How is the urban bird population doing?

Among the 83 birds of cities and villages, more species are declining than increasing. For example, the common blackbird and house sparrow are declining in population size, while European goldfinches and white storks are increasing within urban areas. The ‘urban bird population’ indicator represents the average trend of these 83 species of birds. It declined by just over 6 percent in the period from 2007 to 2020.

CBS calculates trends in the size of the population and the area of distribution of a large number of plant and animal species found in Dutch nature. To do this, observations are used which are mainly collected by volunteers, but also in part by professional observers. Examining the trends in conjunction allows CBS to form a reasonably complete impression of the state and development of Dutch nature. Since 2007, urban birds in the Netherlands have been counted via Sovon Vogelonderzoek Nederland’s Urban Bird Species Monitoring Network MUS.noot1 Sufficient data are available from 83 bird species to calculate a trend for urban birds.

Show datatableUrban birds, population trend ¹⁾ (2007=100)Hide datatableUrban birds, population trend ¹⁾ (2007=100)

Urban birds, population trend ¹⁾ (2007=100)

	Observation	Trend	Trend uncertainty margin (low)	Trend uncertainty margin (high)
2007	99.41	100	97.17-10284	97.17-10284
2008	103.87	101.21	99.51-10296	99.51-10296
2009	98.76	101.91	100.56-10339	100.56-10339
2010	101.7	102.05	100.57-10358	100.57-10358
2011	104.08	101.44	99.92-1029	99.92-1029
2012	100.92	100.49	98.93-10198	98.93-10198
2013	97.69	99.17	97.67-10067	97.67-10067
2014	96.7	98.63	97.22-10008	97.22-10008
2015	98.67	97.9	96.31-9945	96.31-9945
2016	98.74	96.01	94.6-975	94.6-975
2017	95.2	94.26	92.82-9569	92.82-9569
2018	89.03	93.32	92.05-9463	92.05-9463
2019	89.5	92.92	91.58-9429	91.58-9429
2020	96.9	93.42	91.28-9539	91.28-9539
1) Excl. exotic species

Peregrine falcon taking over the built environment in the Netherlands

The urban bird population can be divided into five groups according to habitat type: birds typically associated with built-up areas, e.g. house sparrows and peregrine falcons, forests and parks, such as song thrushes and great spotted woodpeckers, thickets and bushes, i.e. Eurasian wrens and nightingales, open greeneries, such as black-tailed godwits and white storks, and water and marshland, i.e. kingfishers and grey herons.

Birds strongly associated with the built environment, such as swifts and house sparrows, are advancing as a group (20 percent). However, this is mainly explained by the rapid increase of only one species: the peregrine falcon. Without this species, the average trend would actually decrease; house sparrows, western jackdaws, common starlings and Eurasian collared doves are decreasing in number. The peregrine falcon is climbing from a deep pit and is being helped in its recovery by special nest boxes on high-rise buildings.

Show datatableUrban bird population trends by preferred habitat (2007 = 100)Hide datatableUrban bird population trends by preferred habitat (2007 = 100)

Urban bird population trends by preferred habitat (2007 = 100)

	Urban green space	Urban green space trend uncertainty (low)	Urban green space trend uncertainty (high)	Water and marsh	Water and marsh trend uncertainty (low)	Water and marsh trend uncertainty (high)	Built-up areas	Built-up areas trend uncertainty (low)	Built-up areas trend uncertainty (high)	Forest/Park	Forest/Park trend uncertainty (low)	Forest/Park trend uncertainty (high)	Bush/Thicket	Bush/Thicket trend uncertainty (low)	Bush/Thicket trend uncertainty (high)
2007	100	92.06-10813	92.06-10813	100	93.87-10601	93.87-10601	100	89.98-1096	89.98-1096	100	95.82-10411	95.82-10411	100	94.53-10552	94.53-10552
2008	106.04	101.24-11109	101.24-11109	102.71	98.98-10664	98.98-10664	103.79	97.34-10957	97.34-10957	98.84	96.22-10149	96.22-10149	98.66	95.45-10198	95.45-10198
2009	109.41	105.06-11397	105.06-11397	105.91	102.59-10935	102.59-10935	106.5	101.51-11169	101.51-11169	97.66	95.36-10014	95.36-10014	96.67	94.1-9939	94.1-9939
2010	110.51	106.03-11537	106.03-11537	109.19	105.64-1126	105.64-1126	108.31	103.11-11404	103.11-11404	96.3	93.88-9895	93.88-9895	94.19	91.5-9705	91.5-9705
2011	108.19	103.96-11257	103.96-11257	113.2	109.88-11656	109.88-11656	108.85	103.84-11424	103.84-11424	94.57	92.28-9702	92.28-9702	90.73	87.92-936	87.92-936
2012	104.93	100.63-10951	100.63-10951	116.7	113.3-11998	113.3-11998	108.78	103.87-11376	103.87-11376	92.86	90.32-955	90.32-955	87.36	84.52-9015	84.52-9015
2013	103.71	99.59-10838	99.59-10838	116.43	113.01-11976	113.01-11976	108.64	104.39-1131	104.39-1131	90.94	88.48-9334	88.48-9334	85.61	82.75-8841	82.75-8841
2014	103.57	99.19-10775	99.19-10775	117.46	114.02-12108	114.02-12108	109.2	105.02-11349	105.02-11349	89.9	87.68-9221	87.68-9221	83.39	80.89-8592	80.89-8592
2015	102.66	98.28-10704	98.28-10704	118.66	114.81-12262	114.81-12262	110	105.24-11518	105.24-11518	88.91	86.64-9125	86.64-9125	80.32	77.72-8302	77.72-8302
2016	97.3	93.13-10127	93.13-10127	120.83	117.4-12429	117.4-12429	110.26	105.99-11503	105.99-11503	87.73	85.53-8991	85.53-8991	74.28	71.92-7688	71.92-7688
2017	92.24	88.19-9623	88.19-9623	123.2	120.13-12638	120.13-12638	111.13	107.1-11566	107.1-11566	86.28	84.11-8848	84.11-8848	69.26	66.7-7208	66.7-7208
2018	89.7	86.17-9321	86.17-9321	125.7	122.86-12858	122.86-12858	113.54	110.03-11726	110.03-11726	84.26	82.36-8624	82.36-8624	67.06	64.72-6959	64.72-6959
2019	88.69	84.82-9243	84.82-9243	128.22	125.2-13142	125.2-13142	117.21	113.49-12089	113.49-12089	81.96	79.85-8411	79.85-8411	66.59	64.25-6903	64.25-6903
2020	90.14	84.4-9591	84.4-9591	130.36	125.85-13535	125.85-13535	122.55	116.47-12874	116.47-12874	79.54	76.14-8289	76.14-8289	68.74	65 - 72	65 - 72

More water birds, fewer birds in urban green areas

Water birds, such as greylag geese, gadwalls and lesser black-backed gulls are advancing as a group in villages and cities: the average trend has increased by 30 percent since 2007. By contrast, birds typically associated with forests and parks (–‍20 percent), open greenery (–‍10 percent) and thicket and bush (–‍30 percent) are declining significantly within the urban environment.

The questions

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26. What is the value of Dutch beer exports?
27. How often do we have a goosebump moment?
28. How many cows graze in fields?
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30. How tall are Dutch people?
31. How is the urban bird population doing?
32. Where do most people work?
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