SmartBirds
© Stela Trendafilova/BSPB
The BSPB team tagged two young Egyptian vultures last week with GPS transmitters. They are the offspring of the famous family of Izi and Lucky. This is the first time in the world that an entire family of the endangered species will be tracked through GPS telemetry. The young vultures were named Lizi and Isabela.
© Ivaylo Angelov/BSPB
Izi is the first captive-bred Egyptian Vulture released in Bulgaria which successfully breeds in the wild. Her partner, Lucky, is a wild male tagged with a GPS transmitter as an immature bird. The two formed a pair and occupied a breeding territory in the Eastern Rhodopes two years ago, and this year, for the first time, they bred successfully and raised two chicks.
Despite the difficult access to the breeding cliff, the experienced experts of BSPB reached the nest using alpine equipment. The chicks were measured, ringed with metal rings, DNA sampled and tagged with GPS transmitters. Afterwards, they were safely returned back to the nest. The two young vultures are now ready to fledge from the nest. We will follow their movements through GPS telemetry and study interesting aspects of the species’ behaviour. We will learn how the fledglings learn from their parents to fly, find food, and explore the breeding territories, but we also will determine whether they will follow any of the parents on migration.
© Stela Trendafilova/BSPB
Over the next month, the two fledglings will master their flight abilities and prepare for the most significant challenge—the first autumn migration to Africa.
© Stela Trendafilova/BSPB
The Egyptian Vulture Reinforcement programme in Bulgaria is led by BSPB and implemented in partnership with Green Balkans, Prague Zoo, and EAZA. The programme was established in the frame of the Egyptian Vulture New LIFE project (LIFE16 NAT/BG/000874) funded by the EC and is currently being implemented under the “From Iron Curtain to Green Belt: restoring ecological networks in Southeast Bulgaria” project, funded by the Endangered Landscapes & Seascapes Programme (ELSP) 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 organisations. The University and the ELSP are supported by Arcadia – a charitable fund of Peter Baldwin and Lisbet Rausing.
