Global community celebrates World Migratory Bird Day 2017

10 May is World Migratory Bird Day. The celebration initiated by AEWA and CMS raises awareness of the need for the conservation of migratory birds and their habitats.

It has a global outreach and is an effective tool to help raise global awareness of the threats faced by migratory birds, their ecological importance, and the need for international cooperation to conserve them.

The day was initiated in 2006 by the Secretariat of the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) in collaboration with the Secretariat of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS).

Every year people around the world take action and organize public events such as bird festivals, education programmes, exhibitions and bird-watching excursions to celebrate WMBD. All these activities can also be undertaken at any time of the year because countries or regions observe the peak of migrations at different times, but the main day for the international celebrations is 10 May.

The Wadden Sea World Heritage is visited by up to 12 million migratory birds making the region on of the global bird hotspots. To celebrate their visit, there are various events and event series throughout the year along the Wadden Sea coast.