153 birds! A day dedicated to birds

Would you like to get to know the magic world of birds and the wonder of migration? Do you know the Swallow, the Bee-eater, the Hoopoe and the Nightingale? Join us on Sunday 17 April 2016 from 11 am until 2 pm at Famagusta Gate Moat for our event ‘153 birds’ dedicated to birds, with drawing activities and feathered fairy tales and songs. An opportunity for young and old to get to know some of the many and impressive birds found in Cyprus.

As the birds will have already started their long and difficult migration journey this spring towards their breeding grounds, we will wait for you with songs, myths, fairy tales and coloured pencils to draw the birds. We will provide everything needed to get to know some of these magnificent birds and to wake our creativity. The day will start with fairy tales and songs by the duo Charalambia Theophanous and Veronika Alonefti who we will follow to the enchanting world of birds. We will then move on to coloured pencils, crayons and pastels to bring out the beauty of these birds on paper. No special drawing skills required, just bring your high spirits and curiosity, your friends, parents, aunts and children, and we will take care of the rest!

Coming autumn, we will present the drawings we will have collected from you, just in time when the birds will be migrating towards their wintering grounds.

We hope you will share our fascination for our feathered friends and that you will allow them to inspire you. For inspiration we will provide you with photographs and interesting information on some of the species found in Cyprus: Did you know that the Robin and the Blackcap are among the few birds that sing in winter? Or that the Bluethroat can imitate the sounds of other species, and even mimic the sound of reindeer bells? Or that the Cyprus Warbler, an endemic species to Cyprus, was pictured on the Cyprus 10 pound banknote? Or that male Chaffinches compete on how many times they can sing in an hour? Or that the male Pallid Harrier does acrobatic areal displays during courtship?

Everyone welcome! Looking forward to seeing you all there! For more information please contact BirdLife Cyprus on 22455072.

Funding for this project is from the Champions of the Flyway Bird Race, organized jointly by BirdLife International and SPNI (BirdLife in Israel). Organized by BirdLife Cyprus. Supported by Zedem Media. Media Sponsor CYBC.