SmartBirds
© Elzbieta Kret
At the end of April 2023, a female bird from the released Cinereous vultures within the framework of the recovery program of the species in the Bulgarian part of the Eastern Rhodopes collided with a wind turbine in the Greek part of the mountain. As a result, a part of the bird’s left wing was cut off and vets are currently struggling to save the bird.
Thanks to the GPS transmitter mounted on the bird’s back, we received a signal of unusual behavior from one of the places that the bird had visited the last few days probably to feed. Once this was noticed, the Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds (BSPB) team informed colleagues from the Society for the Protection of Biodiversity of Thrace in Greece. They acted very quickly while communicating with responsible authorities, the Forestry Directorate of Rodopi, and the Management Unit of Evros Delta and Dadia National Parks to carry out a field inspection. The alive bird with a missing part of its left wing was found exactly in the location sent by the transmitter, around 480 m from a wind turbine. The team decided to seek for the missing wing, thus it was detected just 40 m away from the wind turbine. The same day, the bird was transported by plane to the ANIMA Rehabilitation Center in Athens, where it is still hospitalized.
© Elzbieta Kret
Wind farms are one of the main threats to vultures globally. Numerous studies have proven the negative effect of these energy infrastructures on birds of prey causing mortality and habitat loss, since they are improperly constructed in bird-important areas for breeding, foraging and migration. A large proportion of the Greek part of Thrace, which falls within the Cinereous, Griffon and Egyptian vulture home ranges, was designated as a priority area for the development of wind farms. Hundreds of wind turbines have been already erected in the area and proposals for the construction of new wind farms are underway. As a result, 26 birds of prey were recorded as collision victims in the period 2008-2022. This is the second documented case of a tagged vulture in the Eastern Rhodopes of Bulgaria colliding with a wind turbine in Greece, as well as the second case of a bird found alive with a cut-off wing.
The Cinereous vulture disappeared from the Bulgarian part of the Eastern Rhodopes in 1993, and the only breeding population of the species at the moment in the Rhodopes is located in the Dadia-Lefkimi-Soufli Forest National Park. In 2022, in a joint effort, BSPB, “Rewilding Rhodopes” Foundation, Rewilding Europe, and GREFA Foundation, Spain have started a reintroduction of the species in the Bulgarian part of the Rhodopes in order to strengthen this population. Thus, in the month of November 2022, 14 Cinereous vultures were released into the wild. Sadly, this is the fourth bird that won’t contribute to this effort as without the capability of flying, it will stay in captivity for the rest of its life. The other three birds, due to different reasons died in the wild within half of a year.
The activities to restore and protect the populations of the Cinereous and Griffon vultures in the Rhodopes are financed by Rewilding Europe and are carried out together with the “Rewilding Rhodopes” Foundation.
