On February 22nd, a team of the Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds (BSPB) successfully trapped and tagged with a satellite transmitter a Dalmatian Pelican in the area of Atanasovsko Lake near Burgas. This is the first Dalmatian pelican with a transmitter in Bulgaria.
For the sixth consecutive year, the breeding season for the Dalmatian pelicans in Persina Nature Park has successfully started. In early February, during the regular monitoring of the marshes on the Persin Island, a team of the Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds (BSPB) and the Persina Nature Park Directorate found that for the first time the pelicans occupied all four wooden platforms built for them – 2 in the Peschina swamp and 1 in the Dead Marsh.
In January 2021, a joint team of experts from the Persina Nature Park Directorate and the Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds (BSPB) managed to carry out a number of activities related to improvment the nesting conditions of the protected Dalmatian pelican on Persin Island.
In the last days of January, a team of experts from the Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds (BSPB) trapped and ringed with color rings tree Dalmatian pelicans in Atanasovsko Lake, near the city of Burgas. This is the first successful trapping of healthy and flying birds in Bulgaria.
During 12-14 of December 2020, 567 Dalmatian pelicans have been counted in their preferred wintering areas in southern Romania. An additional 62 birds have also been recorded in the Danube Delta, in Maliuc area and close to Sulina. Adding to this number, a total of 812 DPs have been recorded by our colleagues in Bulgaria south of the Danube and along the Bulgarian Black Sea coast.
With the year 2020 coming to the end, we are happy to share with you the year highlights of the rewilding efforts for Dalmatian pelican comeback along the Black-Sea Mediterranean Flyway. As the Dalmatian pelican is the ambassador of healthy wetlands, other species and the whole ecosystem will also benefit in the long run.
Recent surveys indicate that the Dalmatian pelican is making a tentative comeback in Europe. This is good news for ongoing rewilding efforts, which are playing a supportive role in the recovery.
The breeding population of the Dalmatian pelicans in Romania has been assessed this year on Lake Tasaul and in the Danube Delta and its lagoon area. Monitoring activities are coordinated by the Romanian Ornithological Society (SOR), which is a partner of the pan-European “Pelican way of LIFE” project.
At the end of May, a field expedition organized by Rewilding Ukraine to conduct scientific counts of the Dalmatian pelican and a photo mission took place in the Ukrainian part of the Danube Delta, as part of the “Pelican Way of LIFE” project. The counts were conducted by Maxim Yakovlev, an ornithologist at the Danube Biosphere Reserve, who has been photographing nature and the inhabitants of this picturesque region for more than 15 years. He was assisted by zoologist Alexander Gaidash.
A new scheme for patrolling the territory of Persina Nature Park was launched in April, organized by Persina National Park and with the participation of experts from the Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds (BSPB). The purpose of the patrol is to monitor the level of disturbance and behavior of Dalmatian pelicans along the section of the Danube adjacent to the park.