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Bird migration to the south
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41,000 people in 31 countries in Europe followed the invitation of BirdLife International to watch in the field the fascinating annual phenomenon of the bird migration to the south.
The birdwatchers observed over 2 millions of birds at 1,120 events from Spain to Azerbaijan, from Malta to Sweden.
With the Europe wide birdwatching BirdLife International points to the importance of the great efforts needed to save threatened bird species and their habitats. ?The migrating species need multifaceted breeding opportunities, safe stopovers along their way to the south and convenient wintering areas? pointed out Fritz Hirt, coordinator of the Eurobirdwatch 07 at SVS/BirdLife Switzerland, organizing this year Europe?s largest birdwatch event. Just before this event for a better protection of the birds from Spain we got the bad news that the Catalan Government intends to legalize the bird trapping with lime sticks! BirdLife International is protesting against this dolorous and unspecific trapping method.
The national BirdLife partners organize various events to encourage people of all ages to go out, observe, explore and enjoy the birds. At these observation posts they count the birds and report the results to the national centre and from there the total number of observed birds, number of participants in all events and the special happenings are referred to the European Centre for the compiling of the European result.
Ornithological highlights were the first observation of Eider duck in Marmara Sea in Turkey and the first White tailed eagle in the Skocjan Bay in Slovenia.
In Latvia a new booklet ?How to start birdwatching? was launched. The minister of environment won with his team the VIP-Birdrace. BirdLife Slovakia offered special competitions in painting and photographing birds to school children.
The most frequently observed species were:
1. Starling (Sturnus vulgaris)
2. Black headed Gull (Larus ridibundus)
3. Mallard (Anas plathyrhynchos)
The country with the largest number of events was Russia (207).
The country with the most participants was Spain (22,000).
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