Every autumn and spring, millions of birds follow the Danube River as they migrate across Europe. But they must also navigate a lethal gauntlet of power lines and other electricity infrastructure on their journey, leading to thousands of avoidable deaths and injuries.
To mark World Migratory Bird Day, we look at how the LIFE DANUBE FREE SKY project has been taking steps to reduce this death toll. The project estimates its work will save the lives of at least 2 000 birds each year in the Lower Danube and Danube Delta.
‘Power lines crossing these habitats can be difficult for birds to see, leading to collisions with the wires, while some poles pose a risk of electrocution,’ says Lucia Deutschová, project manager of LIFE Danube Free Sky. ‘For birds travelling across borders, these hazards can turn an otherwise safe journey into a fatal one. Such incidents can also damage electrical equipment and cause power outages or wildfires.’
The lower Danube and Danube Delta host around 360 bird species, including rare Dalmatian pelicans, Red-breasted geese, Saker falcons and Imperial eagles. Surveys by the project team along 1 580km of power lines and 12 535 poles found the corpses of 1 009 electrocuted birds and a further 824 which had collided with power lines. It is estimated that 20% of the breeding population of Saker falcons, Imperial eagles and Dalmatian pelicans are killed in this way each year.
The surveys allowed the project partners to identify the highest risk sites in 23 Special Protection Areas part of the EU Natura 2000 Network and 9 Important Bird Areas along the Danube in Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria and Romania. The team then installed ‘flight diverters’ – specially designed coloured tags or black and white streamers that are highly visible to birds in both daylight and at night – on 260km of power lines at these sites. They also replaced conductors and insulated nearly 4 000 poles to reduce the risk of electrocution to any birds that might perch on them.
‘Based on monitoring data, we estimate that these measures prevent the deaths of more than 500 birds from the project’s 12 target species each year, as well as many birds of other species’, says Deutschová.
LIFE Danube Free Sky is not, however, the only project addressing this challenge: for more than a decade, the LIFE Programme has supported multiple projects with more than €52 million of funding to reduce the threats from electricity infrastructure to birds, including rare Lanner falcons, Great bustards and Griffon vultures. And it’s not just the birds that benefit. ‘As electricity demand grows and power grids expand, the EU needs networks that are both safe and reliable,’ says Deutschová, who added: ‘LIFE Danube Free Sky shows how protecting birds along one of the most critical and largest bird migration corridors in Europe can go hand-in-hand with reducing bird-related faults and power outages.’
LIFE Danube Free Sky supports the implementation of the EU Birds Directive, the Natura 2000 network and the Biodiversity Strategy for 2030.
- Publication date
- 9 October 2026
- Author
- European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency
