Population: 22,246,862 Year of EU entry:2007 Capital city: Bucharest Total area: 91699mi² Language: Romanian Political system: Republic
Click to view this country's events
"The Wonder of the Danube Delta"
A World Heritage Site in Romania
Halfway between the Ecuador and the North Pole, halfway between the Atlantic Ocean and the Ural Mountains lays a land that is not Earth neither Water. The wonderful and mysterious wet land of the Delta formed by River Danube, flowing mostly on Romanian territory, is a paradise of birds, fish and rare flowers.
Let's take a look at the map of the Danube Delta:
Flooded woods, low, narrow channels where men can only enter by little boats, wetlands and lagoons: before flowing into the Black Sea, River Danube, the second largest river in Europe, forms a Delta with three big arms: Saint George, the oldest, Sulina, and Chilia, the youngest but the largest. The river works its way to the sea through thousands other channels in the Delta, forming one of the largest wetland areas of the world and providing a warm home for over 5500 species of rare living creatures, birds, plants and flowers.
The Delta is home to huge colonies of a bird that is one of the closest creatures to dinosaurs, still living on the face of the Earth: the Pelican. A pelican is a large water bird with a distinctive pouch under the beak. Pelicans are sociable birds nesting in colonies. Pelicans are among the most ancient of birds. Among the creatures still living on the face of the Earth, the pelican is one that resembles most to the dinosaurs. Pelicans have remained largely unchanged for the past 30 to 40 million years. Pelicans are characterized by their long, flat bills with large throat pouches that help them scoop up fish. Their feet have all four toes.
This is a family of Big White Pelicans.
This is a baby Pelican waiting for his mother to feed him. He looks just like a little dinosaur. Later he will grow white feathers and his beak will become yellow.
This is the Dalmatian pelican – one of the two European pelican species that live in Romania, in the Danube Delta. This bird is popularly called the Curly Pelican and it is very rare, worldwide.
There are hundreds of other birds living permanently, or only temporary, during spring and summer, in the Danube Delta:
This is the little Egret
The Great Crested Grebe is an endagered species, but in the Danube Delta it is protected.
This is the European Roller
We call this bird the Little Gipsy
In the low and deep waters of the Delta live over 100 species of fish:
As you can see, there are many wonderful creatures living in the Delta of the River Danube, in Romania!
This is a family of Big White Pelicans.
