On April 1 the whole planet celebrates International Bird Day.

This ecological holiday has a very rich history. It originated in the USA in 1894 and very quickly became popular, thanks to a wide coverage in the media. International Bird Day became a mass holiday in all US states, and then came to Europe.
In Russia, this holiday began to celebrate from the end of the 19th century with varying constancy, sometimes it was forgotten in connection with the terrible events of the 20th century.
March 19, 1902, the “International Convention for the Protection of Birds Beneficial in Agriculture” was signed, it entered into force on 12 December 1905 and became the first international convention in the field of environmental protection. The Soviet Union joined the International Convention on the Protection of Birds in 1927.

After a long break, International Bird Day in our country was revived as a holiday in 1999 by the efforts of the Russian Bird Conservation Union. At present, International Bird Day has become an international holiday and is taking place within the framework of UNESCO’s “Man and the Biosphere” program.
The beginning of April for this holiday is not chosen by chance – at this time of year the birds return from the wintering grounds. To help birds in the forthcoming period of nesting, people establish birdhouses, preserve the habitat of birds.

April 1 in the International Bird Day, employees of the Prioksko-Terrasny Reserve traditionally go to meetings with schoolchildren in the Serpukhov district. This year on April 3, it is planned to attend the junior classes of Vasilievskaya secondary school.
There will be presentations, interactive games, master classes, a short documentary about the reserve is shown. Children learn a lot of new and interesting about the birds living next to them. Unfortunately, in some schools the event had to be canceled due to quarantine. But, next year in this most famous “bird festival”, we will definitely visit everywhere, where we planned!