Global BirdsongInitiative
One Flock. One Chorus.
Birds pay no attention to the borders we draw. Their songs travel with them across continents, along the great flyways, carrying news of one landscape to the next. Wherever BirdLife works, birdsong is already there. So, for the first time, we have made it the voice of the whole Partnership.
The Global Birdsong Initiative is a simple idea at heart. Nearly all of our 125 Partners have contributed a bird sound from their own corner of the world, and more than 100 countries are now in the collection. Some chose a familiar garden voice. Others chose a species of deep cultural meaning, or a bird whose survival hangs in the balance.
Premiering at BirdLife’s Global Flyways Summit and Partnership Meeting 2026, we thought we should leave words, policies, science and the facts we do so well briefly to one side. We wanted an additional story that could bring the whole Partnership together, across every language and landscape we share, and birdsong does that better than any slide or speech.
Listen to the full song below
discover the full song breakdown here
Meet the artists
Tim Arinaitwe (left) and Axel Wild (right)
From those hundred and more countries, two musicians have made one piece of music. Tim Arinaitwe, from Nairobi, and Axel Wild, from Italy, who has spent years composing with birdsong across Africa, have woven the calls into an original work where Afrobeat rhythm meets electronic production and the birds become the instruments. It follows the movement of birds across the world, a journey in sound along the flyways that bind us.
This belongs to all of us. Partners from Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, the Middle East and the Pacific are in it, everyone represented by sounds from home. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology also helped us record, train and support Partners and ensure a diversity of voices could join our chorus
Climate change and habitat loss are silencing the natural world. This makes these voices more precious than ever, so now this is the moment to raise them. Birdsong is more than a sound slipping away. It is a call, to our hearts, our ears and our imaginations. Come and listen. Enjoy our project launch video below.
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