Common French bird species face ‘unrelenting’ decline

PARIS: From city centres to rural fields, human activity has decimated populations of France’s most common bird species, scientists warned on Monday, citing data collected over 30 years by volunteer ornithologists.

Between 1989 and 2019 over 2,000 French bird lovers participated in monitoring the nation’s 123 most common bird species through the Tracking Common Birds Over Time (STOC) programme. The effort is sponsored by the French National Museum of Natural History, whose president Bruno David called the findings "unrelenting".