Spring Alive: every year a greater success!!

On 22 June 2009, the fourth season of the BirdLife Spring Alive Campaign successfully ended. This year 31 BirdLife European Partners participated, registering nearly 94,000 observations, many more than the 56,000 collected last year.

Spring Alive is a European-wide campaign to promote children's interest in nature conservation through the celebration of the arrival of spring, and its core component is a mass-participation website, designed especially for children between 8 and 12 years old. Participants of the Spring Alive Campaign are encouraged to observe and record the arrival of four migratory bird species: White Stork Ciconia ciconia, Barn Swallow Hirundo rustica, Common Swift Apus apus and Common Cuckoo Cuculus canorus.

The Spring Alive Campaign is not only about evoking interest in birds and nature. “Our campaign is a great tool for informing people, and children in particular, about the threats of climate change and its influence on birds migrations”, explained Magdalena Chrzanowska, European Coordinator of the Spring Alive Campaign.

Our campaign is a great tool for informing people about the threats of climate change —Magdalena Chrzanowska, European Coordinator of the Spring Alive Campaign

This year, during its migration, a White Stork broke its beak, probably by flying through a wall in Hungary. Thanks to the experts of the Hortobagy Birds' Hospital, a new synthetic resin beak has been built and fixed on the bird. Without the operation the Stork would have needed hand-feeding for the rest of its life and would have been unable to live on its own again. If the bird makes a full recovery, it will be released back into the wild.  

Spring Alive and Born to Travel - the BirdLife Flyways Campaign which aims to protect migratory birds on their journeys - recently joined forces to reach an even wider audience, as both campaigns try to increase awareness on the protection of migratory birds.

Next year will be a very special and challenging year for Spring Alive, as besides being the International Year of Biodiversity, 2010 will also see the BirdLife African Partners joining the Campaign for the first time!

For more detailed information on the last season of the Spring Alive campaign visit the Spring Alive website or contact Magdalena Chrzanowska at magdalena.chrzanowska@otop.org.pl.