SmartBirds
Photo: © Volen Arkumarev
A Bulgarian society for the protection of birds (BSPB) team transported two young Egyptian vultures from the Green Balkans Wildlife Rescue Center to the adaptation aviary in the Eastern Rhodopes. The two birds will spend nearly two months at the so called “vulture school”, where they will have the opportunity to observe their wild fellows, socialize with them and get used to conditions in the wild.
During this important period of adaptation, BSPB experts will be close to the young vultures, observing their behavior and skills. This year the “vulture school” has been updated with one of the new additions – a tall dry tree. In the wild, Egyptian vultures often use dry trees for resting and roosting, and our aim is to get the young birds used to this before they are released. The newcomers immediately liked the tree and spent their first night on it. The adaptation period for the young vultures coincides with the return to the Eastern Rhodopes of wild pairs of Egyptian vultures and young non-breeding birds.
This year, one of the Egyptian vultures was a donation from the Schoenbrunn zoo in Vienna, Austria. The second bird was taken from its nest in the Eastern Rhodopes last year because it hatched too late. It was raised at the Green Balkans Rescue Center and will soon be ready to return to the wild where she belongs.
Photo: © Volen Arkumarev
The Egyptian vulture restocking program is coordinated by the BSPB and implemented in cooperation with the Green Balkans Wildlife Rescue Center and with the support of the European Endangered Species Program (EEP) with coordinator Antonin Weidl. The results of the restocking program so far can be found in the annual report.
The program is implemented under the “From Iron curtain to the Green Belt”. 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 organisations. The University and the ELP are supported by Arcadia – a charitable fund of Peter Baldwin and Lisbet Rausing.
