On 14 October, the European Red List of Birds 2021 was published, assessing the status of all 544 species living (occurring) in Europe. This compilation was created through the cooperation of BirdLife International and the IUCN, with funding provided by the European Commission.

FACE is pleased that around 80% of European bird species are of least concern. FACE identifies a problem in the fact that declining population trends have been observed in 30% of cases when looking at all species, and 40% of cases when looking at waterbirds specifically.

Regarding game birds, the situation has worsened for the northern pintail, the common eider and the common snipe. The Eurasian wigeon and the tufted duck are showing declining population trends. A number of duck species show a decrease in breeding numbers, which, however, can be explained by a change in the species' wintering habits. For example, the number of breeding Eurasian wigeon pairs has decreased by 55 thousand, but the species is still well-represented in the European Union, as around 1 million individuals overwinter within its territory.