In the last few weeks, the team of the Hellenic Ornithological Society visited Messolonghi and Amvrakikos Gulf in order to coordinate tagging and monitoring activities of Dalmatian pelican chicks in the two important breeding colonies of the species.
An international census of wintering Dalmatian pelicans, which also took place in Romania at the end of 2022, shows encouraging results for the species population in the area.
In mid-February, the team of the Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds (BSPB) successfully ringed and tagged with satellite transmitters two Dalmatian pelicans. The birds were tagged in the Burgas Lakes area, Bulgaria.
Romania took part in the spring international counts of the Dalmatian pelican. In the country the action was coordinated by the Romanian Ornithological Society. The results show that the population of the Dalmatian pelican has been strongly affected by the bird flu.
The 5th South-East European pelican census took place in May 2022. For one day, hundreds of volunteers and scientists simultaneously visited 95 wetlands in Greece, Albania, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Bulgaria, Romania, and Turkey where they counted a total of 3,823 Dalmatian pelicans and 3,496 Great white pelicans.
On June 24, a team of the Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds (BSPB) successfully tagged with a satellite transmitter a young Dalmatian pelican from the breeding colony of the species in the Kalimok-Brushlen Protected Area. This is the first pelican with a transmitter that was hatched and raised in a Bulgarian colony of the species.
After a few unsuccessful attempts, the team of Hellenic Ornithological Society (HOS)/BirdLife Greece succeeded in tagging with a satellite transmitter one more Dalmatian Pelican in Western Greece, which is the second one in the Messolonghi region.
The fifth international pelican census in Southeast Europe took place on May 14th. It aimed at gathering information about the number and distribution of the endangered species Pelecanus crispus (Dalmatian pelican) and Pelecanus onocrotalus (Great white pelican) in the region. The event was organized within the “Pelican Way of LIFE” initiative and was coordinated by the Hellenic ornithological society (HOS).
At the end of March the team of the Hellenic Ornithological Society (HOS) was in Messolonghi for a series of actions within the initiative Pelican Way of LIFE, financed by the LIFE Program of the European Commission.
The Dalmatian pelican is an emblematic species for biodiversity in Romania, a kind of “uncrowned king” of wetlands. Under “Pelican way of LIFE” the dynamics of the populations of this species in the country is closely monitored. Enjoy the interview with biologist Sebastian Bugariu, the coordinator of Romanian Ornithological Society/BirdLife Romania (SOR), on the activities within the international initiative “Pelican Way of LIFE”.