OBSERVATIONS ON SPECIES COMPOSITION ANDBEHAVIORAL SPECIFICS ON MONITORED BIRD FEEDERS IN THE GREEN BELT OF FACULTY OF BIOLOGY, SOFIA UNIVERSITY. IMPROVING THE CONDITIONS FOR BIODIVERSITY IN THE AREA
DIMITAR NENOV1*, YANA YORDANOVA1, DIMITAR DIMITROV1, LINA PAUNOVA1, ELITSA POPOVA1,
SIIKA LAKOVA1, MARINA TONEVA1,PLAMEN PETROV1, SYLVIA NESTOROVA1, EMILIA VACHEVA1, DIMITAR PARVANOV3, IVA DJILIANOVA1, ELITSA IVANOVA1, RAINA POPOVA1, ATANAS VALEV1,
ATANAS GROZDANOV1,2, ANITA TOSHEVA1, IVAN TRAYKOV1, RUMIANA KOSTOVA1, PETAR MANOLOV1, IVAN TELENCHEV1
1 – Students Club for Education and Development with Ecological Centre, Faculty of Biology, Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, Sofia, Bulgaria
2 – Department of Zoology and Anthropology, Faculty of Biology, Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, Sofia, Bulgaria
3 – MHAT Nadezhda, Research department, 3 Blaga vest Str., Sofia, Bulgaria
* Corresponding author: skorec_bf@abv.bg
Keywords: bird feeder, behaviour, biology education, SKOREC club
Abstract: The feeding of passerine birds in winter is a widespread practice in Western Europe, which gains popularity in Bulgaria. There are many consequent benefits, from the direct impact on the birds’ survival during the cold months, to the opportunity to make interesting close observations, which could be used for scientific and/or educational purposes. In the last ten years (2005-2015) different types of bird feeders were situated in the green belt of the Faculty of Biology (Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”), including the space in front of the student’s club SKOREC, located in the Department of Zoology and Anthropology. During that period, a large amount of information concerning species presence and numbers, behavioural specifics, food selection, etc. was gathered from lecturers and students from the Faculty. In addition, in 2015 the club won a micro-grant project for improving the conditions for biodiversity in the researched Faculty green belt. The following work presents the results of the bird feeders monitoring and give details about the new measures for improving the area in relation to plant and animal biodiversity.