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2020
Figures and Facts

Bird Of The Year 2020 – The Capercaillie
Dear friends!


The Greater Spotted Eagle, the Capercaillie, the Nightjar. The time goes by and the Birds of the Year gradually change.
The year 2020 was quite a tough one for Belarusians, and the start of the year 2021 didn't bring much optimism as well.
Probably, a great many would like to have at least quick glance of the year 2022.
What is awaiting us in the future?

As for the APB-BirdLife Belarus, we did our best to perform our work in 2020.
We are glad to present you here the fruits of our efforts.
Cheer up, dear friends! It's all going to be exactly as you wish it!

Sincerely yours,
Alexandre Vintchevski
CEO, The APB-BirdLife Belarus

January, 30th, 2021
Species
217 people took part in the midwinter waterfowl counts. The total amount came up to 23,026 birds of 30 species.
In Palessie region, all of the 55 known the Spotted Eagle nesting sites were inspected. There have been found 38 nests, from which 22 were known before and 16 were just found in 2020. The new found nests should be checked in the year 2021.
In Brest and Hrodna regions a five-year moratorium for hunting the Western European subspecies of the Capercaillie has been introduced.
There have been found about 100 new habitats of rare animals and plants. Within the framework of the "Palessie - Wildlife without Borders" project the experts are preparing passports and protection obligations for them.
In October the "Jelnia Bog" IBA (Important Bird Area) keepers counted 7,500 Common Cranes resting here during the migration period, which is a record high amount.
The APB Working Group on Raptors (WGR) members have built artificial nests for the rare species: 22 platforms for the Osprey, six units for the Golden Eagle and one – for the Eagle Owl. The specialists set up four nest boxes for the BarnOowls, two nest boxes for the Little Owls and prepared two wall niches for the Kestrels.
The WGR members have found three new Osprey nests and one nest of the Golden Eagle. At the moment, this is the only known Golden Eagle nest in the country.








