A Checklist of the Birds of Plovdiv Municipality

Urban ecology studies the interactions between man and nature in urban habitats. Birds are indicators for environmental changes and fluctuations in their numbers and abundance could be indicative for habitat alterations. Birds in the Municipality of Plovdiv have never been an object of a thorough study. Here we present the first bird species list of Plovdiv municipality for the period 1850 - 2016 and their conservation and ecological status. In total, 245 bird species are registered on the territory of the municipality. We confirmed 104 breeding species, 169 species during spring and autumn migration and 125 species wintering in the study area. We confirmed 3 extinct species. The Municipality of Plovdiv with its city parks, hills and the river basin present favourable habitats for a significant number of bird species. Some of them have unfavourable conservation status.