• All citizens can join the white stork counting initiative by sending a completed field form by e-mail to the Environment Executive Agency or using the mobile application and contacts of the Bulgarian Society for Bird Protection

In 2024 and 2025, the eighth international counting of the white stork is to be conducted. The counting in our country will cover more than 5000 settlements throughout the country, and it will traditionally include experts from the Environment Executive Agency (EEA) and all regional environmental and water inspectorates (RIEWs) together with specialists and volunteers from the Bulgarian Society for Bird Protection (BSBP). The funding for the field work in 2025 is provided by the Enterprise for the Management of Environmental Protection Activities (EMEPA) at the Ministry of Environment and Water.

The white stork counting uses the monitoring methodology for the National System for Monitoring the State of Biological Diversity, which is administered and coordinated by the EEA. The goal is to use volunteers to visit all settlements where the white stork nests, whereby for each nest a separate form is prepared with information on its location, construction, the presence of any young - their age and number, photographic material and spatial data. Detailed information on the methodology for data collection can be found on the EEA website - https://eea.government.bg/bg/bio/nsmbr/praktichesko-rakovodstvo-metodiki-za-monitoring-i-otsenka/Metodika_monitoring_Ciconia_Ciconia. pdf

All citizens can join the initiative to count the white stork by downloading the field form from http://eea.government.bg/bg/bio/nsmbr/praktichesko-rakovodstvo-metodiki-za-monitoring-i-otsenka/Form_Ciconia_Ciconia. docx, fill in the data on the stork nest they found and send the completed form by e-mail to the EAA at biomon@eea.government.bg or use the mobile application and contacts of the BSBP https://bspb.org/

The international counting of the white stork is carried out every 10 years in over 40 countries around the world, the first census was organized in 1934 on the initiative of Germany. In Bulgaria, the counting of white stork nests began in the 1970s.

In the last national census of white storks in 2015, a higher number of nests and nesting pairs was found compared to the data from 2004. In total, 6981 nests were found in Bulgaria, of which 5825 were occupied by breeding pairs. The number of pairs of white storks had increased by 1007 (21%). The rate of growth is increasing and becoming a permanent trend, which was first detected in the counting in 2004-2005. The results were published in the National Report on the State and Protection of the Environment at https://eea.government.bg/ bg/soer/2015/biodiversity-nem/promyana-v-chislenosta-i-sastoyanie-na-populatsiyata-na-beliya-shtarkel-v-balgariya-pri-sedmoto-mezhdunarodno-prebroyavane-2014-2013-2015-g

The white stork is a protected species. According to the Biodiversity Act, it is prohibited to deliberately capture it in any form, chase and disturb it, especially during the breeding and rearing periods. The law also prohibits to take its eggs, including in cases where they have been abandoned, and taking any found dead specimens. The white stork is a synanthropic species, it inhabits populated areas and lives alongside humans. Therefore, it is considered one of the most sensitive indicators of the state of the environment in which people live.