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Prologues

Discover the reflections of those managing the Community of Madrid and the National Park on the conservation of birds and biodiversity within the autonomous community and the protected area.

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Prologues

Carlos Novillo Piris

Regional Minister for the Environment, Agriculture and Internal Affairs

"Presentation – Community of Madrid"

It is an honor and a pleasure to present this rigorous work carried out by the Spanish Ornithological Society for the Community of Madrid. Rigorous for the amount of information it offers the reader, but also truly beautiful because of the subject it addresses.

It is an honor and a pleasure to present this rigorous work carried out by the Spanish Ornithological Society for the Community of Madrid. Rigorous because of the amount of information it offers the reader, but also truly beautiful because of the subject it addresses.

Nature itself is beautiful because, as one delves deeper into its understanding, it reveals the harmony of a perfectly designed system in which only one animal species causes deep alterations; all the others fulfill their role perfectly within the network of relationships. That species is the human being, yet it is also the only one capable of feeling the beauty of nature when acting merely as an observer.

Within this complex system, beautiful in itself, birds stand out. They are an especially attractive group because they are familiar, can be observed without excessive difficulty, and also because of the variety of their shapes, colors, habits, and distribution. This is why monitoring them inspires genuine passion.

This passion must be used by those of us who have responsibilities and a commitment to nature conservation. Birds are a vehicle to bring our increasingly urban society closer to the countryside—not to invade it, but to understand it, love it, and protect it. We must use this natural tendency towards the study of birds to convey awareness messages aimed not only at protecting these species but also at encouraging changes in daily habits that help us reduce our impact on the nature around us. This atlas can serve as a tool in this regard, and we must use it as such.

However, the purpose of this publication, although its format appears educational, is scientific. Knowledge is the basis of management. Without a deep understanding of what we are dealing with, we would manage the national park blindly, making repeated mistakes. Having this atlas for the protected area is a tool to know where we are heading and how the rapid changes we are experiencing are affecting this important fauna group. By monitoring the diversity and distribution of birds—being a group relatively easy to observe—we will gain insight into the conservation status of other groups whose monitoring is more complex, and more generally, into the conservation status of the park.

Completing this work is a goal achieved for the national park and for SEO, but it is also the starting point for an important monitoring line.

Thank you, SEO. Well done.

Pablo Sanjuanbenito García

Co-director and Conservation Manager of the Sierra de Guadarrama National Park

"Presentation – Sierra de Guadarrama National Park"

The atlas of breeding species of the Sierra de Guadarrama National Park is both a management tool for the Community of Madrid—specifically for the technicians who manage the park—and a window into nature for anyone who consults it.

The atlas of breeding species of the Sierra de Guadarrama National Park is both a management tool for the Community of Madrid—specifically for the technicians who manage the park—and a window into nature for anyone who consults it.

The digital format replaces the printed version in most of our field outings, just as the mobile phone camera has replaced traditional photography. Only ornithologists continue to carry their powerful telephoto lenses, providing us with the best images of wildlife captured from dozens of meters away. With this atlas, birds are brought closer to our screens, neatly organized and accompanied by a wealth of information about their habits and distribution. Using this digital tool, we can design our own search until we find the image that allows us to identify the bird we have observed through our binoculars.

But while all this is useful for the many birdwatching enthusiasts—or even hikers—in the Sierra de Guadarrama, for park managers the atlas provides a static snapshot of the catalogue of species recorded under a specific methodology, with special attention to their distribution. This tool will allow us, by repeating the process, to monitor population trends and, through that follow-up, to detect impacts that may threaten these species.

These threats may originate from disordered and/or massive public visitation in certain areas of the park, from atmospheric pollution caused by the nearby city of Madrid, from imbalances in predator or prey populations, from poor habitat conservation status, from the loss of natural refuges, or from the pressing changes in climate. Some of these factors will be difficult to control at the scale of a national park, but others can be mitigated through management measures. The change may even be positive: we may detect the expansion or increase in density of a species, which would indicate that the factor previously affecting it negatively is diminishing.

All of this information will help park technicians understand how the system works and, as far as possible, implement corrective actions against harmful impacts. Without deep knowledge, there can be no effective management.

Kiko Alvarez

Head of the Species and Spaces Unit of SEO/BirdLife

"Presentation - SEO/BirdLife"

This atlas goes beyond the concept of a simple inventory; it is a dynamic tool that will enable us to track how biodiversity evolves in a context of global change. It embodies a shared commitment to ensuring that future generations have reliable information to safeguard the natural heritage that defines us.

Breeding bird atlases are essential tools for understanding and managing our natural resources. They allow us to precisely identify which species breed in a given territory, how they are distributed, and in which habitats they occur, providing a solid scientific foundation for decision-making in conservation. In the context of national parks, these studies acquire added value by contributing directly to the fulfilment of the protection, monitoring, and outreach objectives established by current legislation.

This effort is especially meaningful in the Sierra de Guadarrama National Park, whose commitment to science-based management deserves to be highlighted. Having a solid foundation of scientific information is essential to guarantee the conservation of its natural values, and we are grateful for the trust placed in SEO/BirdLife to carry out this work. This collaboration reinforces the importance of joining forces between the administration and scientific organisations to address the challenges posed by conservation in a context of global change.

This collaboration becomes even more relevant in a scenario marked by profound global changes that are deeply altering ecosystems, and in which birds serve as excellent bioindicators of these transformations. High-mountain species, particularly sensitive to temperature variations and habitat shifts, are already showing signs of altitudinal displacement, population declines, or changes in their breeding phenology. In this sense, the Sierra de Guadarrama National Park, due to its high-mountain character, represents a privileged setting to observe and document these impacts. This work provides an updated overview of the park’s breeding birds and constitutes a valuable piece of evidence on the effects of climate change on the biodiversity of these fragile ecosystems. Thus, having distribution and abundance atlases for all taxonomic groups is key to fulfilling the National Parks Act and ensuring proper management of protected areas.

This atlas is supported by exhaustive fieldwork conducted across the different environments of the 21,714 ha covered by the National Park. Thanks to this work, 98 breeding species have been recorded, 75 of which appear in the List of Wild Species under Special Protection, with notable highlights such as the Spanish imperial eagle, the red kite, the cinereous vulture, and the Bonelli’s eagle, all included in the Spanish Catalogue of Threatened Species. These findings reinforce the importance of the park as a refuge for threatened species and underline the need for continuous monitoring in a changing context.

The work carried out by SEO/BirdLife in this atlas sets a precedent and serves as an example of detailed and repeatable inventorying over time, providing an accurate snapshot of the current situation and allowing future changes to be assessed from a replicable baseline, ensuring its long-term relevance and usefulness. This is also the first breeding bird atlas produced specifically at the National Park scale in Spain, highlighting its pioneering nature and its scientific and conservation significance.

At SEO/BirdLife, we understand that this type of initiative not only enriches our knowledge of the biodiversity within protected areas, but also strengthens the capacity to respond to current environmental challenges. Contributing to the ecological monitoring of national parks, in collaboration with the Autonomous National Parks Agency (OAPN), is part of our commitment to evidence-based conservation and to the continual improvement of public biodiversity policies.

This atlas goes beyond the idea of a simple inventory; it is a dynamic tool that will allow us to track the evolution of biodiversity in a context of global change. It represents a shared commitment that ensures future generations will have solid information to conserve the natural wealth that defines us. With initiatives such as this one, we move towards more effective management grounded in science and collaboration, ensuring that the values of the Sierra de Guadarrama National Park endure over time.