Overview
- Provisional counts from NABU show at least 495 breeding pairs in the state, with final totals expected to exceed 500 once volunteer regional checks are completed.
- Despite more nests, average chick survival is under two fledglings per pair, below the roughly 2.4 young needed to keep the population stable, so the boom does not yet equal demographic security.
- Scientists attribute the rise to so-called Westzieher that winter in Western Europe and exploit Spanish open landfills for easy food, which shortens migration stress and speeds maturity and return to breeding sites.
- The European Union is pursuing legal action over Spain’s open dumps, and experts warn that closing or remediating those landfills could abruptly remove the artificial food supply that fuels the current increase.
- Local results this season are mixed: some sites such as Langenneufnach show likely hatchlings and functioning nests, while places like Peisching and Schwarzau report nests without eggs or collapsing structures, highlighting uneven on-the-ground outcomes.