OUR CURRENT ACTIONS

Our priority activities concerning the conservation of the Red-breasted Goose are:

-              Patrolling the wintering grounds of the Red-breasted Goose in North-eastern Bulgaria, where half of the global population of the species concentrates, especially in harsh winters; In the months November, December and January, when hunting of Greater White-fronted Geese is allowed, Redbreasts often are shot by mistake, or shooting distances from the roosts or feeding flocks are not observed, resulting in high levels of disturbance and dispersal of the flocks. Thus the birds spend the day moving around and covering greater distances in search of food, instead of feeding, and they lose the energy needed to survive the winter and undertake the long migration back to their breeding grounds 6000 km to the north.

During these three months we are trying to be present in the field as much as we can, especially on the hunting days, which are every Wednesday and every weekend. We send our volunteers to patrol, very often together with the official controlling bodies (environmental and forestry police). This winter alone we have prevented/ stopped over 100 poaching instances.

-              Another important activity we do is the monitoring of the geese that helps conservation and research. We do this kind of monitoring twice a month in the period November – March, to establish species number, distribution and composition, age ratio, abdominal profiles, etc. This information is necessary to identify threats and guide future conservation actions and strategies.

-              Community outreach activities, involving work with the local schools and organizing community events; A typical community outreach activity, which we organize together with the local municipality and Green Training Center – Shabla is the annual Kite Festival in September, dedicated to the conservation of birds and nature. It is a popular event that is growing and attracts thousands of visitors from all over the country.

-             Acquiring of land to set aside for conservation: Over the last 20 or so years that our members have dedicated to the conservation of the Red-breasted Goose we realized that this is the most sustainable way to help the species. However, the region around the main roosts of the RBG, the lakes of Shabla and Durankulak, is located by the Black Sea coast and is very attractive for tourism development. On the other hand, it is one of the most fertile wheat growing agricultural regions in Bulgaria. These two factors have recently increased the price of the land, which is currently between 10 000 and 40 000 USD per hectare. About 150 ha have already been acquired by different NGOs, but some of the plots are far away from the lakes. Our goal is to acquire at least 200 ha more in order to ensure a real refuge for the birds in the vicinity of the lakes. Because of the high price of the land, we will hardly manage to do so on our own, so our idea is to develop a multi-partner project and apply to a big international donor, such as the EU transborder or LIFE Nature programmes. To accomplish such a project, however, we need to provide our own funds in the form of co-funding.  Any donation we receive for land purchase is going now for setting such fund.

If you wish to contribute to any of our Red-breasted Goose Conservation activities, please contact us.

OUR PREVIOUS EFFORTS

Poaching at the lakes of Shabla and Durakulak has always been one of the major problems for the wintering geese that significantly affect the numbers of the Red-breasted Geese and their behavior. In the winter of 2009/2010 we implemented the project “Stop the Poaching at Durankulak Lake”. This project targeted the problem with poaching and illegal fishing in the protected area and tried to implement proven techniques for fighting these problems. It involved thorough research on the levels and impact of poaching, especially concerning the globally threatened Red-breasted Goose. It also included the elaboration of a database to quantify the level and impact of poaching in the protected area and initialized environmental education activities for local children.  Main objective of the project was to set the foundations of a broad anti-poaching campaign both locally and nation-wide.

The project “Stop the Poaching at Durankulak Lake” was developed in the framework of the Nature Protection and Regional Development in South-East Europe (NatuRegio) Program.

Every year during the winter months when hunting is allowed, we are trying to be present in the field as much as we can, especially on the hunting days, which are every Wednesday, every weekend and the official holidays. We send our volunteers to patrol, very often together with the official controlling bodies (environmental and forestry police). This winter alone (2017), we have prevented or stopped over 100 poaching instances.

