This is a small piece of biger article written by Jacek Karczewski published in the "Gazeta Wyborcza" Poland:
Talking of birds, staying on edges of "Warta River Mouth" National Park has
become a deadly danger. Their home has become a trap for them whilst they
have no where else to go.
All around the National Park, along its borders, thousand of protected birds
are being killed by hunters. This year the slaughter has been really
dramatic, following the arrival of foreign "hunters", particularly Frech and
Italian who have joined their Polish colleagues. Citizens of Slonsk - the
town closest to the park have nicknamed them "meat-pickers". They say what happens there amounts to slaughter. Hunters come to hunt geese which feature on the logo of the park. This is legal under Polish law provided they do not enter the park, so they wait at its borders, seeking to lure the birds with every immaginable trick, legal and illegal. They use decoys, including illegal recordings of geese calls played on tape-recorders and spreading canvas sheets on the ground to imitate shallow water. Geese are intelligent so they will not land on such a"pond", but being curious, they want to check what is that, so they fly in. Killed birds are used also as lures too. They place them on a ground, wings set properly and the head raised with a
supporting stick. From a distance it looks as a bird itself is sat with
raised head. Goose calls are played - from a tape, naturally. Hunters have
even been seen with live decoys. Hunters go to extraordinary lengths to
catch live geese which they tie by a rope to the leg, placing the bird back
on the water. The bird calls out to a flock of geese flying over that are
drawn down into the path of the guns.
Screens (blinds) were installed last year at the entrance to park from the
direction of Slonsk. We had no idea of their purpose when we saw them for
the first time, but it was for hunters to hide in.. Everything became
crystal-clear when we saw several Frenchman in action with a local guide
(the son of a local businessman and a hunter himself). Our attempt to ask
them to leave ended with outrage from them. They claimed they had
appropriate permissions, while we represented nobody. We found shells and
cartridges the following day, feathers and spots of blood.
On this day we were surprised by amazingly low flying flock of Greylag
geese. Birds unexpectedly showed from above the reeds. They were flying
fast, but being large and relatively heavy, their agility in an air was
limited. Very intelligent birds knew perfectly what that meant: a man
showing from a screen. Expecting gunshots, they immediately started to
scream. Trying to save their lives and avoid the pellets they rapidly turned
in air, performing acrobatics, half-turns, dramatically lowering height of
the flight. I have never ever seen it before. And I will never forget it. I
have was shaken up and deeply touched.
It is said that the geese are the main reason for people to visit the Park
in autumn and winter. Here, as nowhere else in Poland and in just a few
places here and there in Europe, multi-species flocks concentrate, which in
exceptional years number over 200,000 birds. For quite a lot of other
migratory birds the floodplain of the Warta River is of strategic importance
meaning. Flocks coming in to roost
make stunning views in the sunset. People which see it for the first time
say that this is a live National Geographic spectacle. From all
over Europe they come for these spectacles. Geese arrive here in search of
asylum and rest. Some have flown 5000 kilometres or more. Several weeks of
flight from north of Russia, Siberia and Scandinavia. What a huge effort! It
is hard even to imagine what they saw, what they have experienced and how
brave these birds are. Our ancestors had reasons to call geese 'Messengers
of God'...
More details about Slonsk and Warta River Mouth at http://www.BirdGuide.pl
Still holding out hope for our birds...
=======================================
http://www.BirdGuide.pl/
Waldemar Krasowski, Birding Polska Team Leader,
Local group leader of OTOP (exclusive Polish partner
of Birdlife International and RSPB)
mobile: +48 501087147
=======================================
Talking of birds, staying on edges of "Warta River Mouth" National Park has
become a deadly danger. Their home has become a trap for them whilst they
have no where else to go.
All around the National Park, along its borders, thousand of protected birds
are being killed by hunters. This year the slaughter has been really
dramatic, following the arrival of foreign "hunters", particularly Frech and
Italian who have joined their Polish colleagues. Citizens of Slonsk - the
town closest to the park have nicknamed them "meat-pickers". They say what happens there amounts to slaughter. Hunters come to hunt geese which feature on the logo of the park. This is legal under Polish law provided they do not enter the park, so they wait at its borders, seeking to lure the birds with every immaginable trick, legal and illegal. They use decoys, including illegal recordings of geese calls played on tape-recorders and spreading canvas sheets on the ground to imitate shallow water. Geese are intelligent so they will not land on such a"pond", but being curious, they want to check what is that, so they fly in. Killed birds are used also as lures too. They place them on a ground, wings set properly and the head raised with a
supporting stick. From a distance it looks as a bird itself is sat with
raised head. Goose calls are played - from a tape, naturally. Hunters have
even been seen with live decoys. Hunters go to extraordinary lengths to
catch live geese which they tie by a rope to the leg, placing the bird back
on the water. The bird calls out to a flock of geese flying over that are
drawn down into the path of the guns.
Screens (blinds) were installed last year at the entrance to park from the
direction of Slonsk. We had no idea of their purpose when we saw them for
the first time, but it was for hunters to hide in.. Everything became
crystal-clear when we saw several Frenchman in action with a local guide
(the son of a local businessman and a hunter himself). Our attempt to ask
them to leave ended with outrage from them. They claimed they had
appropriate permissions, while we represented nobody. We found shells and
cartridges the following day, feathers and spots of blood.
On this day we were surprised by amazingly low flying flock of Greylag
geese. Birds unexpectedly showed from above the reeds. They were flying
fast, but being large and relatively heavy, their agility in an air was
limited. Very intelligent birds knew perfectly what that meant: a man
showing from a screen. Expecting gunshots, they immediately started to
scream. Trying to save their lives and avoid the pellets they rapidly turned
in air, performing acrobatics, half-turns, dramatically lowering height of
the flight. I have never ever seen it before. And I will never forget it. I
have was shaken up and deeply touched.
It is said that the geese are the main reason for people to visit the Park
in autumn and winter. Here, as nowhere else in Poland and in just a few
places here and there in Europe, multi-species flocks concentrate, which in
exceptional years number over 200,000 birds. For quite a lot of other
migratory birds the floodplain of the Warta River is of strategic importance
meaning. Flocks coming in to roost
make stunning views in the sunset. People which see it for the first time
say that this is a live National Geographic spectacle. From all
over Europe they come for these spectacles. Geese arrive here in search of
asylum and rest. Some have flown 5000 kilometres or more. Several weeks of
flight from north of Russia, Siberia and Scandinavia. What a huge effort! It
is hard even to imagine what they saw, what they have experienced and how
brave these birds are. Our ancestors had reasons to call geese 'Messengers
of God'...
More details about Slonsk and Warta River Mouth at http://www.BirdGuide.pl
Still holding out hope for our birds...
=======================================
http://www.BirdGuide.pl/
Waldemar Krasowski, Birding Polska Team Leader,
Local group leader of OTOP (exclusive Polish partner
of Birdlife International and RSPB)
mobile: +48 501087147
=======================================
