SmartBirds
© Ivaylo Dichev
This August, 11 volunteers from across Europe for a 12th consecutive year joined the nest guarding campaign. They spent more than 80 days alongside the Egyptian vultures and guarded nine out of the 28 nests of the emblematic bird in the Eastern Rhodopes. In total, 13 juveniles were guarded and 11 juveniles (48% of the young Egyptian vultures in the area) successfully fledged their nests (two were extracted). Each year we extract chicks that are hatched after the 15th of June and transport them to the Green Balkans Rescue Center in Stara Zagora. The late hatching decreases their chance of survival and we have developed mechanism to save these chicks in the Reinforcement strategy for the species.
In Northern Bulgaria, three guardians observed for 10 days four nests of the species with four juveniles.
© Vladimir Dobrev/BSPB
This year was very successful and we didn’t have any accidents with juveniles. Interestingly, despite the increase in the number of occupied territories of the Egyptian vulture in the Eastern Rhodopes, the number of the hatched chicks was similar to previous seasons. Like previous years and according to the Reinforcement strategy that we have developed we had to extract two juveniles from different nests this year, which were afterward brought to the Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Center in Stara Zagora for raising until their release in the spring. As a result of the campaign, we stayed close to 13 chicks of which 11 successfully left their nests and the rest will receive a second chance and will be released in the frames of the Egyptian vulture restocking program in May, 2025.
© Ivaylo Dichev
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 volunteers in the campaign so far! All of you ensured a safe first flight for one of the rarest birds on the planet!
© Ivaylo Dichev
Since 2013, 116 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.
