national Bird day

One of several designated holidays celebrating birds, using today to shine a spotlight on issues critical to the protection and survival of birds, both captive and wild.

I definitely think that Ireland should also have a day for the birds, Native Bird Day or National Garden Bird Day or something. Something rather than nothing

As an isolated island at the edge of Europe we have less breeding birds than even our nearest neighbour, the UK, and our farmland and upland birds here continue to face ever increasing loss of habitat; people are often unaware of the true costs of what we call our countryside. Public awareness and education about the survival and well-being of the world's birds depends upon public support for conservation as today, nearly 12 percent of the world's almost 10,000 bird species may face extinction (some think in as little as 35-50 years).

In Ireland, the RED list, those birds of high concern, makes grim reading (the Barn Owl was on the Amber List when I moved to Ireland and now it's on the Red List). It doesn't take much for a bird to move up the lists but perhaps with a National Day for Birds the concern and the promotion for our wild birds can come to the forefront...

Perhaps a Bird of the Year as part of our BIrd Day, so that it changes each year - the obvious choice to start - the robin, as no matter where you go, garden or hedgerow or walks in fields, parks or forests, there's always a robin