Aquatic Warblers: a first workshop to monitor the 2026 migration
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AWOM
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Biodiversity - Flyways
On 4 November 2025, an online workshop was organised by the LIFE AWOM project partners, Pôle-relais lagunes méditerranéennes and Tour du Valat. It gathered around twenty participants, including bird ringers and site managers from around the French Mediterranean, who host or could host migrating Aquatic Warblers during their migration, as well as other partners from the Aquatic Warblers on the Move project (LIFE AWOM).
The LIFE AWOM project, along with the French National Action Plan for Aquatic Warblers (PNA), is planning monitoring campaigns of this bird in spring 2026 and 2027, while they are migrating over the French Mediterranean.
In this framework, this workshop aimed at:
- Present the framework of the LIFE AWOM and initial feedback from partners, notably by the following organisations: Bretagne Vivante, the Groupe Ornithologique du Roussillon and the Groupe Ornithologique Normand;
- Discuss the opportunity for the participants to actively monitor next Aquatic Warblers’ migrations in spring 2026 and 2027 through ringing or acoustic monitoring, namely: set up a ringing station that would cover at least 10 days; and carry out passive acoustic monitoring with recorders to detect the species.
This workshop addresses the challenge set out within the French National Action Plan for the species, aiming to “deepen knowledge and manage the habitats of the Aquatic Warblers on pre-nuptial migration sites“. As a matter of fact, knowledge of the spring migration of Aquatic Warblers around the Mediterranean and along the Rhone axis remains incomplete (unlike the autumn migration on the Atlantic coast). This objective will therefore enable to better identify in the Mediterranean:
- The importance of sites for pre-nuptial migration of the Aquatic Warblers;
- The frequency of bird stops (regular, occasional, etc.) in the area;
- Management and protection measures for the sustainability of these sites.
The workshop enabled the implementation of the following actions:
- Circulate an acoustic monitoring protocol specifying the planned period, activation times, the equipment to be used, the data to be collected (water levels, geographical coordinates, etc.) and ways to transmit them.
- Sharing in a mailing list (comprising all stakeholders involved in the management of French Mediterranean coastal wetlands and their ringing partners) a shared spreadsheet to identify the resources needed for acoustic monitoring and ringing, to plan actions for next spring at suitable sites.
- Distribute a call for volunteers to mobilise people who would like to apply a simplified acoustic protocol (to be defined) to record/detect singing Aquatic Warblers at stopover sites during their pre-nuptial migration in France (April-May).
- Check the stock of available recorders and assess the equipment needs within the network of potential site managers in the French Mediterranean.
Background information
This workshop follows on from the first technical committee meeting held in 2024 and is part of a series of workshops to be organised by the Pôle-relais lagunes méditerranéennes to promote exchanges within the bird ringers’ network in the French Mediterranean, with a view to conserving the species.
Launched on 1st January 2025, LIFE AWOM (Aquatic Warblers on the Move) aims to continue conservation efforts for the Aquatic Warbler, the most endangered migratory passerine bird in continental Europe. This five-year project aims to develop a comprehensive, coherent and climate-resilient network of migratory stopovers for this species, notably through the restoration of wetlands along its migratory route and in its wintering grounds.
