Deuteron induced reactions on natural bismuth targets were investigated with the stacked foil activation technique up to 50 MeV. Excitation functions for the reactions ^{mathrm {209}}Bi(d,xn)^{mathrm {207,206,205}}Po, Bi(d,x)^{mathrm {207,205}}Bi and ^{mathrm {209}}Bi(d,x)^{mathrm {203}}Pb obtained from gamma-spectra of decay products were compared with the results of our ALICE-D and EMPIRE-D model calculations, with the result of TALYS code taken from TENDL-2019 on-line library and the results of the only measurement performed earlier. Thick target yields were deduced from the fitted experimental cross sections.