SmartBirds
© Vladimir Dobrev/BSPB
The Egyptian vulture nest guarding campaign was attended by 8 volunteers this year. They were sitting by and observing for more than 70 days six out of the 19 successful Egyptian vulture nests in the Eastern Rhodopes this year. In total, 8 juveniles were guarded (32% of the young Egyptian vultures in the area) and successfully fledged their nests. This year, the number of the Egyptian vulture pairs reached 29 in the area out of the 36 for the country.
In Northern Bulgaria, six of our local collaborators observed for more than 10 days six nests of the species with nine juveniles. This was made possible thanks to the donations collected through the campaign “Support the Comeback of the Egyptian Vulture in Bulgaria”.
Like previous years, and according to the Reinforcement strategy that we have developed we had to extract three juveniles from different nests this year (one from the Eastern Rhodopes and two from Northern Bulgaria). They were afterward brought to the Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Center in Stara Zagora for raising until their release in the spring when they will receive a second chance and will be released in the frames of the Egyptian vulture restocking program in May, 2026.
© Vladimir Dobrev/BSPB
The campaign this year was supported by the “From the Iron Curtain to the Green Belt” project. The project is funded by the Endangered Landscapes Programme (ELP) that is managed by the Cambridge Conservation Initiative – a collaboration between the Chancellor Masters and Scholars of the University of Cambridge of The Old Schools and leading internationally focused biodiversity conservation organizations. The University and the ELP are supported by Arcadia – a charitable fund of Peter Baldwin and Lisbet Rausing. BSPB expresses great gratitude to all donors in the campaign so far and to all volunteers! All of you ensured a safe first flight for one of the rarest birds on the planet!
© Svetoslav Tsvetanov
Since 2013, 124 volunteers from Bulgaria and abroad have participated in the campaign, including people from Canada, Romania, Hungary, Lithuania, Germany, Belgium, France, Slovenia, Spain and the United States. So far, thanks to their indispensable help, eight young birds have been rescued, eight have been extracted and more than 140 juveniles have successfully left their nests.
