The census was organized in two consecutive summers – in 2014 and in 2015; thousands of human settlements were visited and all White Stork nests were inspected. The teams checked if the birds had come back from Africa; if they had started breeding; how many chicks did they have; where was the nest positioned.
“The data collected by our teams are quite hopeful; there are 6805 White Stork nests in Bulgaria, and of those 5671 are occupied,” says the coordinator of the national census Svilen Cheshmedzhiev from the BSPB. “For comparison, the last census a decade ago established 5703 nests in the country, 4818 of which occupied. So the number of nests has increased with 1102, and the number of nesting pairs – with 853. The total number of young chicks is 13 873.”
The prevailing nesting sites are the pylons of the electricity network. 5624 out of a total of 6805 nests are on pylons; 5271 are on concrete pylons, 328 on metal pylons, and 25 – on wooden pylons. 5261 of the nests are on ‘active’ pylons with cables, and 363 – on abandoned, old ones. 195 of the nests are built on trees, with the most common tree species being acacia, pine, mulberry and poplar. 444 nests were on chimneys, 279 – on roofs. Among the most common buildings chosen for nesting are: bakeries, private houses, churches and schools. 263 nests are on other types of substrate – agricultural machinery, monuments, stores, GSM antennas and other man-made structures.
2557 of the pylon-based nests are on specially built platforms for the birds’ safety but many – 2704 – are still on risk locations; urgent measures for the construction of platforms should be taken. The BSPB cooperates with power companies; the Society provides information for the nests that pose a risk so that they can be safe-guarded against electrocution. Human settlements with the highest number of White Stork nests in Bulgaria: Dragoshinovo (Samokov Municipality): 51 nests; Kulata (Petrich Municipality): 42; Belozem (Rakovski Municipality): 38; Belchin (Samokov Municipality): 31; Saedinenie (Plovdiv Region), Hadzhidimovo (Blagoevgrad Region), Zvinitsa (Kardzhali Municipality), Karadzhalovo (Parvomay Municipality), Ravno Pole (Elin Pelin Municipality), with 29 nests each.
the Executive Environment Agency at the Bulgarian ministry of Environment and Water was the leading partner of the BSPB for the 7th International White Stork Census in 2015. The volunteers’ campaign is realized under the Looking for the Stork: Citizens’ Science in Action Project, funded by the NGO Programme in Bulgaria under the European Economic Area Financial Mechanism 2009 – 2014: http://ngogrants.bg/.
White Storks on the rise in Bulgaria
