepest long-term populations declines measured are for Turtle Dove, Tree Sparrow, Willow Tit, Grey Partridge and Nightingale, which have all declined by 90% or more since 1967, as, almost certainly, has Lesser Spotted Woodpecker.

With more than 15 centimetres of snow on the ground, clear skies and temperatures ranging between -13 and -22, the 70th annual Christmas Bird Count is a wrap for 2017. The count, held on Sunday, Dec 17, had more than 50 volunteers helping identify and count 82 bird species and 16,910 individual birds. According to the report filed by Mark D. Read with the Kingston Field Naturalists, this count is below the 20-year average of identifying 103 species and is less than 2015’s low count of 84.

The greenfinch (Carduelis chloris) is disappearing from UK gardens because of a deadly disease - with numbers more than halving in a decade, new research has warned. The greenfinch's colourful plumage and distinctive twittering once made it one of our most familiar feathered friends. But numbers have plunged by an alarming 59 per cent in just 10 years - sparking concerns for its very future on these shores, warn bird watchers.