The state of the lake in Srebarna Reserve is good this year, a check by BTA shows. Momchil Petrov, an expert from the Ruse Regional Environment and Water Inspectorate, explained that this is the result of sufficient water coming from the Danube, unlike in 2022 when the water level was too low. There are thus conditions for the normal development of the ecosystem in the lake.
The expert said that the Dalmatian pelicans who traditionally reside in Srebarna Reserve arrived too early this year due to the untypically high temperatures in January. Some 40 pairs began nesting then, but in February the drop in temperatures led to the water in the lake freezing and predators reaching the eggs. All pelicans left the lake for two to three weeks; some 10 pairs returned to nest again, while the rest raised their chicks in the Kalimok-Brashlen protected area.
In Srebarna Reserve, there currently are some 15 to 17 young Dalmatian pelicans who can already fly.
According to Petrov, climate change affects the protected birds' generation as well as their migration. The mid-winter bird census, which is conducted annually in January, shows that there were no pelicans wintering in Bulgaria some twenty years ago, while the last years have seen an increasing number who spend the winter on the islands along the Danube. Their migration has been reduced: they no longer fly sought to African countries, and in very harsh winters they reach only the north coast of the Mediterranean, the expert specified.
/RY/
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