This is how the false spring changed the behavior of the birds

On average, 26 birds were reported, which is significantly less than the average of the past three years (30), it said on Monday. The wrong spring at the beginning of the year may have been responsible for this change in behavior in winter.

In the 14th year of the winter bird census, the house sparrow (house sparrow) was the most common bird present in the settlement area, relegating last year’s winner, the great tit, and the tree sparrow (field sparrow) to second and third place. BirdLife Austria was happy about a new participation record at the Hour of Winter Birds: 24,532 nature enthusiasts (previous year 23,464) reported a total of 474,554 specimens, the year before it was 580,885. Not a single bird was sighted in 458 gardens, an increase of almost two-thirds compared to the previous year.

The 26 birds per garden is the lowest figure ever achieved. Species that are also concentrated in settlements in winter, such as the house sparrow, collared pigeon and goldfinch, were able to maintain the results of the previous year. “In the case of carrion crows and rooks, a slight increase was noticeable compared to the previous year, after the crows had significantly decreased in the winter population in the past. One in ten participants was happy to see long-tailed tits at the feeding station, which was slightly above the previous year’s value,” says Gábor Wichmann, managing director of BirdLife.

• Find results by state and region here.

Increased in the forest

“The birds were self-sufficient in favorable weather conditions,” explained the expert. On the counting weekend (01/06/2023-01/08/2023) they tended to stay outside of our towns and villages. There are a few explanations for this: There was sufficient natural food available because important food trees such as spruce and beech produced a particularly large number of fruits last autumn, which at the beginning of the year were hardly covered by ice or snow. “At the same time, this means that the birds stay more in the forest when the weather is mild and fly less into the settlements,” says Wichmann.

The ornithologists were particularly struck by the extremely warm temperatures at the beginning of the year, which caused the birds to chirp loudly and to occupy their territories. Such previously untypically warm winters are becoming more and more normal as a result of global warming. “The serious impact this is having on bird populations is something we need to see live at the hour of winter birds over the next few decades,” Wichman said.