Finland’s birdlife markedly changing due to climate change and land use

Turnover among Finland’s breeding bird species has been great in the past decades, indicates a study completed in 2018, carried out in cooperation by the Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE) and the Finnish Museum of Natural History. The study was based on comparisons made between the Finnish bird atlases from 1974–1989 and 2006–2010. It was found that the distribution range of almost all species (96%) changed in either size or region.

Published on 7 September 2017, Photo: Aleksi Lehikoinen

Land use, such as forestry and agriculture, as well as waterway eutrophication have had a negative effect on the distribution of several species, and the lack of suitable habitats may have restricted the spreading of species. Thanks to conservation efforts, many previously endangered species, such as the whooper swan, the golden eagle and the white-tailed eagle, the peregrine falcon, and the white-backed woodpecker, have, however, grown more abundant and expanded their area of distribution.

You can find the full story in Finnish here.