The White-tailed eagle rescued in the Green Balkans Centre chose Lesbos island for its home during the winter!

Remember the two White-tailed eagles rescued by Green Balkans after a storm in the spring of last year?

And do you remember that one of the birds was released in the wild at the end of the summer via an adaptation aviary in the Eastern Rhodopes?

Well, few days ago we got great news - that the eagle not only has survived, but has started its migration as well, reaching Lesbos island in Greece! Wondering how we know that? Thanks to the assistance of our colleagues from the Bulgarian Society for the protection of Birds the eagle was equipped with a GPS transmitter prior to its release!

And now for the most interesting part of our story - the data last sent from the transmitter was from Lesbos Island.

After learning this, our team from the Rescue Centre got in touch with our longtime friend and colleague ‏‎Philip Dragoumis, who made the contact with Stylianos Zannetos (PhD student) and Alexandros Kouris (MsC student) of the Biodiversity Conservation Laboratory of the Department of Environment, University of the Aegean.

Thanks to our Greek colleagues, the birds was located and photographed. And best of all - the taken photos show the bird is in excellend health and shape!

Stories with a happy end like this one - a combination of well-done fieldwork, adequate actions by the veterinary physicians and rehabilitators of the Rescue Centre Green Balkans, and excellent partnerships at national and international level, can only give us new strength in our day-to-day work in the name of wildlife conservation!

We thank everyone who took part in the 'creation' of this good news. We wish for the White-tailed eagle to have a long and problem-free life, and hope to see it again, but only in flight!

Photos: Stylianos Zannetos and Alexandros Kouris