Since last Friday, 50 young storks from the European Stork Village of Belozem in Bulgaria have been clearly recognisable. Field workers of Green Balkans, partner of EuroNatur, marked the stork chicks with numbered and coloured rings. EuroNatur supported this action with which the Bulgarian nature protection organization launched a nationwide ringing programme.
The objective of the project is to facilitate the monitoring and recording of the habits and the migration of the Bulgarian white stork. So far, there has not been any systematic ringing of stork chicks in Bulgaria. Only birds which had been treated at the Green Balkans Wildlife Rescue Centre in Stara Zagora have been ringed with aluminium rings of the Bulgarian Ornithological Centre, the official bird ringing centre of the country. The disadvantage of these rings is that you can hardly read its numbers at a certain distance even with the help of binoculars. Therefore, Green Balkans is now using bigger coloured rings developed by Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Radolfzell, Germany. Because of their durable material and their easy readability, these rings have proven to be very successful in other projects.
Belozem was designated ‘European Stork Village’ by EuroNatur in 2005. With this initiative, EuroNatur prizes the strong commitment to the protection of storks in these communities.More information about the ringing on the website of Green BalkansMore information about the Wildlife Rescue Centre of Green BalkansMore information about the initiative „European Stork villages“