Serbia ready for Europe's biggest birdwatching event

Serbia ready for Europe's biggest birdwatching event

Serbia’s second birdwatching weekend is organized by the League for the Ornithological Action from Belgrade, and the Society for Protection and Study of Vojvodina Birds from Novi Sad. Dragan Simić is the Serbian coordinator and you can contact him at loa@ptica.org.

"Europe has so many spectacular natural areas - full of biodiversity and species. But often people don't realise that even within their city, or on their street, there are birds living and thriving. Of course once outside the city boundaries, there are hundreds of species living in so many different habitats - wetlands, forests, mountains, farmland." explained Adrian Long Head of Communication at BirdLife International.

"EuroBirdwatch is an excellent chance to get outside and discover Europe's natural beauty. Even if you have never held a pair of binoculars, or really noticed the birds living all around you, this weekend is the chance to experience what thousands of people around the continent already know and enjoy - birds in their natural environment." Said Adrian Long Head of Communications at BirdLife International.

This year the EuroBirdwatch is focussed on highlighting the 4,500 European Important Bird Areas (IBAs) around Europe. These are areas which BirdLife International has identified across Europe to be critical for bird conservation, and home to one or more threatened species of bird. BirdLife partners have organised events in their local IBA's and will also be using the Eurobirdwatch as an opportunity to educate people about the need to protect and preserve Europe's extraordinary diversity.

The 2006 EuroBirdwatch event has been coordinated by BirdLife International's Italian partner LIPU (BirdLife Italy), and looks to be the biggest one yet.