In the Mediterranean, songbird poaching and smuggling is a widespread illegal practice. According to Bird Life’s The Killing, “Of the 25 million birds illegally killed in the Mediterranean each year, 20.1 million of those are songbirds.” Songbirds like Goldfinches and Blackcaps (photographed are Crested Larks) are native to the region and are generally weaker due to their small size, making them especially vulnerable to this threat. These songbirds are poached in Greece for many reasons including use as: cage birds and pets, bait for further traps, and meat for gourmet meals (ambelopoulia, a common delicacy in Cyprus costing as much as 80 euros). Songbirds are often collected as cage birds because of their charming songs and are sold to the public who are generally unaware of the legal and environmental implications of their captivity. Songbirds are caught using methods such as shooting, netting, and gluing. Gluing is an illegal method that involves lime sticks, twigs coated in a sticky substance, that are positioned to resemble an attractive perch, which instead cause songbirds to become stuck for poachers to capture.

Bird poaching is addressed in Greek law, where hunting is limited to specific methods and seasons and trapping is strictly forbidden. Greece currently has penalties to enforce these regulations, such as fines and potential imprisonment. The EU Birds Directive “prohibits hunting of species (such as endangered species) listed in the Directive Annexes, hunting during the spring migration, and trapping techniques considered cruel and indiscriminate” [Birds Directive]. According to the Birds Directive, at least 32% of the EU's bird species are at risk. This statistic makes it clear that much more needs to be done to protect songbird populations in the Mediterranean.