The first prize was a night for two at conservation center "Iztochni Rhodopi" in Madzharovo, which offers possibilities to film Griffon and Egyptian vultures. The second place winner wins a bird watching and filming experience along the Black Sea coast including guided tour visits to Atanasovsko and Burgasko lakes, and the complex Mandra – Poda. The third place wins participation in educational conservation camp "Kartali", which is held in May 2014 on the man-made lake "Studen Kladenets" in Iztochni Rhodopi.
The winner of the BSBP’s special prize received a volume of Birds of Europe by Lars Svensson – this book is considered as the ornithological bible for anyone interested in working with birds.
The competition for best photos passed through several stages of evaluation. This year registration for the competition was possible on PhotoForum’s website, where the pictures were rated by viewers and classified by popularity. At the end of the popular vote, a jury formed by Yulia Lazarova from Dnevnik.bg, Alexander Petrov from PhotoForum and Dimitar Gradinarov from BSBP chose the three best photographs, taking into account the results from the popular vote.
For the first time this year the competition had a category for home videos, also with the theme of winter bird feeding. Choosing the best short movie was also extremely difficult and it was decided that BSBP will award two first prizes for the video awards. They were won by Robert Karadjov from Sofia, and Sergey Panayotov from Varna. Here is a link to Rober Karadjov’s video, entitled “Love for one lev”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P34HrcKSkOM
Sergey Panayotov’s video you can find here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sSaOzD3Odg
Third place was given to Silvia Lilova for the following short video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFZPeZwhQUI
The fifth edition of the campaign “A Grain of Love” took place from the beginning of December to the middle of March, finishing with the onset of spring. This winter, as before, hundreds of volunteers from BSBP participated in the initiative by making their own bird feeder, placing it in front of their houses or in the parks, and maintaining it throughout the winter. In this way they helped for the survival of a number of birds that spend their winters in Bulgaria, including tits, sparrows, nuthatches, periwinkle robins, jays, woodpeckers and many others.
This year the participants in the campaign “A Grain of Love” had the opportunity to add their bird feeder to a special bird feeder map on BSBP’s website.
This year the participants were 411, representing 14 towns in Bulgaria; 262 of the participants maintained their own bird feeder, 123 build bird houses, and 26 even provided water pots for the birds. With the onset of spring begins the mating season for birds, when they need to find a secure place for nesting. To help them people can build bird houses in outdoor parks or in their yards.
Throughout the summer and during the hottest days, we can also help wild birds that live near us by providing pots with water for them to drink. The summer is a time when birds need to find clean fresh water, for drinking and bathing, both extremely important for maintaining their feathers and down in top shape.
You can find more information about the campaign here:
http://bspb.org/bg/news/konkursat_zrance_ljubov_prikljuchi.html
The Competition 'A Grain of Love in Your Lens' ended after an extremely close race
