For him World Wildlife Day 2025” The community in general to work together is invited to finance the retention of animals in the wildMore effective and sustainable. This will try to build a resilient future, both for people and for biodiversityD.
Wild animals and plants, in the different ecosystems they are connected to each other with the complex network of life on earth. The sustainability of ecosystems depends on it” Regulate natural processes and offer essential services that support human resources of life.
It is looking for climbing, Pechiazul and Alpine Sparrow
They are hard to see, but they have very relevant information. We are not talking about code names, secret infrastructures or 007 style gadgets, but Three types of high mountain birds That can practice if Important “natural meters” of the progress of global warming In these ecosystems.
“Son Bio -indicatorsThat is, they can Asked to detect the consequences of climate change in BerghabitatsBecause they are very vulnerable to temperature changes, “he says on the occasion of the World Wildlife Day 2025 held on Mondaythe scientist of Mixed Institute for Research in Biodiversity, María Mar DelgadoThat is precisely responsible for the study of one of these birds, the Alpine Sparrow.
Despite its importance, The search for these species is “great complexity” Because of the “difficult access to the peaks” – on top of the 1500 m height – and “are populations in descent.”
‘More financing and resources are needed for monitoringBecause there are hardly any data to know their needs. If we don’t take care of them, you can end their climatic shelters”, Says in the meantime, Vicente García-Navas, researcher at the Doñana Biological StationWho worked with these ‘Guardians of the Summits’ in the Swiss mountains.
For the Lack of a full record at the Spanish level “For now they are being studied separately.” Spanish society Ornithology (SEO/Birdlife) He started a census for a few years, but acknowledges that “there is still a lot of work to do.”
‘These birds are not only victims of climate change, but also for the transformation of land use with agricultural activities or the expansion of skiing or other leisure stations. You have to study and protect them“, To consider Jorge Oueta, biologist and species coordinator of the organization.
It is usually in few accessible places
Before you continue, you must ‘face’ these birds. Imagine yourself on a high mountain expedition: if you see a sparrow with a brown plumage, faster tones than normal and grayish head that challenges the cold, it is possible that it is a matter of An alpine sparrow. In Spain it is found more than 1,800 meters in the central Pyrenees or in the eastern part of the Cantabrian mountain range. Outside our borders, in the Alps, the Carpathians, the Caucasus and even the Himalayas.
‘It is usually in few accessible places. It needs patience, but it is important because It is considered a kind of ‘umbrella’That is, what happens to them can happen to everyone, “he says DelgadoOn the way to the Pyrenees to continue with their monitoring.
Until 2021 the researcher adds, this species was considered “little concern”, but is “almost threatened”.
On the other hand, if the detected bird has a box with a characteristic blue color, it can be one Ruiiseñor PechiazulTypically in our country of the central system, the Cantabrian mountain range and the Montes de León.
In addition to climate change and activities such as overparation or display of flows, there is a clear lack of data about this species.
“These birds are known very little and we cannot determine exactly what the degree of regression of their areas has been. Often the observations happen to be because a man has risen to a bush or because their specific song has been heard, “he says Oueta.
If during perception, which attracts your attention, is a red and gray flash, it can be one of the lucky ones who have a TreparriscosOne of the most mysterious birds in Europe.
In addition to its color, this species has a very specific flight: attached to the rocks and the wavy character, so sometimes it is compared to the butterflies.
It is a very discreet bird, it always moves to the wall so that they look or, in high walls, or even found in recesses by climbers.
In our country, the population is very small and fragmented in two cores: the central Pyrenees and the easternmost part of the Cantabrian mountain range. Outside of Spain they are seen in other mountainous regions of Europe and the Central East.
These three species, “Remember the experts, are just a sample of the large variety that is there, because it depends on the mountainous system and the height. “There is a diversity for the time being,” García-Navas Matter.
“In the case of the Alps, the communities are increasingly comparable from a functional point of view, that is, the diversity of the ‘specialized’ birds in zones or diets,” the researcher says.
Censuses, mountain climbing and more financing: what is needed to tell them
About how these birds are like, Delgado explains that, although “knowledge of mountain climbing” and a “good equipment” is needed to climb to the tops and face the cold, the most important thing to have “A lot of willpower” and “financing”. With these birds, he says, “Getting funds is especially difficult”.
“First, because the administration usually gives more priority to species that have more conflicts with people or that are better known; And second, because when your research is so complicated, it is possible that you end up with little information and that sometimes the objectives are not fully achieved, “says the scientist
‘It is the fish that bites the tail. They are unknown because they are not being investigated, but they don’t get a chance either“, Coincides García-Navas, who also bet on” strengthening the policy for reducing emissions “and for a more balanced agriculture with the environment.
You work on counting these birds. “It consists of going to the right habitat areas and performing transects or routes of a certain length, in a representative part and with homogeneous characteristics, and the species that are seen in it are noted so that others can be extrapolated“He says.
Moreover, it is claimed to offer them more visibility, so in their annual bird competition the three high mountain species mentioned were presented, which were chosen by the public in January Treparriscos when The Ave of the Year 2025. ‘It was intended to draw attention to a group of birds that are known relatively little and on which there is a common transformation due to climate change“Explica orrueta.
In that sense, the coordinator defends that although these investigations are generally conducted by professionals, they also Citizen Science projects are very useful. Sometimes, he says, they are exactly the “sporadic observations“Those they post”On the road“Of this Shaft that is considering “as enigmatic as revealing“.