site.btaVolunteers Count 6,240 Sparrows on April 27

Volunteers across Bulgaria counted 6,240 sparrows during the 8th edition of the Let's Count the Sparrows campaign of the Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds (BSPB). The count took place in 465 locations on April 27.

House sparrows were by far the largest group at 5,178 (83%), followed by 958 tree sparrows (15%), and 104 Spanish sparrows (2%), the BSPB said.

The average number of birds per location was 13. The single most numerous count was 203 birds in the southern town of Asenovgrad. Sofia and Varna also reported large numbers of sparrows, 200 and 155 respectively.

The locations with no sparrows were 16%, compared to 13% in 2023 and 9% in 2022. The largest number of sparrows were seen in house backyards (39%), followed by green spaces between residential buildings (27%), parks (12%), town squares (6%) and quiet streets (4%). This underlines yet again the significance of green areas as an important environment for biodiversity in cities, the BSPB commented.

In October 2023, the BSPB presented the findings of a 19-year study of the most widespread bird species. The total bird index decreased by 13% in 2022 and by 14% in 2023.