At the end of October, a team of experts and volunteers from the Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds (BSPB) carried out several activities to improve nesting conditions for the protected Dalmatian pelican in the “Kalimok-Brushlen” Protected Area.

The third edition of the volunteer conservation camp organized by the Directorate of Persina Nature Park under the “Pelican Way of LIFE” initiative recently took place.

It has been three years since the Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds (BSPB) started tracking the journeys and adventures of the Great white pelican named Vaya. On September 15, 2021, the team successfully captured and tagged a female Great white pelican with a satellite transmitter in the area of Lake Burgas. This is the first Great white pelican tagged with a transmitter in Bulgaria.

On September 17, a one-day seminar focused on activities for the conservation of the Dalmatian pelican in Bulgaria took place in Ruse.

An exhibition dedicated to the birds of the Danube and their habitats is on display in the Sea Garden in Varna in Bulgaria until September 22. The symbol of the exhibition is the Dalmatian pelican.

A volunteer conservation brigade, organized by the Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds (BSPB) in the area of Burgas, brought together nearly 60 volunteers from August 24 to September 1 to help protect nature and birds.

This year has been favorable for the Dalmatian pelicans nesting in Persina Nature Park and the “Kalimok-Brushlen” Protected Area. The primary reason for this success is the relatively high water level of the Danube river from February to June, which is crucial for the condition of the river’s wetlands and the nesting waterfowl species.

The seventh international pelican census was conducted at the very beginning of June in the Balkan countries. The census aims to collect data on the population and distribution of Dalmatian and Great white pelicans in the study area. The event was organized within the initiative “Pelican Way of LIFE” and was coordinated by the Hellenic Ornithological Society (HOS).

Over the past two months, two Dalmatian pelicans tagged with GPS transmitters have died. At the end of January, the young female pelican Stella was found dead in the area of Lake Mandrа near Burgas in Bulgaria, and a few weeks later, in the area of Lake Golovița in Romania, located north of the city of Constanța, the body of the adult female pelican Plamena was discovered. In both cases, the cause of death was entanglement in fishing nets, likely followed by drowning of the birds.

Successfully initiating for the fourth consecutive year, the Dalmatian pelicans have nested in the “Kalimok-Brushlen” Protected Area and other wetlands of Bulgaria.