Spring Bird Migratory Movements

European bee-eaters arrive later in spring compared to the other species, whereas White storks are the earlier spring visitors among the modelled species. From the maps, we can see that migrant White storks, Barn swallows and Black kites arriving in Europe from the East tend to arrive later into their breeding grounds compared to birds following the western European flyway. This is probably related to the greater distance that these birds have to cover, since many birds breeding in central and eastern Europe winter in southern Africa, in contrast to birds breeding in western Europe, which mainly winter in the Sahel. This could make these birds more vulnerable to climate variations since their behavioural responses may not be enough to avoid inharmonious arrival dates and spring events.

Changes in migration dates in recent decades

Climate variations, together with other environmental alterations, has led to significant shifts in migration behaviour over the last 40 years. The following maps show the spatial changes that have taken place in the spring arrival dates. Specifically, they show the probability of bird presence at mid-March during 1979-2019.

The maps show earlier arrival dates in all the modelled birds over the historical period. Supporting previous scientific findings, the largest shifts have taken place between 1970s and 2000s, while later changes have been smaller, in agreement with the regional warming trends observed in the Northern Hemisphere. The shifts vary in intensity across regions among the different species but general patterns can be identified: warming has had a larger impact on bird migration in western Europe (more intense changes in the Iberian Peninsula and, to a lesser extent, in southwestern France).