site.btaBird Ringed in Africa Spotted in Bulgaria at Northern Black Sea Coast

The Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds (BSPB) spotted a ringed curlew sandpiper in the area of Tyulenevo village on May 5, BSPB reported on their website. After deciphering the colour combination of the rings and communication with colleagues from Portugal, it turned out that the bird was caught and ringed in 2019 in the African country of Guinea-Bissau, on the Bijagos Archipelago on the East Atlantic coast.

The distance from the specific wintering site to the breeding range and back shows that in the last 5 years, the bird observed in Bulgaria has flown over 100,000 km.

The Curlew sandpiper (Calidris ferruginea) is a small rainforest bird whose breeding range covers a wide area: the Arctic zone in Russia, east of the Yamal Peninsula, certain regions in Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, Southeast Asia, Australia and Oceania. It is listed as semi endangered on the World Red List, with a declining global population trend in recent decades. 

The species is found in Bulgaria only during seasonal migrations. During the spring a part of the population flies in a northeastern direction from wintering West Africa along the coastal areas of the Mediterranean and Black Sea, including Bulgaria.

Saturday, May 11 is designated as World Migratory Bird Day. In 2024, World Migratory Bird Day will be marked on two days, May 11 and October 12, aligning with the cyclic nature of bird migration in different hemispheres. World Migratory Bird Day is a global campaign that educates and promotes conservation efforts for migratory birds and their journeys across borders. It raises awareness about the challenges birds face and encourages conservation actions worldwide. The campaign will focus on the importance of insects for migratory birds, and highlight concerns related to decreasing populations of insects.