Near Proseč nad Nisou there is a granite boulder called the Bird Stone. It is carved with the German inscription “Bird Conservation Park of the Society for Ornithology, Conservation and Interest in Birds, Jablonec nad Nisou, 1934” (Vogelschutzpark des Vereines für Vogelkunde Schutz U. – Liebhaberei Gablonz a. N. 1934). The monument commemorates the existence of the local Bird Conservation Park (Vogelschutzpark), which functioned here until the end of World War II.

On the agricultural and forest land belonging in the past to the defunct house No. 54, an area with bird feeders, nest boxes and bird baths was created. Apparently there used to be a small cabin with a veranda on the premises, was used by the local game keepers. About 270 m northeast of the Bird Stone, on the old road to Rýnovice, there is also a roughly hewn granite boulder with a shallow trough that fills with water after the rains: a bird bath.

The German society that established and ran the bird park was founded in 1923 in Jablonec nad Nisou. It was located in today`s Turnovská Street no. 31 and in 1926 it had 75 members. The Association for Ornithology, Conservation and Interest in Birds in the Czechoslovak Rep. was founded at the same address in 1925 and a year later it had staggering 500 members. Both institutions had the same chairman, Ludwig Hederer, who was a musician in the local theatre. The fate of the society and of the association cannot be traced beyond 1939 as no information about them can be found in the Jablonec directories. Their disappearance is probably linked to the political and war-related events of the time.

Although some sources state that this is the first bird park on the Czech territory, this is not true. Much earlier, in 1908, the Lumpepark in Ústí nad Labem was established, which is the oldest bird conservation park in Central Europe.

Connected places: Lumpepark – the first Central European birdlife reserveLumpepark – první středoevropská ptačí rezervace

Keywords: ornithology; bird conservation; Faunistics (a branch of zoogeography); Society for Bird Conservation

The Bird Stone Monument in Proseč nad Nisou