{"id":72306,"date":"2026-04-30T21:44:04","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T21:44:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/72306\/"},"modified":"2026-04-30T21:44:04","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T21:44:04","slug":"warsaws-celebrity-birds-on-perilous-urban-quest-channels-television","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/72306\/","title":{"rendered":"Warsaw’s Celebrity Birds On Perilous Urban Quest \u2022 Channels Television"},"content":{"rendered":"

Waddling across a Warsaw expressway, a brood of wild sea ducks brought traffic to a halt as volunteers held motorists at bay \u2013 an annual ritual to protect the bustling Polish capital\u2019s famous ducklings.<\/p>\n

Every spring, dozens of day-old ducklings must make the risky trek from a centrally located park where they hatch to the Vistula River.<\/p>\n

Local volunteers are mobilised to help ensure their safe passage, scrambling in hi-vis vests to stop cars and shepherd the birds across one of Warsaw\u2019s busiest roads.<\/p>\n

READ ALSO:\u00a0Sleepy Seal Diverts Traffic In Australian Seaside Town<\/a><\/p>\n

Waddling through the city of 1.8 million people, the groups of mergansers \u2014 fish-eating sea ducks \u2014 are led by their silver-feathered mothers, with their distinctive brown head crests.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe call mergansers ambassadors of Warsaw\u2019s wildlife \u2013 or our celebrities,\u201d said Barbara Rozalska from the city parks department.<\/p>\n

She was speaking over the rumble of the six-lane expressway \u2014 \u201cone of the biggest threats\u201d for the wild birds on their kilometre-long journey.<\/p>\n

Rozalska is in charge of coordinating the volunteers, who, through April and May, monitor the park and tree cavities where ducks lay their eggs and the possible routes they may take towards the river.<\/p>\n

Around 30 people \u2014 trained by the city\u2019s ornithologist \u2014 take turns to stay alert for any sighting of the mergansers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a bit like being on call at the accident and emergency department \u2014 you get a call and you have to go, no matter if it\u2019s at dawn or in the afternoon,\u201d Rozalska\u00a0told AFP.<\/p>\n

The array of threats is not limited to road traffic.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are seagulls and crows, which can snatch a chick that gets away from its mother for a moment. There are also predatory fish that can drag a chick underwater,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

No Honking<\/p>\n

One of the first merganser mums to cross this season took almost 24 hours to make it from the park to the river, testing the patience of the volunteers monitoring their every step and stumble.<\/p>\n

\"A\"AA common merganser (Mergus merganser) mother nicknamed Justyna leads her ducklings from Lazienkowski Park in central Warsaw towards the Vistula River under the watchful eyes of volunteers and city parks department employees on April 25, 2026, in Warsaw, Poland. (PHOTO: WOJTEK RADWANSKI \/ AFP)<\/p>\n

That included the 11 hours the birds spent nestled in the roadside greenery, waiting for their moment. Daria Grzesiek, 38, on duty, called it a \u201cvery difficult day\u201d for her team.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut once she set off and began making her way towards the Vistula\u2026 the fatigue was gone. There was only the satisfaction of having successfully guided her safely along the way,\u201d Grzesiek told AFP.<\/p>\n

The volunteers\u2019 job involves asking passersby to keep their distance and put their dogs on a leash. They also take on the task of explaining to drivers why the traffic needs to be stopped \u2014 normally only for a few minutes.<\/p>\n

As their efforts have gained traction and the birds have shot to local fame, there is more understanding among those sat behind the wheel, Grzesiek said. One person, she recounted, \u201cwas getting upset that we stopped traffic\u201d. But \u201cthe other drivers simply explained to him that he should calm down \u2014 because mergansers are coming\u201d.<\/p>\n

AFP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Waddling across a Warsaw expressway, a brood of wild sea ducks brought traffic to a halt as volunteers…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":72307,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[95],"tags":[5656,12851,182,181,6480],"class_list":{"0":"post-72306","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-warsaw","8":"tag-birds","9":"tag-nature","10":"tag-poland","11":"tag-warsaw","12":"tag-wildlife"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@dk\/116495847588813813","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72306","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72306"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72306\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}