Soaring birds such as birds of prey and storks glide between areas of rising hot air to help their long-distance passages. They cannot manage this over large bodies of water or high mountains, so it limits the routes they can take. Birds then concentrate in so-called ‘bottlenecks’. Threats in these areas are therefore even more dangerous for these birds.
THREATS
At migration bottlenecks millions of soaring birds die each year as a result of illegal hunting, collisions with power lines and wind farms. Also impact of agricultural intensification and pesticide use, as well as urban expansion has a huge impact on the soaring bird species.
SAVING THEM
BirdLife has successfully reduced illegal hunting in the Mediterranean, and has launched a new ‘Migratory Soaring Birds’ project, to tackle threats to soaring birds in the Middle East and Africa.
Many BirdLife organisation also advise on how to place wind mills and power lines so that they have minimal impact on birds.
For more information on our international flyway programme for soaring birds visit
http://www.birdlife.org/flyways/africa_eurasia/soaringbirds/index.html
Click on a migratory bird for a close-up
Click on the globe and check the migratory map
