Heat wave in Spain caused hundreds of young swallows to be 'baked'

Hundreds of young swallows littered the streets of the southern part of the country after falling from their nests due to the impact of the heat wave.

Swallows often nest in buildings using construction materials such as concrete or metal. This environment combined with heat waves that have reached over 40 degrees Celsius in recent days in Spain can turn their nests into furnaces. "They're literally being grilled," said Elena Moreno Portillo, an animal activist at the Ecourbe conservation group in Seville.

A young swallow ready to fly after being cared for and recovered.

According to Ecourbe, people are collecting boxes filled with baby birds. In Seville and Cordoba, where there are large urban swallows, the number of birds collected in a day is up to a hundred. Hundreds of birds are taken to rehabilitation centers in the hope that the survivors can recover.

A volunteer named Diego shared that he goes to the city airport every day to collect baby birds that need help because there are birds living there. In the past week, Diego has rescued 80 birds and sent them to the Center for Endangered Birds Rehabilitation (CREA) in San Jerónimo. However, Diego said the number of dead birds far outweighed the number of survivors.

The reason why so many birds died this year was because of the early heat wave. Normally, such high temperatures are common in July or August, not June. June falls again during the swallow's breeding season. If the heat wave came later than in previous years, it is likely that many young birds would have been able to fly, according to Moreno Portillo.

The weather agency AEMET said the current heat wave is the earliest to appear since 1981. Soaring temperatures are also affecting the United States and are responsible for the deaths of thousands of cows. Scientists warn that the Earth's temperature has continuously increased since the Industrial Revolution and human activity is the main cause of global warming. According to NASA, 9 of the 10 hottest years on record were in the past decade.