Presentation of the Bird Atlas for the Metropolitan City of Venice

On Friday, 8 May 2026 at 18:00 the Giancarlo Ligabue Natural History Museum in Venice will host the presentation of the new Atlas of breeding and wintering birds for the Metropolitan City. Produced in collaboration with Venice Birdwatching, the volume updates knowledge on local bird distribution by comparing data collected between 2019 and 2023 with the previous thirty years.

The Atlas offers a clear assessment of species' conservation status and the main threats facing birds across the Venice metropolitan area.

• Survey effort: more than 181,000 observations carried out by 81 volunteer observers.
• Species recorded: 135 breeding species and 190 wintering species in the former province of Venice.
• Key habitats: the lagoon and fishing marshes remain biodiversity hotspots, especially during winter.
• Threats identified: marked decline of species linked to open and agricultural habitats due to the loss of marginal features (ditches, hedges, field edges) and increased use of herbicides and insecticides.

Project coordinators, including Mauro Bon (head of research and scientific outreach at the Museum) and Emanuele Stival (ornithologist and president of Venice Birdwatching), will present monitoring methods and implications for land management.

Practical information: the presentation is open to the public. Attendance requires collecting a free pass at the Museum ticket office from thirty minutes before the start time, while places are available.

The Atlas data serve as a practical resource for researchers, planners and environmental managers working to protect biodiversity and plan sustainable interventions in the Venice area.