  |
Birds flying to their wintering grounds
|
Millions of migrating birds will leave Europe in the coming weeks, flying to their wintering grounds. BirdLife International invites people in Europe to take the opportunity on 4th October to discover the beauty of birds in the wild and also near human habitations.
In 24 countries in Europe the national partners of BirdLife International invite people to observe the birds and learn more on the fantastic bird?s migration. In most countries the interested people will find observation and information posts where everyone can share the knowledge on the exciting life of the different bird species.
For the migrating bird species the existence of suitable breeding areas in the north, saving stopovers on the flyway and appropriate habitats in the wintering regions is a question of survival. For some of birds species which live, migrate and stopover on people?s sites is very important also to know how we can care on them.
The partners of BirdLife International in Europe intend to show the diversity and beauty of birds as quality indicators of our environment in general and especially in our cities.
The European Birdwatch is an annual event comprising hundreds of nationally organised activities and it is part of the World Bird Festival 2008. On these observation posts the number of birds and participating people are counted and reported via the national centres to the European centre. In the last years around 50?000 people took part and more then three million birds were observed on this single weekend.
In 2008 the event is coordinated by SOS/BirdLife Slovakia, which is acting as the European Centre to process these data.
In Gibraltar...
The Gibraltar Ornithological and Natural History Society (GONHS), has organised a number of local events centred around the Alameda Gardens on Saturday 4th October.
From 8am until midday, Ray Marsh will be on the patio above the Nature Shop demonstrating how birds caught in mist nets, are ringed, measured and weighed and of course released. This activity brings participants, particuarly children, close to birds and are often given the opportunity to release them.
From 3pm, GONHS will host an Open Day at the Europa Point Marine Observatory, from which visitors can observe seabirds and perhaps cetaceans. Experienced birders will also be on hand to answer any birding questions and provide advice.
|
|
|
|
