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A "winter guest" in Germany
Photo:
H. Duty / imago images / blickwinkel
If in the coming days you see people with narrowed eyes - or binoculars - looking into the bushes, don't be surprised.
People may take part in a nationwide campaign by the German Nature Conservation Union ("Hour of Winter Birds"): They count winter birds, such as robins, blue tits or wrens.
NABU wants to find out how the populations of certain bird species change in villages and cities, so-called settlement areas - and also achieve an educational effect. "In the best case scenario, people deal with nature on their doorstep, develop an interest in it and then want to protect it," says Ute Eggers. She is an ornithologist at NABU and oversees the campaign. Her credo: "You can only love what you know."
And you can only count what you
can
see.
One or the other could fail because of this if they did not pay attention in the subject class.
What did a great spotted woodpecker look like again?
Well, that's comparatively easy.
But a waxtail?
If you want to take part in the counting of winter birds, but only vaguely remember what the bird species look like, you will find help not only on the NABU website, but also here:
The nationwide counting action, which lasts until Sunday, is taking place for the twelfth time.
Last year almost 240,000 people took part in the census, says ornithologist Ute Eggers, and they reported more than 160,000 bird watchings within a few days.