The Flemish Bird Atlas
Now that the last young have fledged, the 2024 breeding season is over. This also ends the fieldwork for the Flemish Bird Atlas. We made a false start due to the corona crisis in 2020, but by now we have walked and cycled all over Flanders in search of breeding and - for the first time - wintering birds. The latter had never before been the subject of an atlas in our country. However, many species spend the winter here, sometimes in large numbers.
Together with Natuurpunt Study and Sovon, we are now processing the results. That starts with the quality control of 645 atlas squares of 5x5 km, with population estimates for both seasons. Afterwards, the actual writing work begins. Some 300 bird species will pass in review, each with a description of its population, trend and distribution in Flanders. You can expect the book to be published in early 2026.
We followed the same standard inventory method as for the previous Flemish (breeding bird) atlas from 2004. This allows us to compare very well between years and areas. The method comes from the Netherlands.
The Flemish Bird Atlas will become an important benchmark in the light of climate change and other societal evolutions.
Making an area-wide atlas is a lot of work and is only repeated every 20 years or so in most countries. With the availability of more digital possibilities, we will be able to do this more quickly in the future. We would like to thank all 500 volunteer fieldworkers and regional coordinators for their hard work. Without them, such a project would be impossible.
Olivier Dochy, on behalf of the Atlasteam