A Colour Ringed Red-breasted Goose Links Together Two Life Projects in Bulgaria and Hungary
17.12.2014

In early December the team of the Project “Safe Ground for Redbreasts” (LIFE 09/NAT/BG000230) coordinated by BSPB/BirdLife Bulgaria got an interesting news. We were contacted by colleagues from Hungary that a colour ringed Red-breasted Goose (Branta ruficollis) was observed in a mixed grazing flock of Greater White-fronted Goose and Red-breasted Goose at the site called Nagy-szik, near Balmazújváros (Hortobágy National Park). The bird had a yellow plastic ring reading “ZZ” and it came out that it was a bird we marked during fieldwork in February 2013 in Bulgaria.

This year winter season came out to be quite odd for the Red-breasted Goose, whose traditional wintering grounds are in Romania and Bulgaria in Dobrudzha, but in November this year a huge influx was observed in Hortobagy National Park in Hungary for the first time ever a concentration of 2000 birds was registered while in the past couple of hundreds was the highest figure, while we still wait for the snow to bring the Redbreast down to Bulgaria.

The adult male Redbreast observed in Hungary has been ringed near the SPA of “Shabla Lakes Complex” in Bulgaria (BG0000156). This was part of the research work trying to learn more about the migration and habitat use by this globally threatened species. Currently the Red-breasted Goose is the most endangered goose species listed as “Endangered” by IUCN. The “Safe Ground for Redbreast” Project in Bulgaria links together conservationist and local hunters and farmers to find solution to the conservation problems facing the species in its key wintering grounds. The work is supported by the UK partners of the Project – the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust.

The interesting part of the observation is that the male Redbreast was observed feeding at a site called that was restored in the framework of LIFE NAT07/H/000324 "Sodic lake habitat restoration in the Hortobágy" project. This area was restored for its priority habitat and is hosting large flocks of wintering geese and in this case -a Redbreast that has been marked by a Life+ project in Bulgaria. The good networking and contacts with other goose experts across Europe and Asia helped to establish quickly the link and contacts between the two project team members.