A recent study led by Carmen D. Soria, also using European Breeding Bird Atlas data, reveals that species richness and most distributions are consistently clustered in space across regions and time periods, confirming that biodiversity tends to form "patches." More:

Spatial autocorrelation of species diversity and distributions in time and across spatial scales | EBCC

The results of a new study show that spatial structure is a persistent and fundamental feature of biodiversity, but it depends strongly on scale, does not change uniformly over time, and varies…

ebcc.info

How are Switzerland’s birds doing? Discover key insights and detailed findings in the comprehensive Vogelmonitoring 2025 report, compiled by our national partner @vogelwarte.bsky.social. Full report is available in German, French and Italian: www.vogelwarte.ch/wp-content/u...

Latest survey reveals that Dotterel have declined by 89% since monitoring began in 1987/88 Dotterel's resilience to climate change could be supported through limiting disturbance by people and dogs, and managing grazing Read a summary: www.rspb.org.uk/whats-happen... 🪶 🧪 @naturescot.bsky.social

How do you modernise bird monitoring without losing 40+ years of data? A new study @birdlife.cz compared the long-running point-count scheme with volunteers freely choosing sites (since 1982) with a new randomised, transect-based approach (2018–2024). Open access: link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Colleagues at the @vogelwarte.bsky.social show that traditional owl monitoring may underestimate Long-eared Owl populations. Using a combination of short playback calls and occupancy modelling, they found increased detection rates and higher abundances. More: www.ebcc.info/wp-content/u...

📢 A new call for our Small Grant Fund projects is now open! The new call for our Small Grant Fund is now open! We wish to support low and middle-income partners in European countries in developing their bird monitoring activities: www.ebcc.info/sgf/ebcc-sma...

Stay updated with the latest from the EBCC and bird monitoring activities across Europe in our summer newsletter, featuring upcoming events and recent news from our network. Read, share, subscribe: mailchi.mp/daa9e3c7d06c...

The results of the latest completed EBCC Small Grant Fund project from Serbia are in! We are proud to have supported the work of @Birdlife Serbia, which has collected invaluable data that will enrich the upcoming Atlas of Breeding Birds of Serbia. More: www.ebcc.info/small-grant-...

Could it be a Quail year? We've seen a big increase in reports of this elusive migrant gamebird in the last two weeks. Reports don't usually peak until late June, so it will be interesting to see whether the influx continues into the summer #ukbirding

Join us online, on June 16th 19 CEST at the EBCC Annual General Meeting! We will present to the EBCC delegates, national partners, and interested parties the work from the past year (Chair's report), and EBCC projects: PECBMS, EBBA Live Farmland &EBP. Register here: forms.gle/ETg3KspqpF9X...

The final countdown! If you happen to be placed in one of the 13 countries in SE Europe, join our final complete list collection weekend challenge on June 6-7th! More about the challenge, countries, national partners and their on-line portals is available here: eurobirdportal.org/ebp/en/seeli...

A study led by Wilson and colleagues at the @British Trust for Ornithology compared acoustic recording data (using the automated classifier BirdNET) with Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) counts. Volunteers deployed acoustic recorders within 28 of their 1-km BBS squares in Scotland. shorturl.at/1CZxn

On the 2nd weekend in May, we organised a region-wide, complete list data-collection weekend across 13 countries in SE Europe. Since the start of the year, our partnership has collected approx 38,500 complete lists, surpassing records from previous years for the same time period! shorturl.at/XJvPN

A study by Roodbergen et al. in Bird Census News examined the comparability of Passive Acoustic Monitoring (PAM) and automatic classifiers to traditional monitoring methods for tracking common bird species in Dutch agricultural landscapes. More: www.ebcc.info/wp-content/u...

@sovonvogels.bsky.social published State of the Birds in the Netherlands 2025. Bird species associated with forest, marshland/freshwater habitats are stable/increasing, while those linked to farmland/open landscapes continue to decline. file:///D:/Downloads/State-of-Birds-in-the-Netherlands-2025.pdf

The role of acoustic monitoring has advanced tremendously over the last 15 years and could transform bird monitoring. As with any new technology, it brings exciting new opportunities but also a range of challenges to be addressed in bird monitoring.

Our new study, led by Sergi Herrando (EBCC chair, @ICOcells) published in Conservation Biology, shows that it is possible to create frequent and regular maps showing where farmland birds are disappearing across Europe by using the data from the Pan-European Common Bird Monitoring Scheme (PECBMS).