The WGR have monitored White-tailed Eagle nests in the southwest and in the Paazierje region. 10 chicks were ringed. Osprey nests have also been monitored, there 26 chicks got ringed.
The WGR members have prepared protection passports for six Osprey nests and one Hobby nest. Thanks to the documents drafted by the WGR members in the past the two Osprey nests received protection from the executive committees. At the present moment, they are working on the nest protection documents drafted before the year 2020.
Within the framework of the "Save the Eaglet" campaign the APB specialists visited 17 nesting areas of the Greater Spotted Eagle. As a result of the campaign 4 new nests have been found.
The Forest Working Group (FWG) in cooperation with the APB Wetland Centre has prepared about 300 passports and protection obligations for the rare species. As a volunteer assistance to the forestries the FWG members prepared more than 100 passports and protection commitments.
More than 700 rare species habitats were added to the protected species database created by the FWG. At the moment the database includes more than 2,000 habitats of 150 rare animal species as well as plants and mushrooms.
As an own initiative and within various APB projects the APB Forest Working Group members conducted field research in more than 30 districts (more than 20 forestries). As a result of the work about 500 rare animal species habitats as well as plants and mushrooms have been found.
The Second European Breeding Bird Atlas was published in Spain. The data on Belarus was presented by the APB and Scientific and Practical Centre of NAS of Belarus for Bioresources. The specialists worked on gathering the information for 5 years.
Thanks to the use of the artificial intelligence within the "Palessie - Wildlife without Borders" cross-border project 15 bat species were detected. It was the first time when this technology was used for censusing the bats. The acoustic recorders saved 70,000 audio files at 131 locations in Belarus and Ukraine.
In 2020, basing on the documents drafted by the FWG members the district executive committees took up the protection decisions on more than 130 habitats for rare animals and plants. More than 3,000 ha of forests in Palessie have received special protection status.
Upon the APB request, within the framework of the "Palessie - Wildlife without Borders" project in order to evaluate the new power transmission lines impact on the wildlife in Palessie the Institute of Experimental Botany (IEB) performed the corresponding research – "Assessing the impact of the linear infrastructure construction and maintenance on biological diversity of the Republic of Belarus".
In December 2020 in Palieski, Žytkavicki, Milaševicki forestries 100 phototraps were set in order to identify the lynx population number and density.
Together with the estate "Zajimka Lešaha" and Scientific and Practical Centre of NAS of Belarus for Bioresources the wood grouse broods' census was organized in Rasony and Vierchniadzvinsk districts. For six days on 25 routes with total length of 247 km we counted 40 Capercaillies, 78 Hazel grouses and 3 Black grouses.
Most of the country's largest Speckled Ground Squirrel' colony in the Niasviž district, as well as two colonies in the Kapyl district, have already been handed over under the protection of the land users. Another 78 passports and protection obligations for the Flying Squirrel and 4 passports for the Speckled Ground Squirrel have been handed over to the regional committees of natural resources and environmental protection.
With the assistance of the Scientific and Practical Centre of NAS of Belarus for Bioresources and the Republican Center of Ecology 43 bats of six species have successfully made it through the winter in the "Kažanopalis project" refrigirator.
In November 2020 within the framework of the "Palessie - Wildlife without Borders" project two wolves were marked with GPS-collars.
The "Belenerha" state energy supplier has approved the new electric pole standard containing the platform for a stork nest.
The data from 16 phototraps set at the Greater Spotted Eagle nests have been analyzed. Seven new birds have been marked by transmitters (two of them from in the Chernobyl zone). The daily tracking of 21 Greater Spotted Eagles was performed. All the available data on the known eagle nesting sites have been classified, on the whole the count comes up to 131 sites.
The following APB suggestions have been accepted and added to the Hunting Rules and related decrees: excluding of the Common Pochard from the species allowed for spring hunting, serious increasing of the damage fee for the illegal hunt on the Accipitriformes and Perissodactyla animals (Polish konik, Przewalski's horse), minimizing loss for the illegal hunt on the following species – the raccoon dog, the muskrat, the American mink. Decree № 345 of September 16, 2020.
The APB corrections on the annual hunting statistic report have been approved by the National Statistic Committee of the Republic of Belarus and conformed with Ministry of Forestry and NAS of Belarus. The corrections are as follows: to remove the European mink which is now extinct in Belarus from the annual census, to collect the data on hunting bag for each bird species in spring and autumn separately (instead of the mixed report), to give separately the data on hunting bag for Belarusian and foreign hunters, to collect the data on hunting bag on seven species of ducks and of the Grey Heron (the list used to include only the Mallard, the Goldeneye and the White Egret).

The APB suggested amendments to the Resolution of the Council of Ministers "Rules for the Protection and Rational Use of Europeam Bison". Some of the APB amendments were accepted. Ministerial order № 708 dated December 7, 2020.
In January 2020, an animation film about the European Eel preservation "Help eels to survive!" was released. It got 5,700 views.
Unfortunately, the intensive two-year search of the European Hamster (Cricetus cricetus) in its former habitat gave no result.
Sites and Habitats
Thanks to the support from the APB and Frankfurt zoological society scientists of NAS of Belarus have published the book "The Dzikoje Mire" which presents the most "distinguished" wetland of the country. This is the first book from the series "Ramsar sites of Belarus".
The APB volunteers have started common bird monitoring on 15 km2 of the forest area.
"The Almany Mires" Republican Reserve area is going to be extended by almost 10,000 ha. The reserve which from now on will occupy as much as 103,934.84 ha received new territories under protection. Within the framework of the "Palessie - Wildlife without Borders" project the scientific feasibility study has been prepared and submitted to the Council of Ministers.
The APB Forest Working Group with support of the APB Wetland Center has worked out the management plans for High Conservation Values (HCV) in four forestry enterprises. The HCV conservation is one of most effective mechanisms of the nature protection. Moreover, the method helps to preserve the forest ecosystems with the FSC forest certification. Each certified forestry enterprise must identify and maintain the HCV. According to the current Belarusian concept the following territories are considered to be the HCV: the Protected Areas, Important Bird Areas, the Emerald Network, other special areas created to preserve the biodiversity concentration locations (HCV -1). For example, the HCV -3 stands for the rare and typical habitats.
The FWG members performed monitoring of eight forestry websites as well as field inspections of compliance with national legislation and FSC in 12 forestries. After observing the work of five forestries we've prepared and handed over our suggestions to the forestries as well as to the audit companies on the ways of improving the forestry operation in accordance with the FSC requirements. The FWG members were directly involved as observers and experts in more than 10 audits. The FSC audit schedule is regularly published on the website brestnatura.org (Brest regional branch of APB).
As a part of the "Practical Look at the Restoration of Peatlands at the National Level: Belarus" project there was drafted a database, which includes 1,625 peatlands with a total area of 363,400 ha. The database includes five sites with the total area of more than 5,000 ha that have the restoration priority by the year 2025.

