The Danube Delta is the second largest river delta in Europe, after Volga Delta, and is the best preserved on the continent. The greater part lies in Romania (Tulcea county), while its northern part, on the left bank of the Chilia arm, is situated in Ukraine (Odessa Oblast). The modern Danube Delta began to form after 4000 BCE in a bay of the Black Sea, when the sea rose to its present level. A sandy barrier blocked the Danube bay where the river initially built its delta. Probably 40 percent of the Delta was built in the last 1000 years. The reserve is vast, with numerous freshwater lakes interconnected by narrow channels featuring huge expanses of aquatic vegetation. This is the largest continuous marshland on Europe, which includes the greatest stretch of reedbeds in the world, which form floating or fixed islands of decaying vegetation. The Razelm-Sinoe complex to the south comprises several large brackish lagoons separated from the sea by a sandbar. The higher ground supports stands of willow, popular, alder and oak. There are also sandy areas covered with feather grass and other steppe species. Forest elements are best observed in Letea Forest (in the first postcard) where a series of bands occur along dunes up to 250 m long and 10 m wide.
Situated on major migratory routes, and providing adequate conditions for nesting and hatching, the Danube Delta is a magnet for birds from six major eco-regions of the world, including the Mongolian, Arctic and Siberian. There are over 320 species of birds found in the delta during summer, of which 166 are hatching species and 159 are migratory. Over one million individuals (swans, wild ducks, bald coots, etc.) winter here. An interesting ethologic aspect appearing enhanced by the conditions of the Danube Delta (especially by the floods) is represented by egg laying in common nests. Thus, as a consequence of the general lack of egg-laying places, especially at flood time when a great part of the aquatic-species nests are flooded, the birds this way affected go on laying eggs in alien nests either belonging to the same species or to species of the same families.
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