As the world marks World Migratory Bird Day on 10 October, Lebanon has a special responsibility—and an opportunity—to protect the birds crossing its skies. This year’s theme, “Every Bird Counts – Your Observations Matter!”, highlights how people can contribute to conservation through observing, recording and protecting nature.
A flock passing over a village, an eagle soaring above a mountain ridge, or a small bird resting beside a wetland can reveal something important about the natural world. When these observations are carefully recorded and shared, they become part of the evidence needed to understand migration and protect the places birds depend on.
World Migratory Bird Day 2026, observed on 9 May and 10 October, places community science—also known as citizen science—at the centre of this effort. It recognizes the contribution of volunteers, students, local communities and birdwatchers to understanding migration patterns, changes in bird populations and pressures on habitats.
For the Society for the Protection of Nature in Lebanon (SPNL), the message connects directly with a conservation approach rooted in community participation: protecting nature with people.
Lebanon’s skies connect continents
Lebanon lies along a major migration corridor linking Europe and West Asia with Africa. Every spring and autumn, millions of birds pass through or over the country, making its landscapes part of a much larger ecological network. SPNL has highlighted the international significance of this passage and the need to protect the birds that use it.
This means that conservation decisions in Lebanon have consequences beyond its borders. A safe passage through one country can be undermined by threats in another. Equally, protecting a resting or feeding site in Lebanon can help birds complete journeys that extend across several countries.
Lebanon’s responsibility therefore reaches from the local to the international: safeguarding a wetland, maintaining a healthy woodland, or preventing illegal shooting contributes to the protection of a shared natural heritage.
Why observations matter
Protecting birds requires reliable knowledge. Which species use a particular site? When do they arrive? Where do they stop? Are sightings changing over time?
Community science helps answer these questions by bringing more people into the process of observation and documentation. Repeated records, collected using consistent methods, can help researchers distinguish a single unusual sighting from a meaningful pattern.
The value lies in both participation and quality. A useful observation includes the location, date, species identification where possible, number of birds and information about the time spent observing. Uncertain identifications should remain clearly marked as uncertain.
For Lebanon, expanding this participation could strengthen the evidence available to conservation organizations and municipalities, while helping communities better understand the wildlife around them.
From birdwatching to conservation in Lebanon
SPNL’s fieldwork already demonstrates how public engagement and bird monitoring can support each other.
During June and July 2026, activities led by SPNL Nature Guide and Bird Monitoring Officer Chadi Saad combined monitoring, guided visits and environmental education in Hammana and other sites in Mount Lebanon and the Bekaa. Observations contributed to the eBird platform, connecting local fieldwork with a wider biodiversity information network. Monitoring locations included Hammana Hima Farm, a raptor migration viewpoint and the Anahita Bird Watching Site.
SPNL has also supported citizen science training, including a workshop held in Ras El Maten in February 2025, and developed biodiversity maps and monitoring databases to inform conservation planning. These efforts show how local knowledge, training and scientific methods can work together.
The next opportunity is to make participation sustained: encouraging people to return to the same sites, improve their identification skills and contribute observations throughout the year.
The Hima approach: communities as guardians of nature
This year’s theme resonates strongly with SPNL’s Hima approach, which places communities at the heart of conservation.
Through Hima sites and the Homat Al Hima programme, SPNL connects habitat protection with local participation, learning and stewardship. Its recent regional engagement has also emphasized the role of community conservation in linking migratory flyways, biodiversity and local livelihoods.
Community science can strengthen this approach. People who regularly observe their surroundings can help identify changes, document wildlife and draw attention to emerging pressures. With appropriate training and expert support, their observations can contribute to decisions about habitat management and protection.
For young people, this offers a practical way to participate. Learning to recognize a bird, record its presence and understand its habitat turns environmental education into an activity with a clear purpose.
Counting must lead to protection
Better information matters most when it supports action.
Illegal bird killing remains a serious conservation challenge in Lebanon. SPNL’s Safe Flyway 3 work combined community engagement, education and cooperation with enforcement authorities. Across the 2023–2025 project period, its Anti-Poaching Unit documented and followed up on 463 violation cases in cooperation with the Internal Security Forces, while the programme also supported training and the rescue of injured migratory birds.
Bird observations and reports of wildlife crime serve different purposes, but both can support protection when handled responsibly. Monitoring can help identify important migration sites; documented violations can assist the competent authorities.
Neither task should expose volunteers to danger. Suspected violations should be reported through appropriate channels, without confronting offenders.
How people in Lebanon can take part
World Migratory Bird Day offers a starting point for participation that can continue throughout the year:
- Join a guided birdwatching or monitoring activity. Learn from experienced observers and follow the group’s recording methods.
- Observe regularly. Returning to the same accessible location helps build a more useful record over time.
- Record carefully. Note the date, location, observation duration, species and numbers, and distinguish estimates from exact counts.
- Share observations through established monitoring programmes or platforms, following their guidance.
- Protect birds while watching them. Keep a respectful distance, avoid disturbing nests or resting flocks, and handle sensitive location information carefully.
- Bring schools and communities into the effort. A supervised bird count can connect science, outdoor learning and care for local habitats.
Organizers can also find campaign resources and register activities through the World Migratory Bird Day website.
A shared responsibility, beginning locally
For Lebanon, World Migratory Bird Day is a reminder that a small country can play a significant role in protecting journeys across continents.
Every carefully recorded sighting can add to our understanding. Every protected habitat can help sustain migration. Every community that becomes involved can strengthen the public support needed for lasting conservation.
Through its Hima approach, bird monitoring, environmental education and anti-poaching partnerships, SPNL’s work demonstrates how that responsibility can become practical action.
Every bird counts. Every observation matters. And Lebanon’s communities have an essential role in keeping migration alive.
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