We've cleaned buildings and got rid of the garbage at 60 illegal berry pickers' camps at the "Almany Mires" and "Stary Žadzien" reserves. The forestry staff and volunteers took part in the action as well.

The Tapila Mire has been added to the BirdLife data base as a new potential Important Bird Area of international importance.


The APB FWG has prepared and handed over to the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus the documents on more than 10 potential sites of the Emerald Network.
In 2020, as a part of the Young Researchers Support Memorial Program named after Siarhiej Abramčuk (1984-2010) the Berezina Biosphere Reserve area (where the road is planned) was inspected, and an addendum to the IAIA (EIA) was prepared.
Independently, as well as with support of the APB Wetland Center, FWG worked on the selection of rare and typical habitats in 10 districts. More than 500 passports and protection commitments for more than 40,000 ha of rare and typical habitats have been prepared and added to the database. At the moment the database contains about 1,000 habitat passports with a total area of more than 60,000 ha.
We have organized two volunteer camps in order to repair dams on canals of the Jelnia bog. In the first summer camp which was held 09/11-19/2020 on Dulski Canal, more than 40 volunteers were involved, including employees of the Coca-Cola corporation, which provided materials for the dam repair. As a result, 12 dams have been repaired. The camp was a part of the "Together for Community and Nature: Miory District" project. The second camp was held in October on the canals to Jažhinia and Biareža lakes, five dams have been repaired. The camp was supported by LBV/ Michael Otto Environmental Foundation.
Three summer camps have been held in order to remove the garbage and bushes on the Turaŭ meadow. The nature protection volunteers as well as the local authorities and enterprises representatives took part in the initiative. There have been removed about 20 bags with garbage.
Within the framework of the "Palessie - Wildlife without Borders" project the scientific substantiation was elaborated for rewetting the "Neraśnia" project territory (2,182.9 ha). The wetland lies within borders of the Milaševičy forestry and "Liaškavičy" woodworking plant lands, at the Lielčycy district of Homiel region.
Five trainings to support caretakers of the Jelnia bog have been organized. The trainings were held on 02/28/2020 with 20 participants, 03/27/2020 with 12 participants, 07/17-18/2020 with 12 participants, 10/2-3/2020 with 15 participants 12/4/2020 with 11 participants. During the trainings, three birds of prey nests were found; one of them was a nest of the white-tailed eagle. Besides there was found the natural location of five protected plant species, two plant species were unknown to be growing in the reserve.
People and the organization
12 teams took part in the Bird Race. In the course of the competition two teams observed as much as 125 bird species within 12 hours.
The APB organized 32 meetings for more than 700 people. The meetings were devoted to the European Hamster, the Speckled Ground Squirrel and the Flying Squirrel, their life, habits and biology. Besides, the survival problem was raised as these rare species are listed in the Red Data Book of Belarus.
Upon the "Brest Region Reserves" Foundation request, the APB Wetland Centre organized four two-day trainings on biodiversity for the Biaroza district residents, at Mižlieski, Zdzitaŭski, Sporaŭski and Stryhinski village councils.
In 2020, the APB Wetland Centre organized two online birdwatching courses for beginners (6th and 7th). At the end of the courses 51 students got a certificate. For the first time two online schools devoted to identifying of the bird voices were organized. The course got 70 participants.


The Barysaŭ district branch of the APB organized and held the Birdwatching School and the Birdwatching Academy.
125 people participated in the winter and autumn Photobirding competitions.