For the third time in 40 years, volunteers surveyed Brussels' breeding birds. Species richness is similar to the last atlas, but population trends tell a different story: while many waterbirds thrive, some urban and open-habitat species declined and may vanish from the city altogether.

Natagora@natagora.bsky.social · 8mo ago

Ces données renforcent la nécessité de revoir le Plan Régional d’Affectation des Sols : 1/ de reconnaître les friches comme de véritables milieux écologiques ; 2/ d'intégrer les continuités écologiques comme éléments structurants de la planification urbaine. 👉 www.natagora.be/news/atlas-d...

We were extremely lucky to have a physical EBCC Board meeting this spring at Parc Natural dels Ports, and are grateful to all the organisers and volunteers from @icornitologia.bsky.social who took such good care of us!

EB Montseny ICO@ebmontsenyico.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Del 18 al 23 de març, vam ser a Roquetes per a la reunió anual de la junta de l'EBCC (European Bird Census Council). Aquesta setmana, cada dia vam alternar entre reunions i excursions amb la junta de l'EBCC, amb els tècnics del Parc Natural dels Ports i l'equip de l'ICO com a guies. @ebcc.info

The Proceedings from the last EBCC conference, “Bird Numbers 2025", have now been published in the open-access journal Environmental and Experimental Biology. Overall, they include 8 contributions from the conference, providing readers with interesting insights. Link: journal.lu.lv/eeb/issue/vi...

Last week, the 75th EBCC Board meeting took place in Tortosa, Catalonia, organised by colleagues @icornitologia.bsky.social in the beautiful Els Ports Natural Park. 15 board members and observers, plus 3 online, had a chance to discuss many strategically important issues and enjoy a bit of birding!

In 2026, EBCC has decided to support 2 new grants within our Small Grant Fund! The project Urban bird monitoring will be implemented in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and in Armenia, it will result in the country’s first comprehensive breeding bird atlas. More:

EBCC to support bird monitoring projects in Armenia and Bosnia & Herzegovina | EBCC

The European Bird Census Council (EBCC) will support two important initiatives in Armenia and Bosnia & Herzegovina through its Small Grant Fund (SGF). The scheme aims to strengthen bird monitoring…

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The fresh Spring edition of the EBCC newsletter is out! Find out more about what is new in our core projects and from the wider EBCC network. From the grants we will support in 2026, new Bird Census News issues, and the State of the Birds in the Netherlands 2025. More: mailchi.mp/f360b6a3f817...

How did we do in 2025 on increasing participation and collecting complete lists in 13 countries of SE Europe @lifeprogramme.bsky.social?We noted a 22.4% increase in the number of complete lists across all 13 countries compared to 2023, and the highest number of observers.Read more: shorturl.at/m5eWi

The 2025 Bird Census News is out - entirely dedicated to acoustic monitoring. From the introduction to the EBCC Acoustic Monitoring Group, survey results on the role of acoustic monitoring in bird research, national case studies from Europe, and discussions on technical challenges: shorturl.at/jdTfy

How are Cinereous vultures doing in Armenia? The breeding population was followed from 2003 to 2019, with the latest count of 12 to 14 breeding pairs, mainly in the Khosrov Forest State Reserve. Although during this time, it presents a 110% increase, the threats remain. More: shorturl.at/wZS4h

The use of citizen science data (common bird monitoring and online portal) to investigate the impact of Usutu virus on bird populations in Belgium. In 31 of the 60 species, annual changes were >20% worse inside affected areas than outside (11 species were >50% worse). More:https://shorturl.at/teoFW

Colleagues from @Birdlife Denmark have compared historical 100-year-old data with the three Danish Atlas projects. Conclusions: breeding ranges of open land bird species have decreased drastically, whereas species connected to forest and scrub have gained range. More: www.ebcc.info/.../01/bcn-3...

Black-headed bunting, a species typical of SE Europe, is in decline. Many countries in this region are in the early stages of monitoring, or do not have one. To understand trends and changes in distribution, we need high-quality data, and programmes such as International Census Plots can help.

The 2024 issue of Bird Census News is published and includes 3 new articles: using historical bird data in Denmark to examine century-wise changes; the impact of the Usutu virus on wild bird populations in Belgium; and status and conservation of the Cinereous vulture in Armenia. shorturl.at/j55X6