Once again, the house sparrow has been crowned as the most spotted bird in Flanders during the Great Bird Counting Weekend organised by environmental organisation Natuurpunt. Last weekend, 46,000 Flemings decided to count the birds in their gardens or on their balconies. The great tit again features in 2nd place, the chaffinch has dropped from 3rd to 6th. For the first time in years, slightly more blackbirds were counted once again.
House sparrows are most spotted, chaffinch drops back, while blackbird makes recovery
Colin Clapson
Published:
All told, 724,776 birds were counted in 32,855 gardens across Flanders last weekend. As in previous years, the house sparrow was spotted in largest numbers: in about half of the gardens counted.
"We should nuance the success of the house sparrow a little," says bird expert Gerald Driessens of Natuurpunt. "The house sparrow is not doing so well as a breeding bird. Their breeding population dropped 42 percent in Flanders since 2007. This is due to the disappearance of nesting and feeding sites."
The great tit once again features in second place, while the chaffinch has dropped from 3 to 6. "Not really surprising," says Driessens. "Finches usually occur in large groups and are very dynamic movers heading for where they find the most food. It could be that they had just moved. It's certainly nothing to worry about."
The top 10 in Flanders according to initial results (2023 ranking in brackets):
1. House sparrow (1)
2. Great tit (2)
3. Jackdaw (5)
4. Wood pigeon (4)
5. Blue tit (6)
6. Chaffinch (3)
7. Blackbird (8)
8. Magpie (9)
9. Collared dove (7)
10. Starling (-)
"What is particularly striking is the decline of the collared dove. The bird used to be present on every street, but with the arrival of the wood pigeon, it faces stiff competition finding nesting sites," says Driessens.
The collared dove was ranked 6th during the Bird Count Weekend 10 years ago, now it’s 9th. The wood pigeon is ranked 4th for the 2nd year in a row. Only in West Flanders has the collared dove not slipped further.
Slightly more blackbirds once again
The blackbird is doing slightly better for the first time in years. The species was seen in 73 per cent of gardens, instead of 69 per cent last year. Blackbirds have been affected by the Usutu virus in recent years. It’s a mosquito-borne virus that comes from Africa. The virus caused mass mortality among blackbirds.
"More blackbirds being counted now could be the result of a slight recovery of domestic breeding birds, or a higher number of northern blackbirds that are visiting or a combination of the two. That is not entirely clear," say environmentalists.