Monitoring of geese wintering sites around Burgas

We are still expecting flocks of geese in our latitudes. Usually with start of winter and when snow coverage is in place in the north the birds start their movement to the south looking to suitable sites for feeding and resting. Climate change is causing changes in cycle of migrating birds that winter in our lands including geese with observed of migration period as well change in preferred locations. Data of the last few years show that importance of Coastal Dobrogea as wintering site is declining while at the same time Burgas Lakes retains its importance.

This winter so far only individual geese have been observed or mostly flocks of few hundred birds. During the monitoring conducted in Burgas Lakes by our experts in the start of December only 32 Greater White-gronted geese were observed in fields around Atanasovsko Lake. Other interesting observation was a flock of about 100 Ruddy shelducks feeding in a field close to Dolno Ezerovo near Vaya Lake.

All that is showing that the migrating flocks of geese probably have not moved much south. There is probability that geese may migrate and spend most of winter to the west or north of our country as data from the last few years during International Mid-winter Waterbird Census in our country have revealed.