Long-term changes of bird communities were investigated in areas with low-intensity forestry and farming practices in the French northern Alps (Giffre valley) by comparing two point count surveys carried out at the same sites in 1978/1980 and 2001/2002. Logistic regressions were applied to the 49 commonest woodland and farmland species controlling for habitat changes, variability in sampling conditions at the site scale and year-to-year fluctuations in bird numbers. This analysis revealed that the proportion of declining species was not different between trans-Saharan and resident species, but only seven migratory species were considered in the analysis. The proportion of decreasing species was higher in farmland than woodland species.The overall abundance of woodland species was constant, probably because forest habitats changed little over this time period. Farmland specialist species decreased whereas generalist open habitat species remained stable, with the exception of white wagtail Motacilla alba. These trends are probably a response to the intensification in farming practice following greater mechanisation.The proportion of decreasing species among farmland birds did not differ between the Giffre valley, France and Europe, showing that the situation of farmland birds is not safer in alpine habitats.