World Migratory Bird Day

The theme for this World Migratory Bird Day is
Sing, Fly, Soar – Like a bird!

At the UNESCO World Heritage Centre, we support natural sites around the world in their conservation efforts, which in turn supports animals in maintaining their natural behaviors in healthy habitats.

Bird song is not only enjoyable to listen to, but scientists and site managers can use it to evaluate the health of a forest. In 2020, a study was published by the Area de Conservación Guanacaste (Costa Rica), where bioacoustics were used as an indicator for biodiversity. The results show that the older the forest, the noisier it is, due to an increased number of birds. Older and healthier forests are more diverse, and better environments for the species they support.

Conservation also involves safeguarding sites that are important stopovers for migratory birds. You can learn more about the habits of migratory birds and see a video showing them visit key World Heritage sites along the Banc d’Arguin National Park (Mauritania), Djoudj National Bird Sanctuary (Senegal) and Wadden Sea (Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands).

And for the simple pleasure of listening to birdsong, you can enjoy the song of the Musician Wren of the Central Amazon Conservation Complex (Brazil) or the Malabar Whistling Thrush of the Western Ghats (India).

For other ways to participate in World Migratory Bird Day, see below:

• For the first time, a World Migratory Bird Day Virtual Choir is being organized by the East Asian-Australasian Flyway Partnership and the Bowerbird Collective, inviting people around the world to record themselves singing “like a bird” along a newly created song (with no lyrics so anyone can get involved).
• Thousands of birdwatchers will be recording their bird sightings along all the major flyways of the world by joining Global Big Day on 8 May. This high-profile global citizen science event, powered by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, brings the world’s birders together to record sightings via the eBird app, and help set a new world record for the greatest number of birds recorded on a single day.