THE MAIN THREATS – poaching and disturbance

Hunting regulations in the lakes area are prescribed in the management plans of the protected areas, adopted in 2002. They prohibit hunting at a distance less than 100 meters from the banks of the lake and in the lake itself, which covers only 13% of the SPA. Even so, these regulations are often violated: hunting of protected species from the banks of the lake, from boats in the lake, with sound decoys, with magazine guns, without hunting permits, in non-hunting days, in low visibility, the limits of hunted birds are not observed (2 geese and 5 ducks per person). All these violations affect the numbers and the behavior of the wintering Red-breasted geese in Durankulak Lake. In the last 20 years the population of this species is decreasing dramatically and is already classified as Endangered due to the IUCN category list. The maximum numbers of the Red-breasted Goose in Shabla and Durankulak Lakes dropped from 67000 birds in 1990s to 23 780 in 2017. In December and January when hunting becomes more intense the geese move to overnight in the sea, where they are more exposed to natural dangers and bad weather conditions. Feeding, as well, takes place more inland (up to 30km) to avoid persecution. All these result in a greater energy losses and mortality; unsuccessful breeding and lower number of laid eggs. Illegal fishing is also a serious threat for the geese, which results in disturbance and net entangling.

Legal protection of the lake is accomplished by several governmental institutions: Regional Inspectorate for Environment and Waters (RIEW) – Varna and Regional Forestry Board (RFB) – Varna.  Varna is 100 km from the lake’s area, and it takes between 2 and 3 hours for the agency’s staff to come at the lake and register a poaching signal. Working hours of these institutions also doesn’t allow effective reactions against poachers. The only effective measures that proved to be successful so far are the anti-poaching actions carried out jointly by the teams of the state authorities and local NGOs.

THE RED-BREASTED GOOSE

The Red-breasted Goose is the smallest and one of the most beautiful geese, due to its striking colours – chestnut-red neck, breast and cheek patch, separated from black upper and underparts with conspicuous white lines.

Breeding: The species breeds on the Taimyr, Gydan and Yamal peninsulas, in the Russian tundra. It nests in loose groups, where breeding success may depend on nesting Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus) and Snowy Owl (Bubo scandiaca) providing protection from terrestrial predators. Successful breeding seasons are also associated with good lemming years, when predators are sated by the lemming population and therefore predation of geese is much lower.

Migration: Autumn migration starts in mid–September, with birds reaching Kazakhstan by the end of September. The spring migration starts in March. In early May, the birds reach the Kazakh uplands and by early June have reached the breeding grounds.

During the autumn migration the majority of the population, travel on to the western Black Sea coast, principally in the Dobrudzha region of Romania and Bulgaria, but increasingly in the Ukraine and even Southern Russia during mild winters. They arrive in small flocks in November-December, while larger numbers are recorded later in the winter, depending on the weather conditions. A few may continue south to the Aral Sea, while the majority travel south-west towards the Caspian. Small flocks may remain to winter on the Caspian Sea coast in Azerbaijan while others may visit Greece and occasionally very small numbers reach Hungary, Turkey, Iraq and Iran. The Red-breasted Geese are usually mixed with greater white-fronted geese (Anser albifrons) flocks.

Although three or four key staging areas are known, there are probably several undiscovered sites along the flyway.

Wintering grounds: On the main wintering sites in Romania and Bulgaria the geese now feed on agricultural land dominated by winter wheat and barley, maize stubble, some pasture grasses, rape and spilled grain. The birds periodically fly to coastal lakes to drink. These lakes, situated up to 50 km from the feeding areas, are also used as night-roosts. The proximity of drinking and roosting sites to feeding areas may influence winter distribution. In Bulgaria, Red-breasted Geese roost on water; usually in the middle of lakes, but occasionally, or in times of high hunting pressure and calm conditions, on the sea. When the lakes freeze they roost on the ice.

According to the most recent estimates (AEWA Kazakhstan expedition, 2017), the species population size is estimated at about 50 000 birds.  The maximum count in the winter of 2017 – 23 780 Red-breasted Geese at the lakes of Shabla and Durankulak, indicates that almost half the species global population is wintering in the area.