On March 1 started the 9^th edition of the international campaign “Spring Alive” which takes place in 50 countries worldwide. Organized by BirdLife International, it connects people from Europe, Central Asia and Africa, who observe and register in real-time birds arriving from the south at the website www.springalive.net. Coordinator for Bulgaria is the Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds (BSPB). The goal is to acquaint nature lovers, young and old alike, with the miracle of bird migration.

This year the organizers have chosen to focus the campaign on five popular and very beautiful birds – the white stork, the barn swallow, the cuckoo, the swift and the bee-eater.

"Spring Alive" began as a pan-European project to create an online real-time map showing the spread of the harbingers of spring in the northern hemisphere. “Our goal is to encourage the participation of children, schools and the general public in raising the awareness and conservation of migratory birds”, says Anna Staneva from the BSPB.

Currently Bulgaria ranks first in terms of the number of observations made of birds returning from Africa - 102 of a total of 233 before the start of the campaign. The reason is the warm winter and early spring. The first returning storks, swallows and cuckoos have already been registered at the website by curious naturalists. On 13 February, Yana from Burgas noticed a swallow over the harbor in the city. Four days later, children from the Neophyte Rilski elementrary school in Dupnitsa watched two storks hovering above the school. On the same day Tanya Ferdinandova from Kyustendil heard the distinctive voice of the cuckoo for the first time this spring.

In 2010, the campaign was joined by the first countries from Africa, thus becoming a year-round initiative, as European countries meet birds in March and African countries await them back in September. Last year's "Spring Alive" was the most successful so far. More than 286,000 observations of migrating birds were recorded on the website of the campaign in 2013, the total number of participants in the various activities reached more than 54,000 children, 900 teachers and 500 school leaders and volunteers.

This year, the big new feature in the campaign is a pilot initiative "Birds bind us" in which schools in Europe, Asia and Africa connect and build long-term partnerships for the exchange of information and joint training initiatives. Children will exchange letters, e-mails and diaries will send videos, photos and presentations. The most interesting ones will be published on the website of the campaign and on its YouTube channel "Spring Alive".

Editor: Maria Dimitrova-Pichot

English version: Rossitsa Petcova