The China Mail - Climate change fuels drop in Albania's migrant birds

USD -
AED 3.673035
AFN 71.323752
ALL 89.53094
AMD 391.220403
ANG 1.790208
AOA 916.000367
ARS 1072.780296
AUD 1.655081
AWG 1.8
AZN 1.70397
BAM 1.766685
BBD 2.011533
BDT 121.061023
BGN 1.786617
BHD 0.376959
BIF 2961.474188
BMD 1
BND 1.332099
BOB 6.885493
BRL 5.846041
BSD 0.996193
BTN 84.992526
BWP 13.874477
BYN 3.260694
BYR 19600
BZD 2.001147
CAD 1.42285
CDF 2873.000362
CHF 0.861312
CLF 0.025108
CLP 963.503912
CNY 7.28155
CNH 7.295041
COP 4213.53
CRC 503.907996
CUC 1
CUP 26.5
CVE 99.605696
CZK 23.045604
DJF 177.720393
DKK 6.808204
DOP 62.907224
DZD 133.546862
EGP 50.555986
ERN 15
ETB 131.300523
EUR 0.91245
FJD 2.314904
FKP 0.762682
GBP 0.776096
GEL 2.750391
GGP 0.762682
GHS 15.444933
GIP 0.762682
GMD 71.503851
GNF 8622.916761
GTQ 7.690049
GYD 208.470909
HKD 7.77465
HNL 25.487566
HRK 6.878104
HTG 130.352909
HUF 370.410388
IDR 16745
ILS 3.74336
IMP 0.762682
INR 85.53285
IQD 1305.312033
IRR 42100.000352
ISK 132.170386
JEP 0.762682
JMD 157.104991
JOD 0.708904
JPY 146.97504
KES 129.250385
KGS 86.768804
KHR 3988.349252
KMF 450.503794
KPW 899.928114
KRW 1459.510383
KWD 0.30779
KYD 0.830341
KZT 505.20544
LAK 21581.388627
LBP 89275.06515
LKR 295.434118
LRD 199.25846
LSL 18.999968
LTL 2.95274
LVL 0.60489
LYD 4.818396
MAD 9.490092
MDL 17.606012
MGA 4619.406928
MKD 56.151733
MMK 2099.545327
MNT 3504.730669
MOP 7.976641
MRU 39.72565
MUR 44.670378
MVR 15.403739
MWK 1727.378227
MXN 20.436704
MYR 4.437039
MZN 63.910377
NAD 19.000827
NGN 1532.820377
NIO 36.665011
NOK 10.768404
NPR 135.979445
NZD 1.786991
OMR 0.384617
PAB 0.996508
PEN 3.661278
PGK 4.111636
PHP 57.385038
PKR 279.668989
PLN 3.890384
PYG 7986.705382
QAR 3.6322
RON 4.542038
RSD 106.939038
RUB 84.443694
RWF 1435.583432
SAR 3.752392
SBD 8.316332
SCR 14.336679
SDG 600.503676
SEK 9.992304
SGD 1.345704
SHP 0.785843
SLE 22.750371
SLL 20969.501083
SOS 569.320455
SRD 36.646504
STD 20697.981008
SVC 8.718942
SYP 13001.416834
SZL 19.003238
THB 34.403649
TJS 10.84572
TMT 3.5
TND 3.051269
TOP 2.342104
TRY 37.993904
TTD 6.749683
TWD 33.177504
TZS 2690.000335
UAH 41.00191
UGX 3642.391584
UYU 42.149384
UZS 12873.912081
VES 70.161515
VND 25805
VUV 123.606268
WST 2.823884
XAF 592.401234
XAG 0.033794
XAU 0.000329
XCD 2.70255
XDR 0.736757
XOF 592.438686
XPF 107.728231
YER 245.650363
ZAR 19.124415
ZMK 9001.203587
ZMW 27.620652
ZWL 321.999592
  • RBGPF

