Small birds (passerines) are one of the faunal groups affected by the devastating 2023 fire, as burnt trees are lost over time as they are broken, logged or uprooted, leading to a rapid loss of available post-fire nesting sites for many species.

An immediate response of the SPBT team was to place wooden nests and feeders for small birds to help them find nesting and feeding space especially in winter when there are not many insects.

At the beginning of 2024, 88 nests and 64 feeders were placed in moderately burnt forests of the National Forest Park of Dadia - Lefkimi - Soufli, an action that we made sure to involve the community to share together the experience of participating in forest restoration activities, such as the volunteers of the ESC (European Solidarity Cropsproject, students of the high schools of Tychero and Soufli and members of theAlexandroupolis Dance Club).

In parallel, census of passerines were recorded from December 2023 to June 2024, during 4 visits (before and after nest installation) in areas with artificial nests and in areas without artificial nests for comparison. The results of the surveys showed that some forest species (chaffinch, great tit, hawfinch, blackbird, robin, etc.) are present in the year immediately following the fire, as expected, due to philopatry relative to other species, such as migratory species. However, species with high requirements in terms of forest habitat were absent (nuthatch, semi-collared flycatcher, marsh tit, etc.). A characteristic feature was the strong presence of the pine woodpecker in almost 50% of the sampling plots and its confirmed reproduction in burnt trees, which confirms that it is one of the first species favored in burnt forests.

The presence or absence of artificial nests did not affect the number of species observed and only one nest from a pair of blue tit was successfully used, but this was expected as artificial nests are used 2-3 years after their installation. And indeed, 11 nests have already been recorded this spring, some with chicks, others with eggs, and we should see this year's results in total by June.

This spring we are repeating the nestling count in the same areas to compare with last year's results and to highlight possible changes two years after the fire.

The support of passerines feeding mainly on insects is aimed through the recovery of their populations and the control of insects especially those that due to the necrosis of burnt trees can increase dangerously for the general health of the forest trees. Therefore, depending on the results of the monitoring, we can judge the need to place other artificial nests.

You can see the results of the monitoring of the passerines one year after the fire here. 

The action entitled: “Strengthening of the populations of passerines in the burnt areas of the Dadia-Lefkimi-Soufli National Forest Park (NP Dadia) was funded by“Thenamaris Ships Management Inc".