Mysterious decline in Berlin: The chirping falls silent - sparrows "as if dissolved into thin air"
Sparrows are among the most popular birds - and particularly love living in Berlin due to its many grimy corners. Something evil is afoot with these feathered delights: They are disappearing.
The House Sparrow population in Berlin has drastically declined, with numbers down by around 70% since 2021, according to biologist Jörg Böhner. The Nature Conservation Association (Nabu) Berlin also reports a "free fall" in sparrow populations in the city, with no clear cause identified. Berlin was previously considered the "Spatzenhauptstadt" (Sparrow Capital) of Germany, with an estimated 190,000 breeding pairs in 2021, but the population has been declining rapidly.
A possible cause of the decline is a disease, such as avian malaria, which is spread by mosquitoes and may be exacerbated by climate change.
Written by urgent.news from Handelsblatt's report — not a translation of it. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