In 2020 the APB had 2,169 members, 14 branches and got 115 new volunteers.
Thanks to the MolaMola platform 5,736 Belarusian rubles were raised to preserve the waders and support the Turaŭ Ringing Station activities. The money has already been used to buy a kayak, nets, colour rings, to repair the observation tower. We thank everyone who supported us during the campaign.
By means of the "Ulej" crowdfunding platform in order to create a street mural with a Kestrel in Brest there were raised 1,740 Belarusian rubles by the APB Brest regional branch. The mural is going to be painted on one of the buildings in Brest in spring. We thank everyone who participated in the crowdfunding campaign.
In 2020, the APB website ptushki.org had 158,236 unique visitors. 266 pieces of news were published on the website.
The National Bank issued two coins, and National post operator issued a stamp, an envelope and a special the Capercaillie stamp "Bird of the Year 2020".
The APB "Birds Daily" website birdwatch.by got 42,170 visitors. 8,100 people from 40 countries were watching the online winter broadcast from the bird feeder in Vuhliany village near Biełaviežskaja Pušča IBA. The stream from the birdfeeder was available until the end of the winter. The online broadcasting from two Kestrel nests in Brest got 34,022 viewers from 62 countries. Next broadcast (12th) of the Kestrel life will start in spring. You are welcome!
The APB was mentioned by the mass media 2,267 times, including 368 times as headliners.
The APB has 7,135 Facebook, 6,490 VKontakte, and 972 Twitter followers. The APB's Youtube and Telegram followers' number increased two times in 2020, now the channels have 542 and 700 followers respectively. The Instagram followers (increased by 70%) and Odnoklassniki (increased by 78%) showed a significant growth as well. By the end of 2020, the abovementioned social networks had 8,558 and 1,379 followers respectively. The "Tsiu-tsiu!" Telegram chat has 518 members, and 196 people share their photos with APB at the new "Birds on the film" Telegram-chat.
For the first time the "Wolf night" international festival was held in Biełaviežskaja Pušča, the activity as well offered the wolf trail exploring in the night time. 150 people attended the event.
Thanks to the support of the British Embassy the well-known British environmentalist Dr. Rob Field invited by the APB gave a big lecture on the climate change.
Within the framework "Palessie - Wildlife without Borders" project, the APB has reissued the guide for caretakers. The new document includes the legislation changes and practical experience knowledge.
A bird was chosen and approved officially as the district symbol by four administrations: Kapyl (the Barn Swallow), Dziaržynsk (the Blue Tit), Dokšycy (the Mute Swan), and Hlybokaje district (the Starling).
Wildlife Defenders 2019 from Belarus Ihar Byshneu, Dzianis Kitsel and Ruslan Shaikin were bestowed the honorary title of the BirdLife International.
The APB and "Kreaton" initiative volunteers supported by the company A1 connected mobile numbers for 10 birds. Anyone can call to listen to the birds singing, and then get from the birds sms. For the very first month the birds got 180,296 calls! The top three are the Thrush Nightingale, the Tawny Owl and the Blackbird. By the end of the year at the "Bird Chat" Telegram-bot you could chat with them and take the "What kind of bird are you?" test.
The APB is regularly mentioned by the country's largest web portals onliner.by and tut.by as well as by the top newspapers like "Komsomolskaya Pravda" and "Arguments and Facts". Our news headliners were the Bynet headliners as well. The first Belarusian Flying Squirrel video filmed by our organization became one of the RuNet top 14 videos in January 2020. Interesting articles (some of them in English) were published at the OnAir magazine. This magazine is usually offered to the Belavia Airlines passengers. APB fight with E40 Inland Waterway was described in The Guardian (UK). The APB specialist Vitalina Labanava gave an interview to the Argentine radio about possible consequences of E40. An article on the Dzikoje Mire restoration in Biełaviežskaja Pušča has been published on the BirdLife International website. The APB is the partner of this global association of conservation organizations. The news about a Ringed Plover that flew to Cyprus from Turaŭ appeared on the website of our Cypriot Birdlife's partner. The APB was mentioned by the Russian "Radio of Komsomolskaya Pravda", the National Geographic Russia site, "Around the World" magazine.
Within the framework of the "Prypiać, give a high-five!" event the APB together with the "Bahna" non-governmental organization have worked out the 10 routes' map for rafting at the Prypiać river and its streams. At least 50 people took part in the rafting. More than 21,000 people have watched the map.
Thanks to the assistance of the SATIO company, we've managed to conduct a survey and found out that every fourth Belarusian resident had heard about the APB. We've also learnt that Belarusians know little about Belarusian fish. Less than half of the respondents showed interest for the environmental problems.
Кааліцыя грамадcкіх арганізацый, у тым ліку АПБ, выступіла супраць прыняцця ўказа, які дазваляе выбарачна вызваляць арганізацыі, прадпрымальнікаў і грамадзян ад выплаты шкоды, нанесенай навакольнаму асяроддзю. Улады прыслухаліся да нашай аргументацыі і не далі ходу праекту ўказа.
In the course of the environmental festival "Cranes and Cranberries of the Miory District" 500 people watched the cranes on spots organized by the APB and Jelnia Reserve Administration. The festival itself got as many as 1,500 participants.
14,404 people took part in the APB traditional annual activities and campaigns.

