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Stop harvesting olives at night — it kills millions of songbirds

  1. Luis P. da Silva
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  2. Vanessa A. Mata

    1. Research Center in Biodiversity and Genetic Resources, Vairão, Portugal.

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From October to January, millions of birds from central and northern Europe winter in the Mediterranean basin. Suction olive harvesting at night kills these legally protected birds on a catastrophic scale as they rest in the bushes. This year, Spain’s Andalusian government recommended that the practice be stopped; currently, an estimated 2.6 million birds are vacuumed up annually in the country (see go.nature.com/2zkomts). Other big olive-producing countries should follow their lead.

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Nature 569, 192 (2019)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-019-01456-4

Updates & Corrections

  • Correction 24 May 2019: An earlier version of this Correspondence incorrectly stated that Spain’s Andalusian government ended night-time suction harvesting of olives this year.

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