SmartBirds
Photo: © Daniel Jara
On October 25, 2025, during the regular monitoring of the Burgas Lakes, BSPB expert Vladimir Mladenov recorded a new national record of 4,603 individuals of the globally endangered White-headed Duck.
Photo: © Vladimir Mladenov / BSPB
The White-headed Duck is a globally threatened species with a rapidly declining population. Worldwide, the number of mature individuals is estimated at between 5,300 and 8,700, while the European wintering population is estimated at 7,500 to 15,900 individuals. In Bulgaria, the species is only a migrant and a wintering bird. The current observation at Lake Burgas (Vaya) theoretically represents between 29% and 61% of the entire European wintering population.
Lake Burgas is the main wintering site for the species in Bulgaria and one of the most important sites in Europe. This new record once again confirms its international significance for the conservation of the species.
Photo: © Vladimir Mladenov / BSPB
During the last decade, the number of wintering White-headed Ducks in Burgas had dropped to critically low levels — just a few hundred individuals — a trend observed across the species’ entire range. However, in recent winters, this trend has reversed dramatically, and the population in Bulgaria has increased sharply. Last autumn, at the same time, another record of 4,163 individuals was reported.
The origin of the birds and the reasons behind this sudden positive change in numbers remain unclear, but the finding offers a glimmer of hope for the future of this rare species.