The APB Žytkavičy branch chairwoman Anastasia Blockaja hold about 150 extracurricular classes – "The Ornithology Alphabet". The classes were organized for the schoolchildren of two Paliessie schools. While playing young students developed their creative thinking and learned about the environmental problems.
The "General Producer Center" company and "The Foundation for Support and Development of the Art" have released the film "The Great Transit. Turaŭ Wetland Station" about the APB reserve. The APB expert Pavel Pinchuk became the film consultant. Together with the APB-head Alexandre Vintchevski, he came to the premiere at the VOKA CINEMA by Silver Screen. This is the first full-length documentary about Belarusian wildlife, made for the 5.1 sound cinemas.
The "Bat night: collages by Raman Yanotaŭ" exhibition was held by the APB on 15-30, December at the Ruin Bar of Minsk. The event got about 400 visitors.
The "Luch" Minsk factory has released a limited series of watch with the Greater Spotted Eagle on it.
In order to support the "Bird of the Year in Belarus" campaign, the publishing house "Narodnaja Asvieta" has issued a book "Bird of the Year in Belarus 2000 – 2020" by Viktar Hardziej. The author tells fascinating and witty stories about the birds of the year. Besides the poems and essays about the birds are illustrated with numerous pictures made by famous Belarusian photographers – Siarhei Zuyonak, Paviel Lyčkoŭski, Paviel Novikaŭ, Uladzimir Bondar, Dzmitry Jakubovič, Mikalaj Varabiej, Mikalaj Hulinski, Siarhiej Carapica.
A lot of local events have been held in Miory district. The local guides, craftsmen and birdwatchers trainings were among the popular events' themes. Totally, within the framework of the "Together for the Community and Nature: Miory District" project 16 events aimed to develop and strengthen the local community and the local citizens' potential were held in Miory. The activities attracted 340 participants.



The Sluck Ecological and Biological Center teachers organized a series of the super-rodents workshops. In order to support the same named APB project in October 2020 the Sluck district hosted an environmental contest "Hamster, Souslik and Flying Squirrel: save the super-rodents!" Totally more than 260 Sluck district students took part in the super-rodents activities.
The APB Sluck district branch organized the "Chalk Botanics" ecological action for the APB "Krylaty dazor" clubs. The event was attended by the "watchers" from secondary schools № 9, 10 and 13, from Hacukoŭskaja secondary school and from nursery schools №13 and 22. Within the action children together with the club leaders made the name labels for 781 plants, talked to the local citizens and studied the urban environment plants role.
The KURS:RA project's documentary on the Jelnia bog has been released. The APB head Alexandre Vintchevski acted in the movie as well. The film got more than 22,000 YouTube views.
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Photos: Siarhei Zuyonak, Vitalina Labanava, Yury Yankevich, Andrei Abramchuk, Denis Kitel, Dzmitry Grumo, Maryja Shumanskaya, Wasilij Gritshik, Siamion Levy, Yury Strukau, Alesia Basharymava, Andrei Kot, Alena Shokel, Mikalai Cherkas, APB archive.
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