Since January 2023, thousands of seabirds have been stranding on the Atlantic coast of Spain, France and Portugal. While the avian flu crisis shows no signs of being resolved, these strandings could be the consequence of the series of storms that hit the Atlantic coast in December and January.
In Spain, the SEO has launched volunteer monitoring using the ICAO application. So far, over 500 stranded birds have been counted in Cantabria, 350 in the Canaries and 300 in Asturias, but the final figures should be much higher once the monitoring is completed (more information in this article). In Portugal, strandings appear to be even more massive, and the SPEA has deployed a large number of volunteers to count them. In France, LIFE SeaBiL monitoring took place during the winter of 2022/2023, and an alarming number of black-legged kittiwakes were found washed ashore.
Around 20% of seabirds that die at sea are washed ashore, suggesting a high mortality rate for the species concerned this winter. The species most affected by this episode are, above all, puffins, but also razorbills, guillemots, gannets, kittiwakes, storm-petrels and fulmars. Pelagic birds that spend most of their life cycle at sea, some of which are not very common on our coasts, and which are weakened by these storms and violent winds, affecting their mobility and their search for food.
