Bird Panels

Of Birds and Humans

By Carsten

Birds: aren’t they just great?  Chittering, chattering, hopping, swimming and… most amazing of all, flying!  I, an avid birder, am very lucky to live here in Transylvania, in a bioregion teeming with life. From tiny protozoa which you will find squirming around in great numbers in any water or soil sample you take to look at under a microscope, to summer meadows which seem to vibrate with the chirping of crickets and grasshoppers in summer evenings as well as with the hustle-bustle of all insect life by day among the innumerable plants – fragrant and generous.  

And where there are plants, there are insects.  Helping the plants to thrive and, with that, the mammalian herbivores (and therefore also carnivores).  And where there are insects, there are birds.  In this way, we can know if there is a great diversity of bird species, this means that we are dealing with a healthy ecosystem.  

To honor the role of birds in both maintaining ecosystems and indicating whether the ecosystems are healthy or not and to raise awareness about the high bird diversity in our region, my father Lars had the idea of setting up Bird Panels in the region and I wholeheartedly agreed to help to support this as much as I could.  

So, in late 2024, my father and I sat down to make a list of species that live in our bioregion which we wanted to put on the panels.  It was challenging to choose!  We managed to choose 15 different species for each of the three panels.  And we tried also to place species in alignment with the placement of each panel – in other words, to indicate which species one might most likely see at that particular site.  Then, we selected a photo, chosen for both beauty and clarity of the image, for each species.  Next, in March 2025, my father and a designer friend created the layout of the panels with the photos (how big, how small), a short text in Romanian, Hungarian and English and also a QR code leading the reader to the website of ALPA, with more information about each speciesindividually: how small-scale agriculture helps them and also some fun facts.  

In July, a local carpenter made some beautiful stands for the panels.  And in the beginning of August, the big moment came: the bird panels got put up!  (With the help of the local municipality who made the land available and helped to dig the holes.) This was all great fun.  Then in October we had the official opening ceremony.  

During this occasion, my school played games, did crafts and learned from a professional bird-ringer about birds.  We watched demonstrations about how to catch and “ring” them.  Then the whole school, also teachers, walked gaily through the village with bird masks, bird posters and bird whistles to arrive at one of the panels.  There, the mayor of Sancraiu village held a speech, so did my papa Lars.  Then we freed some pigeons and had tea and bird-shaped cookies!  All of this was documented by a local news team and even made it to a coverage on television.

The next week, the village of Sancraiu, around which the panels are placed, organised their annual “Rosehip jam Festival.”  ALPA also had a stand there and on this day, both Bori Lang, an ALPA team member, and I led bicycle tours to two of the panels.  Groups of bicyclists could learn about the importance of birds and the mosaic landscape typical of this region.  This was a beautiful day for all involved.

All in all, I loved being part of this project and have enjoyed biking past the panels ever since.  And very often also seeing one or more of the birds soaring in the sky, singing in a tree or standing in the field as I pass.  Hip Hip Hooray for the Birds!!!