TEHRAN – World Migratory Bird Day serves as an opportunity to highlight the vital role these birds play in maintaining ecosystem balance and the need to protect their habitats. These tireless travelers cover thousands of kilometers each year to survive, yet face mounting threats, including drying wetlands, habitat destruction, illegal hunting, and climate change.

World Migratory Bird Day is a global observance aimed at raising awareness of the importance of conserving migratory birds and their habitats. It was first established in 2006 through an initiative by the Secretariat of the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) and the Secretariat of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS), with support from the United Nations.

The observance seeks to draw public attention to threats such as habitat destruction, environmental pollution, illegal hunting and climate change, while underscoring the need for international cooperation to protect migratory birds.

World Migratory Bird Day is observed annually on the second Saturday of May and the second Saturday of October, coinciding with the main bird migration seasons in the Northern Hemisphere. In 2026, the observance falls on May 9 and October 10.

This year’s theme, “Every Bird Counts – Your Observations Matter!”, highlights the role of citizen science and public participation in migratory bird conservation. The initiative emphasizes the value of field observations recorded by birdwatchers, researchers, local communities and nature enthusiasts in understanding migration patterns, monitoring population trends and identifying threats affecting different species.

Iran plays a particularly important role in migratory bird conservation due to its geographical position in West Asia and its location along the seasonal migration routes of numerous species. The country’s wetlands, lakes, coastlines and other natural habitats serve as stopover, feeding and resting sites, as well as wintering grounds, for large numbers of waterbirds and shorebirds throughout the year.

Anzali Wetland, Miankaleh, Gori Gol and Shadegan wetlands, along with aquatic habitats in the Lake Urmia basin, are among the areas where continuous monitoring can provide valuable information on species occurrence, relative abundance, arrival and departure dates, and seasonal population changes.

Recording observation dates, bird numbers, geographic locations, habitat conditions and evidence of threats can help improve ecological assessments, particularly when data are collected using standardized methods over extended periods. Such records make it easier to compare findings over time and identify ecological changes. In this context, public participation in documenting bird sightings can complement professional bird census and monitoring programs nationwide.

On World Migratory Bird Day, the theme “Every Bird Counts – Your Observations Matter!” serves as a reminder that effective conservation requires not only expertise and planning but also informed public participation and the transformation of individual observations into reliable, usable data.

Every accurate observation can help reveal a larger picture of the status of migratory birds and the vital routes they depend on — a picture that is essential to protecting this shared natural heritage.