History of the Bulgarian Ornithology (A Review of the Research Fields and Achievements for 277 Years with Selected Bibliography)

A short review of the main achievement and the most eminent workers on the birdlife in Bulgaria in the last 277 years is presented. A total of 46 fields/ aspects of bird studies are outlined in brief. Each research field is described in short with quotation of the first, the major, the most important or the most popular publications. Full references of these publications are given. The bibliography of the great many of them appears transliterated/translated from cyrilic alphabet for the first time. The total number of the ornithological publications of Bulgarian authors and these on the Bulgarian birds is estimated as ca. 8000. The present work lists full reference data for 1/ 12th of them (691 items). Georgi Hristovich (1863-1926) is the first Bulgarian ornithologist. The number of Bulgarian workers in ornithology permanently increased and in 2021 it overpasses 100 specialists, advanced birdwatchers and bird-conservation NGO-s collaborators. Ornithology in Bulgaria has data for 739 bird species (421 recent and 318 known from their fossil/ subfossil remains) in the country. Avifaunistic is the oldest and most developed field of ornithological researches, while pterylogy is the youngest and less elaborated of their aspects. The countries of the Balkan Peninsula are the most studied foreign territories of Bulgarian ornithological research. Antarctica is the most remoted region, where Bulgarian ornithologists made their field researches. They contributed to the exploration of the birdlife of 68 states and territories all over the World. A total of 40 new avian taxa have been described from Bulgaria – 1 recent (Streptopelia decaocto) and 39 fossil (Miocene – Early Holocene), an important contribution to the World avian science. The oldest and the largest avian collection are stored at the National Museum of Natural History at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences in Sofia. This institution always was and at present is, the most influencing research center in ornithology of Bulgaria.