site.btaCensus of White Stork Population in Bulgaria to Be Conducted in June

The Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds (BSPB) launched an information and donation campaign called The Year of the White Stork on Tuesday, dedicated to the study and conservation of the species, said Svilen Chesmedjiev from the BSPB.

The campaign will also be part of the 8th International White Stork Census, which is being organised in over 40 countries around the world in 2024. In Bulgaria, the census will be held in June and July, covering more than 5,000 settlements across the country. Chesmedjiev said that anyone can join the initiative by recording their observations in the SmartBirds mobile application.

Chesmedjiev presented data from 2014, when the last census took place, according to which the region with the most stork nests in the country is Plovdiv, where there are 667 nests, followed by Haskovo Region with 663 nests and Sofia Region with 450 nests.

According to him, the purpose of the census is not only to establish the number of birds, but also to identify threats to the species. So far experts have found that among the most serious of threats are the industrialisation, monoculture and use of chemical in agriculture and the disappearance of the wetlands, where the stork most often finds its food, said the BSPB expert.

For these reasons, the BSPB is starting a donation campaign dedicated to the study and preservation of the species, Chesmedjiev said. He listed some of the initiatives for which donations are collected, among which are the organisation of the census, the purchase of transmitters for the study of migration and the purchase of pastures in South-Eastern Bulgaria.

The stork is one of the birds that live closest to humans and is a sensitive indicator of the state of the environment, Chesmedjiev pointed out. According to him, where there are more white storks, there are not only cleaner wetlands, but also agricultural lands with less pesticides. He expressed hope that there is an increase in the number of nesting white storks in Bulgaria in 2024.