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Children unite across Europe to record arrival of migratory birds

01-02-2008

On February 1 the annual Spring Alive event was launched by the Partners of BirdLife International in Europe. Spring Alive invites children of eight to twelve years old to enjoy and marvel at the return of some of the most fascinating migratory birds to Europe. Through the Spring Alive website www.springalive.net, children from all over Europe are asked to record their first sightings of the White Stork Ciconia ciconia, Common Cuckoo Cuculus canorus, Common Swift Apus apus and Barn Swallow Hirundo rustica.

"With the help of the observations made by children during the Spring Alive campaign, we are trying to find out if the arrival time of migratory birds has changed over the years" —Joanna Kalinowska, Coordinator of Spring Alive

Additionally to attracting and uniting European children and their families in experiencing nature, Spring Alive aims at contributing to citizen science. Through the observations which the children and/or their teachers record through the Spring Alive website, scientists hope to see whether these four bird species arrive earlier in Europe than normal, thus indicating an increase in temperature in European countries. That way, Spring Alive could contribute to raising awareness for climate change amongst Europe’s youth.

“Thanks to the young observers’ help, we are trying to find out if climate change is really influencing the arrival of birds”, says Joanna Kalinowska, the European Coordinator of the event. “Every year, Spring Alive also invites parents and teachers to participate in this initiative. All they need to do is register their first sightings of the four bird species on www.springalive.net. Last year Spring Alive collected over 16,000 observations. Thanks to the results we were able to say that spring was slightly earlier in 2007 than in 2006, nevertheless we need more data to make sure that the results are accurate”, finishes Ms Kalinowska.