“Bird Numbers 2025” conference

The “Bird Numbers 2025” conference, held in Riga, Latvia, from March 31 to April 4, 2025, brought together bird researchers and nature conservation experts from across Europe under the theme “Synergies in Monitoring for Conservation.” Key discussions addressed the integration of diverse data sources, such as national atlases and long-term surveys, with the aim of assessing population trends and developing effective strategies for the conservation of breeding birds in Europe. The conference also emphasized the role of citizen science in improving efforts to collect data on breeding birds and raising public awareness.

In addition, the conference hosted working meetings of the Mediterranean Waterbird Network, the coordinators of the International Waterbird Census led by Wetlands International, and a partner meeting of the European Bird Portal project network.

“During the Conference emphasis was placed on three topics – the use of advanced technologies such as automated acoustic monitoring in bird research, the use of online portals for collecting real-time bird data (providing immediate insight into the effects of climate change on habitat changes as well as on the changes in the distribution and size of the breeding bird populations), and the need for parallel development of conservation policies for breeding birds and their habitats that will result in appropriate and long-term protective effects. With the growing number of professional and amateur bird researchers and birdwatchers, and the development of the national platform (website and app ptici.mk) for collecting bird data, MES is actively working to improve the breeding and migratory bird distribution and abundance in the country. The power of citizen science through the use of this platform is already delivering great results. MES has also already used and has experience with technologies aimed at researching birds of national or global conservation concern. The experiences from this conference have shown us that even better technologies are already available for field use, which the bird research team at MES will apply in future studies.” stated Danka Uzunova, representative of MES at the Conference.

Learn more about the Conference posters and the oral presentations here.