40,000 birds live in Meriç Delta: Officials

EDİRNE

Some 40,000 birds reside in the Meriç Delta, located between the northwestern province of Edirne’s İpsala and Enez districts, according to the General Directorate for National Parks and Wildlife.

The local officials’ data is based on the number of the birds they counted recently.

“We have carried out researches on the lakes, reeds, meadowlands, paddies, willows, and tamarisks that exist inside the delta and determined this number,” an official told the Demirören News Agency.

The delta is mostly a safe haven for swans, flamingos and pelicans, they said.

Bird counting started in Europe in the beginning of 1960s. It did not take long for Turkey to take action with Europe, and the country had its first calculation in 1967, according to official data.

Between 1967 and 1996, international teams visited Turkey and counted the bird species. As of 1997, local nature associations and public institutions took part in the annual estimations.