Bonn, 17 August 2009 – More than 500 children from around the world have sent in their pictures for this year’s World Migratory Bird Day (WMBD) Painting Competition.

The competition called upon children to express their thoughts on the 2009 World Migratory Bird Day (WMBD) theme: “Barriers to Migration” which highlighted the effects man-made structures such as wind turbines, communication masts, tall buildings and windows, power lines and fences have on migratory birds.

A total of 517 paintings were submitted to this year’s international drawing competition by children up to the age of 16. “What we see in these colourful paintings is that children are well aware of the many man-made barriers birds face during migration. They also show how sensitive children are to today’s environmental problems!” said Bert Lenten, Executive Secretary of AEWA and initiator of the World Migratory Bird Day campaign.

“I would like to thank all the young artists for their wonderful contributions and for supporting World Migratory Bird Day with their paintings this year. We can learn a great deal from these paintings about the threats birds face and also about what we can do to avoid and reduce the impact of man-made barriers on migratory birds” said Lenten.

In the coming weeks all the paintings submitted will be put on display online in a designated web gallery and the selected winners of the 2009 Painting Competition will also be announced on the World Migratory Bird Day website.

WMBD is a global initiative devoted to celebrating migratory birds and for promoting their conservation worldwide. The annual campaign is being organised by the African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbird Agreement (AEWA) and the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) – two international wildlife treaties administered by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) - together with other partners.

People and dedicated organisations around the world used this year’s event to draw attention to the many man-made barriers and their impact on migratory birds. Over 150 separate events in 54 countries were registered on the WMBD website to mark this year’s celebration. (see: www.worldmigratorybirdday.org). Activities to mark WMBD included bird festivals and bird watching trips, public discussions, exhibitions, presentations, bird rallies and other educational and public events.

A note to all participants: although we will do our best to announce the final winners of this year’s WMBD Painting Competition as soon as possible, please have a little patience as we will need a little time to set up the online gallery and determine the winners. The final winners should be announced on the WMBD website in late October / early November 2009: www.worldmigratorybirdday.org