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In their reply to Rosin et al.(2021), Hertzog et al.(2022), while generally agreeing that village modernization (VM) may be an overlooked driver of variation in farmland bird abundances, raise three issues of criticism:(1) an inappropriate space-for-time substitution was used for predicting declines,(2) the abundance of field nesting birds could be driven by a factor other than VM, and (3) our discussion of relevant EU programs for conservation measures targeted on rural buildings was too narrow. First, we agree our results could be misinterpreted as a space-for-time substitution if readers only consult the abstract. Our study was conducted in the context of documented population declines of farmland birds (along a temporal gradient), but our results concern predicted declines or changes in bird numbers across a spatial gradient. It is important for readers to understand that our models do not explicitly predict population trends in relation to future scenarios of VM or agricultural intensification