Birds of Greece - Playing Cards

To further Birdwing’s educational aims, packs of playing cards have been published for Greek children and young people, to encourage an early interest in birds. Pack 1 includes a range of the more familiar and common birds together with many of the beauties! Names are given in Greek, English and Latin and packs will be given to school children and sets of them can be purchased via our website, soon. 

A supporting page on our website will encourage children to interact with the images on the cards, for example, asking children to:

• a bird with a spoon-shaped bill
• a yellow bird
• a pink bird
• a bird who eats bees

and so on.

We also plan to provide black and white outlines of the birds that can be printed.  Children can then use them for colouring activities, using the playing cards as a colour guide.

We will send an email to our supporters, shortly, when it becomes possible to order packs of the cards online.  

 

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Feedback – the numbers!

 

Thanks to those of you who took part in our survey. Here are the results!

93% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that the Birdwing website was appealing and inviting!

85% agreed with the statement ‘The website www.birdwing.eu is easy to navigate and access information from.’

7% responded in agreement with the statement ‘The website looks old-fashioned and outdated.’

100% agreed or strongly agreed that the website was ‘interesting and useful’.

4% stated that they did not like to read the newsletter as a pdf.

A mixed response was given to the statement: I prefer to read Birdwing news articles via links to website (e.g. via an HTML email). The bars in the chart below show, from left to right, the responses Strongly agree, Agree, Neutral, Disagree and Strongly disagree.

 

92% chose neutral, disagree or strongly disagree to the statement ‘I prefer to read Birdwing news on social media sites’ with half of all respondents choosing the strongly disagreecategory.

Thanks to so many of you for responding to our feedback survey. We received the clear message that most of you are happy to receive our news via our pdf newsletter, so we will continue to do this.

However, we also received feedback on ways you think we can attract new supporters via HTML, blogs and through social media. We are excited to announce that we will be widening communications, with the help of several of our supporters. Read more about the new blog 'natural eyes' below.

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natural eyes – looking out for nature

We’re excited to announce the launch of a new blog written by Steve Mills.

As part of our new communication’s strategy to widen Birdwing’s footprint and to gain new supporters, Steve will be writing articles about birds and nature and the decisions humans make that impact on them.

You may remember that, before the crisis Steve wrote a regular article about birds and issues relating to them in the Athens News newspaper and prior to that wrote a regular column in a local newspaper in the UK.    

The blog, entitled natural eyes – looking out for nature, can be found at www.stevemillsblog.wordpress.com. Please show your support and share with your friends and colleagues!

The first article ‘Collateral damage?’ exposes the ridiculous and dangerous decision by the EU to allow the drug diclofenac to be manufactured and used in Europe, despite its catastrophic damage to the vulture populations in India.

Click the image here to read more. 

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Photo appeal

For the second pack of playing cards we want to include three photos submitted and voted for by you!

The three chosen birds are the:

Ace of Spades:  Black Stork

Ace of Clubs:     Osprey

King of Hearts:  Golden Eagle

Do you have a suitable photo that could be used?

Submit it by uploading it to our Friends of Birdwing facebook page here or by emailing it to cards@birdwing.eu.  

Each photo must show the full bird (not cropped) in a typical (rather than unusual) position that could have the background removed.

You must agree for the photo to be used for this purpose and to allow it to be seen by others for voting.

For further details go to our  Friends of Birdwing facebook page here.

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New free downloads!

There are two new downloads available on our website.

The first is a bird-list with names of the birds in Greek, English, Latin and now German. 

Thanks to Alex Wirth for updating this list and adding the German names. Click the hoopoe image to go to the Resources page of our website to download it!

The second download, also available on our Resources page, is a 2014 update to the site guide 'Birdwatching in Northern Greece'.

Things are constantly changing out there - directions to places, value of sites, access alterations, not to mention a river changing course! If you have the 2nd edition of the site guide there is an update to download to help bring things up to date.

Click here to download.

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 Bird news roundup

At Evros the mild weather throughout much of the winter kept bird numbers lower than in recent, colder winters and many wildfowl and raptors chose to stay further north. That said, over 20 Spotted Eagles were on the delta, with 5 or 6 White-tails and an immature Eastern Imperial. Hen Harrier numbers were lower than normal, in single figures, but Black Kites, presumably in response to the weather conditions, were more numerous. Over 2000 mixed swans were spread across the delta, alongside several hundred Ruddy Shelduck. The regular flock of Lesser White-fronted Geese reached 57 before leaving for Kerkini on February 16^th. Mingling amongst the Lessers and Greater White-fronts were 20 Red-breasteds.

March brought the first signs of  spring, with 18 Short-toed Eagles, 200 Ruff, 430 Spotted Redshank, 135 Greenshank, 100 White Pelicans, 380 Black-tailed Godwit, 80 Garganey and the first Spur-wing Plovers of the year which so far number 13.

Spring is underway at Kerkini, where the White-tailed Eagles are to be seen around or in their nests. The Golden Eagles are renovating the same breeding nests as in previous years and the Peregrines are considering taking back the nest they had used for years before the crows stole it last year. The Dalmatian Pelicans have already occupied the breeding platforms and the Cormorants and first Grey Herons are already incubating in the riparian forest. The first White Stork arrived on 21^st Feb. The Cranes increased to 29 on the 24^th Feb. when a new group of 13 birds joined the initial flock.

On 17^th Feb., 57 Lesser White-fronted Geese arrived from the Evros Delta as a precursor to their big return journey to northern Norway. They left on the 12^th March and were next noted at the Hortbagy in Hungary on the 20^th. Good luck to them. Apart from birds it’s worth mentioning that a family of otters has been appearing regularly in the north-eastern part of the lake while in the lower parts of Krousia mountain various mammals have been in evidence, including roe deer,  wild boar and wildcats.

Thanks to the Management Authorities of Evros and Kerkini for this data.

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 Other news

A new general travel guide for birdwatchers has been published by the HOS, (Hellenic Ornithological Society) funded by the Mediteraves organization, (see more atwww.mediteraves.org) to encourage more eco-tourists to regions around Greece.

The guide written by Chris Vlachos, Roula Trigou and Lefteris Stavrakas,  includes 33 birdwatching sites, covering all aspects of the habitat diversity found in the country; from alpine grasslands to river deltas and from maquis scrub to dense pristine woodland. Priority has been given to sites that hold populations of Mediterranean or rare and endangered species. The sites have been grouped in seven different regions, depending on their geographical location.

The aim of the guide is to help birdwatchers add new species to their bird lists, to become familiar with the bird diversity in Greece and also to enjoy Greek nature, with the respect it deserves.

Read the Birding Guide online at: http://issuu.com/birdlife.greece/docs/hos_birdlife_greece_birding_guide_2

Click the image below to read other news stories from Northern Greece.

 

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 “It is the greatest of all mistakes to do nothing

because you can only do little.

Do what you can.”

Sydney Smith