Leipzig (dpa / sn) - The "bird of the year" 2023, the whinchat, is highly endangered in Saxony. From 1978 to 1982 up to 5000 breeding pairs were counted, between 2004 and 2007 there were only around 3000 and in 2016 only an estimated 800 breeding pairs, as the Nabu Sachsen announced on Thursday.
The main reason for the decline is therefore changes in the habitat, such as the drainage of wet grassland or the conversion of grassland into arable land. In addition, inappropriate management such as the use of previously unused areas, early or frequent mowing and grazing on grassland during the breeding season have pushed the bird back. According to Nabu, the whinchat is currently mainly retreating to the ridges of the Ore Mountains and in post-mining landscapes.
In the election for the bird of the year, the whinchat prevailed with around 43 percent of the votes by a large margin over tree sparrows, red-backed shrike, pied flycatchers and moorhens, according to the German Nature Conservation Union (Nabu) and the Bavarian State Union for Bird and Nature Conservation (LBV). announced Thursday. In 1987 the little songbird already had this title.
It is the third time that the two nature conservation organizations have called for the election of the bird of the year. Nabu and LBV have been choosing this since 1971, but in the past it was the experts who chose the bird. Now they only make a preselection. Almost 135,000 people took part in the online election this year.
The Whinchat gets its name from its brown-orange chest and throat. It likes damp meadows, fallow land and field edges - especially if there are individual bushes, tall shrubs or fence posts on them. There, the 12 to 14 centimeter large bird settles down to sing or hunt for insects.
The Whinchat spends the winter south of the Sahara. Already in September it started the journey of more than 5000 kilometers. It returns north again in April.
