Madrid, 11 (Servmedia)
Doñana National Park is “disappearing” for migratory birds because its wetlands “no longer fulfill their ecological functions for breeding and wintering” of these animals, for which the space has been worthy of various figures of protection and international recognition .
SEO/BirdLife thought this Friday on the eve of World Migratory Bird Day, celebrated by the United Nations Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS, for its abbreviation in English) and its African Promoted from Eurasian Migratory Waterbird Agreement (AEWA), together with the Environment for the Americas (EFTA) organization.
Located between Europe and Africa, Doñana is an important wetland in the migratory route of birds between the two continents, which is why it is known for its strategic value for breeding, wintering and stopping hundreds of thousands of migratory birds around the world . , many of them endangered species.
In ecologically optimal years, its marshes play an exceptional role as wintering grounds, migratory routes and breeding grounds for the aquatic avifauna of the Western Palearctic, reaching spectacular concentrations of thousands of individuals.
However, SEO/BirdLife pointed out that this natural area is “one of the most ideal examples of wetland degradation of international importance, strategically located between two continents and, therefore, important for migratory waterfowl.”
population decline
Frequent extreme droughts and high temperatures due to overexploitation of water bodies and the effects of climate change have reduced the duration of swamp flooding in recent years, affecting thousands of wintering ducks and waders. and the skies and building large breeding colonies.
According to SEO/BirdLife, “the iconic image of a wetland in which thousands of pairs of spoonbills, herons or even black ibis build noisy breeding colonies or ‘aviaries’ in cork oaks is beginning to become an image of the past.” ,
A report on the conservation status of waterfowl in Doñana, recently published by SEO/BirdLife, shows population trends for both the species of greatest conservation interest (listed as threatened), and for populations of common waterbirds -mostly negative- which Donna means in Europe as one of their main breeding and wintering areas.
As reflected in the historical data series from the Donana Biological Station (EBD) between 2004 and 2022, most waterfowl species are in extremely critical condition. For example, breeding birds such as the common tern and the squaco heron or purple heron have disappeared, with their conservation status deteriorating.
Historically abundant species such as the black-billed goose have gone from numbers of over a thousand pairs in the first decade of the 21st century to reproducing in only two of the last nine years. Its position reflects the poor development of representatives of the tern and hummingbird family in Donana, which is also seen in other species such as the white-faced hummingbird or little tern, which have initially grown to over a thousand. The decade not crossing 20 couples in 2022.
Even common species such as spoonbills are reporting low productivity rates. Six of the seven worst breeding data for 21st-century Eurasian spoonbills in Donana have occurred in 2012, 2014, 2016, 2019, 2020 and 2022.
winter without wintering
Not only is reproduction increasingly quiet in Donana, but wintering data corroborate a corresponding retrogressive trend in populations arriving from central and northern Europe to the Guadalquivir swamp.
In the 2021–2022 winter season, 87,488 individuals of waterfowl were recorded, the lowest number in 40 years. Even the Greylag Goose, one of the most emblematic and abundant wintering species in Doñana, has regularly gone from more than 40,000 individuals to mark the lowest record in history, with 10,000 during the last winter. with less than
SEO/BirdLife has collected over 145,000 signatures from citizens who do not want to legalize new irrigation in Donana’s area. These endorsements will soon be distributed to the Parliament of Andalusia.
