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World Migratory Bird Day

World Migratory Bird Day (WMBD) is a biannual global awareness-raising campaign highlighting the need for the conservation of migratory birds and their habitats. Every year, on the second Saturday in May and October, dedicated people and organizations around the world celebrate World Migratory Bird Day by arranging activities such as bird festivals, education programmes, exhibitions and bird-watching excursions. Event organizers are encouraged to register their events at the WMBD website. In this way, individual events can be shared with others around the world and help inspire other people and organizations to get involved.

 

History of World Migratory Bird Day

World Migratory Bird Day was initiated in 2006 by the Secretariat of the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) in collaboration with the Secretariat of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS). Since then, WMBD has been celebrated annually and has been growing in popularity with more countries, organizations and people joining the campaign every year.

On 26 October 2017 in the margins of the CMS COP12 in Manila, Environment for the Americas (EFTA), CMS and AEWA announced an innovative partnership uniting two of the world’s largest bird education campaigns – International Migratory Bird Day (IMBD) and WMBD. From 2018 onwards, the new joint campaign adopted the single name of "World Migratory Bird Day" and is celebrated twice a year, on the second Saturday in May and in October, making it possible to organize events in countries around the world at peak times of bird migration.

For further information, please visit the website: www.worldmigratorybirdday.org

 

World Migratory Bird Day 2022

Light Pollution is the focus of the World Migratory Bird Day 2022 campaign. 

Artificial light is increasing globally by at least 2 per cent per year and it is known to adversely affect many bird species. Light pollution is a significant threat to migratory birds, causing disorientation when they fly at night, leading to collisions with buildings, perturbing their internal clocks, or interfering with their ability to undertake long-distance migrations.  

Solutions to light pollution are readily available. For instance, more and more cities in the world are taking measures to dim building lights during migration phases in spring and autumn. Best practice guidelines are also being developed under the Convention on Migratory Species to address this growing issue and ensure that action is taken globally to help birds migrate safely.

For more information on WMBD 2022, please visit: https://www.worldmigratorybirdday.org/

   

 

World Migratory Bird Day 2011

WMBD Poster 2011
14 May 2011 to 15 May 2011

The year 2011 was for World Migratory Bird Day absolute record breaker thanks to an amazing 204 registered events in 64 countries worldwide. It was celebrated on 14th and 15th May 2011 and focused on conversion of natural areas into agricultural land, the construction of buildings, roads and dams, or deforestation, which are just some examples for the human use of land, also known as land use, while migratory bird populations are particularly sensitive to these changes.

World Migratory Bird Day 2010

WMBD Poster 2010
08 May 2010 to 09 May 2010

On 8-9 May 2010 World Migratory Bird Day was celebrated in over 40 countries around the world. Under the theme “Save migratory birds in crisis - every species counts!”, over 90 registered events took place around the world. The 2010 campaign was closely linked to the International Year of Biodiversity and raised awareness on globally threatened migratory birds, with a particular focus on those on the very edge of extinction – the Critically Endangered migratory birds.

World Migratory Bird Day 2009

WMBD Poster 2009
09 May 2009

On 9-10 May 2009 World Migratory Bird Day was celebrated in over 50 countries around the world. Under the theme “Barriers to migration”, 130 registered events took place. These events helped to raise awareness on man-made barriers and demonstrated that obstacles like wind turbines, power lines and tall buildings pose a threat to migratory birds.

World Migratory Bird Day 2008

WMBD Poster 2008
10 May 2008

Under the theme “Migratory Birds – Ambassadors for Biodiversity”, World Migratory Bird Day (WMBD) was celebrated for the third time on 10-11 May 2008. Over 136 activities took place in 59 countries around the world to mark World Migratory Bird Day in 2008 and the events helped spread the idea of migratory birds as messengers for the conservation of biodiversity worldwide.

World Migratory Bird Day 2007

WMBD Poster 2007
12 May 2007

In 2007, World Migratory Bird Day was celebrated in more than 58 countries and with more than 100 different events all across the planet on 12-13 May. The theme “Migratory birds in a changing climate” helped to focus the world’s attention on the plight migratory birds are facing due to global warming. WMBD activities highlighted the effects that increasing temperatures, altered rainfall and vacillating weather conditions have on migratory birds.

World Migratory Bird Day 2006

WMBD Poster 2006
08 April 2006 to 09 April 2006

The first World Migratory Bird Day took place on 8-9 April, 2006. At the time, migratory birds were receiving very negative media coverage as a result of them being falsely believed to be the main cause for the spread of Avian Influenza (H5N1) around the world. So the idea arose to use the first World Migratory Bird Day to counter some of the negative and often unbalanced publicity migratory birds were receiving at the peak of the Avian Influenza discussion.