THE BIGGEST EUROPEAN BIRDWACHING EVENT

On 6-7 October, 25.000 people attended the 25. EuroBirdwatch, the biggest European birdwaching event. 41 national partners of BirdLife International across Europe and Central Asia invited people to more than 956 different events to observe the fascinating bird migration and see more than 5,2 Million birds on their way southwards to their wintering places.

Thanks to the active participation of Uzbekistan Society for the Protection of Birds in EuroBirdwatch, Uzbekistan was mentioned in a press release following this campaign in the world. The official statement for the media, prepared by the EuroBirdwatch coordinating center, notes the participation in the event of the Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Karakalpakstan Muratbay Arepbaevich Zhumanov and General Director of General Motors Powertrain Uzbekistan Jennifer Bigelow.

Being the only Central Asian country taking part in the EuroBirdwatch this year, Uzbekistan ranked 13th in the number of birds encountered in the total list of 34 participating countries. In terms of the number of observations, we are ahead of Turkey, Slovakia, Italy, Russia, a little behind Serbia, Romania and Latvia. The absolute record for the number of birds encountered on the days of EuroBirdwatch in the world this year was the Netherlands: the participants of the actions in this country met more than one million 300 thousand birds of various species!

Top three most abundant bird species in the world these days were Chaffinch (1,148,362), European Starling (1,025,318) and Barnacle Goose (590,104). Many rare species like Tundra Swan, Pallid Harrier in Belarus, Black-shouldered Kite, Yellow- browed Warblers in Belgium, Dalmatian pelican in Bulgaria or American Golden Plover, Woodchat Shrike were observed in Finland. The highlight of the observations in Latvia was the second record of the Red-flanked Bluetail. In Malta four Black Storks were observed at Buskett together with one Hen Harrier and one Red-footed Falcon. Red-footed Falcons were observed also in Switzerland. Key species like Caucasian black grouse, Bearded vulture, Red-fronted Serin were observed in Turkey.

In Uzbekistan, 33,098 birds of 73 species were counted in five regions on eight territories. The three most observed species in Uzbekistan were Common Coot (7,150), Mallard (3,700) and Black-headed Gull (2,855). Spectacular ornithological observations were Dalmatian Pelicans, Black Storks and Osprey.