Swiss bird diversity particularly at risk

Looking nervous: the kingfisher. Keystone / Attila Kovacs

While the number of birds is declining rapidly worldwide, the situation for endangered or threatened species in Switzerland is even more striking, a report finds.

Some 1,409 bird species, or 13% of the total around the world, are endangered or threatened with extinction, according to the “State of the World’s Birds 2022” report, published on Thursday by conservation group Birdlife International. A further 9% of species are on a watchlist considered potentially endangered, while only 6% are growing.

Birdlife Switzerland said the situation in this country is however even more dramatic: 40% of Switzerland’s 205 native breeding bird species are on the red list of endangered or threatened types – more than twice as many as internationally. This means that well over half of Switzerland’s breeding bird species are in a critical situation, the group said.

Fourteen species which breed – or once bred – in Switzerland are on the global red list: the Common Eider, the Pochard, the Lapwing, the Eurasian Curlew (extinct in Switzerland), the Bearded Vulture, the Kingfisher, the Turtle Dove, and the Great Grey Shrike (extinct).

Agricultural encroachment

The biggest threat to birds comes from agriculture, according to the study. Its expansion, intensification, the use of agrochemicals, and the conversion of grassland to cropland are responsible for 73% of all threatened bird species worldwide. On agricultural land, bird populations in Europe have declined by 57% since 1980.

Forest birds have fared somewhat better, with their populations dwindling by 3% in the same period. Mountain birds have declined by 10% in the last twelve years alone.