“We entered a new mass extinction”: why are there fewer and fewer birds in our gardens?

There are fewer and fewer different birds in our gardens, according to Natagora. Meanwhile, Barely 10 different species represent three quarters of the birds we see. Consequently, How to explain it?

Birds are fewer and fewer in our gardens, and there are above all fewer different species than before. Therefore, This is what emerges from a census carried out in the Belgian gardens by the Natagora association.

According to the figures of the association. However, only 10 different species represent 75 % of the birds that can be met in our exteriors. Moreover, And if we look further. Nevertheless, the first three species (domestic sparrow, charcoal chick and blue tin) already represent 25 % of these birds. In addition, “There are more species that decrease “we entered new mass extinction”: than increasing species. For example, We have a ratio of 20 species which decrease for only 12 which increase. Therefore, The general observation is a rather poor avifauna. which is not going very well, ”explains Anne Weiserbs, project manager at Natagora.

To explain this phenomenon, we must first turn to our gardens themselves. They have evolved a lot over time. they are more and more neat, with grass cut very finely and not very high. But above all, they have little variety, which favors certain species compared to others. “Habitat is more and more austere. We have eliminated the slightly natural areas, so it gradually restricts the quality “we entered new mass extinction”: of the habitat for all these species. We therefore have a hegemony of some species which are hyper opportunistic, ”continues the project manager.

Our biodiversity is also increasingly threatened, by climate change of course, but also by the diseases that strike our birds. And this situation is worrying. “It can be generalized and it can get worse. Some diseases. before, were seasonal in animals and now they are permanent, ”worries Mario Ninanne, vice-president of the Belgian royal league for the protection of birds.

He adds that birds are not the only endangered species. “We no longer “we entered new mass extinction”: see hedgehogs either. In the city, the sparrows too. And insects, which are bird food, are threatened. This whole food chain is impacted. This collapse of biodiversity is noted everywhere. We entered a new mass extinction. »»

This phenomenon underlines the need to preserve this sound richness to try to redifpiate it. But it is not too late to act: it is still possible to redevelop the spaces for the species. around us.