World Migratory Bird Day
Next: May 8, 2027
Look up: the travellers are passing through.
The story
Where it comes from
World Migratory Bird Day began in 2006, launched by two UN wildlife treaties, the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) and the African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbird Agreement (AEWA), with a first celebration in Kenya. Migratory birds were then being blamed for spreading bird flu, and the day set out to show why they deserve protection. In 2018 it joined with the Americas' International Migratory Bird Day to form one global campaign, held on the second Saturday of May and again on the second Saturday of October, the peaks of migration.
How it's celebrated
People around the world hold bird festivals, education programmes, exhibitions and bird-watching walks, and register them on the campaign's website. Along the East Asian-Australasian Flyway, a partnership of governments and conservation groups coordinates events in each country on the route. Anyone with a window, a park or a pair of binoculars can join in.
Did you know
- The partnership that created today's single global day was announced in Manila in October 2017, at a meeting of the Convention on Migratory Species.
- Its American forerunner, International Migratory Bird Day, was created in 1993 by the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center.
- The day follows three great bird highways: the African-Eurasian, the East Asian-Australasian and the Americas flyways.
Coming up next
- Mother's Day · May 9, 2027
- J. M. Barrie's Birthday · May 9, 2027
- The First Transcontinental Railroad Is Completed · May 10, 2027
- International Day of Argania · May 10, 2027
- Deep Blue Beats the Chess Champion · May 11, 2027
- International Nurses Day · May 12, 2027