    1.0200

    69.02

    +1.48%

  • RYCEF

    -1.5500

    8.25

    -18.79%

  • SCS

    -0.0600

    10.68

    -0.56%

  • NGG

    -3.4600

    65.93

    -5.25%

  • BTI

    -2.0600

    39.86

    -5.17%

  • BCC

    0.8100

    95.44

    +0.85%

  • CMSC

    0.0300

    22.29

    +0.13%

  • GSK

    -2.4800

    36.53

    -6.79%

  • VOD

    -0.8700

    8.5

    -10.24%

  • RIO

    -3.7600

    54.67

    -6.88%

  • RELX

    -3.2800

    48.16

    -6.81%

  • BCE

    0.0500

    22.71

    +0.22%

  • CMSD

    0.1600

    22.83

    +0.7%

  • AZN

    -5.4600

    68.46

    -7.98%

  • JRI

    -0.8600

    11.96

    -7.19%

  • BP

    -2.9600

    28.38

    -10.43%

Climate change fuels drop in Albania's migrant birds
Climate change fuels drop in Albania's migrant birds

Climate change fuels drop in Albania's migrant birds

Thousands of migratory birds have failed to make their annual visit to Albania's western coast this winter, experts say, pointing to climate change, overfishing and urbanisation as likely factors.

Text size:

The number of waterbirds recorded in January 2022 in the Divjaka-Karavasta wetlands -- an internationally important wintering site along the European migratory flyway –- was 25 percent lower than at this time last year.

Western Albania recorded the drop during the annual International Waterbird Census, a three-day global event to monitor the migration patterns of waterfowl across the world. Several species are affected by the decline, according to Taulant Bino from the Albanian Ornithological Society.

"We discovered that some 9,000 waterbirds are missing from the Divjaka-Karavasta lagoons compared to last year," said Ardian Koci, head of the Divjaka-Karavasta National Park, where the protected wetlands are located.

Koci told AFP a total of 25,000 birds were counted in Divjaka-Karavasta -– one of the most important wetland ecosystems in the Mediterranean -- during the census on January 15-16, as compared to 34,000 in the survey a year earlier.

"The reasons are multiple but above all, it is global warming that has disrupted the migration and breeding seasons," Koci explained.

Nexhip Hysolokaj, a regional biodiversity expert, said scientists in Albania had tracked a rapid decline in migratory bird populations over the past three years.

- Disruptive weather patterns -

And while scientists say more research is needed to understand exactly how climate change is affecting birds, some point to the simple fact that ever-warmer weather means certain species no longer need to leave their northern breeding grounds when winter comes in order to find food further south.

"If there aren’t extreme temperatures in northern Europe, they prefer not to move, or they just migrate over shorter distances," said Mirjan Topi, the author of the first guide to Albania's birds.

In recent years, several species of migrating geese -- including the Greylag Goose, the White-fronted Goose and the rare Lesser White-fronted Goose, which breeds in the tundra of northern Russia and Scandinavia -- have largely failed to make their winter pilgrimage to Albania's marshes.

The western lagoons are also famous for their resident Greater Flamingos and Dalmatian Pelicans, which have a three-metre wingspan rivalling that of the albatross.

But experts say the breeding cycle of the iconic pelican -- whose fragmented populations are a concern for the long-term stability of the species -- is being disrupted by increasingly erratic weather patterns.

In 2021, the pelicans began breeding at the start of January. This year, the nesting season did not begin until the end of January -- a difference of several weeks -- after a winter that started exceptionally late.

"The pelican breeding season seems to be behind last year," Sajmir Hoxha, an expert in Albania for the French conservation group Noe, told AFP.

Meanwhile, illegal fishing has depleted vital food sources in Albania’s lagoons, and rapid urbanisation is threatening fragile ecosystems, especially in the network of marshes and sand dunes along the tourist magnet that is the Adriatic coast.

To add to the pressures, a sprawling international airport is set to be built near the protected marshlands of the Vjosa-Narta region, just south of Divjaka-Karavasta.

This 100-million-euro ($114-million) project, backed by a Turkish-Swiss consortium, "would directly affect wildlife and is a threat to species that breed there, winter there or stop over there on their way to Divjaka", Topi said.

P.Deng--ThChM