In the last few days, two Griffon Vultures have been walking quite calmly in the center of Sliven arousing people's interest and worrying quite a few. The birds with wingtags EE, YY and TT are part of the joint long-term program for the return of vultures in Bulgaria between Green Balkans, the Fund for Wild Flora and Fauna and the Birds of Prey Protection Society.
The three birds, named respectively Wee Georgie, Delicious and Delectable are a donation from our friends from the International Center for Birds of Prey - England, along with 8 other birds - Lesser Kestrels and an Egyptian Vulture. All 11 birds were hatched in the Center, and the Lesser Kestrels are heirs of birds from the Green Balkans Wildlife Rescue Centre, donated two years ago to the International Centre, within the project "Lesser Kestrel Recovery", LIFE11 NAT/BG/360. The transport for all birds was covered entirely by donations from the people of UK: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-55257261
After the necessary quarantine period at the Wildlife Rescue Center in Stara Zagora, the three Griffon Vultures were moved to the Green Balkans adaptation aviary in the “Sinite kamani” Nature Park, and later, in early March, were released into the wild. Because the three birds are adults, hatched, and raised in a zoo, they would have a harder time adapting to life into the wild. This is the reason they are looking for the closeness of people and why two of them actually moved towards the city, walking quite calmly among the citizens of Sliven, without worrying that someone might harm them. Fortunately, as in previous cases, well-meaning citizens signalled for the birds. After literally hundreds of signals to the Green Balkans and the Directorate of the Sinite kamani Nature Park, the two birds EE (Wee Georgie) and YY (Delicious) were captured and returned to the adaptation aviary. We will now monitor the behaviour of the third bird TT (Delectable).
Usually donated birds are quite young and after staying in the aviary where they contact their wild "brothers", they more easily "go wild" and avoid the closeness of people. Such birds also nest most often in the wild.
The methodology for returning Griffon Vultures to the wild has been established and having proven its effectiveness, is used in a number of countries including Bulgaria. It is part of the Balkan Vulture Action Plan and the Species Action Plan in Bulgaria. With this methodology, the Griffon Vulture was restored by Green Balkans, FWFF and BPPS in Stara Planina and the Kresna Gorge. In the Balkan mountains it nests in two colonies - in Vratsa Balkan and Sliven-Kotel area.
In addition to the International Center for Birds of Prey, 19 other zoos from 7 countries, as well as the governments of the Kingdom of Spain and France, have donated Griffon Vultures for the program, with nearly 350 birds of the species released into the wild as part of the program.
Green Balkans thanks all citizens who are involved in the fate of birds and our work! We remind you that vultures are extremely useful birds, nature’s cleaning crew, which (if restored) can save millions of levs to the Bulgarian economy, which are now spent to securely destroy dead domestic animals through Rendering plants.
You can follow our vulture activities on the "Bright Future for the Black Vulture" project website:
https://greenbalkans.org/VulturesBack/en/News.c120
Additional information:
Ivelin Ivanov - Project Manager "Bright Future for the Black Vulture" LIFE14 NAT/BG/000649
phone: +359887 589995, email: iivanov@greenbalkans.org
The three birds, named respectively Wee Georgie, Delicious and Delectable are a donation from our friends from the International Center for Birds of Prey - England, along with 8 other birds - Lesser Kestrels and an Egyptian Vulture. All 11 birds were hatched in the Center, and the Lesser Kestrels are heirs of birds from the Green Balkans Wildlife Rescue Centre, donated two years ago to the International Centre, within the project "Lesser Kestrel Recovery", LIFE11 NAT/BG/360. The transport for all birds was covered entirely by donations from the people of UK: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-55257261
After the necessary quarantine period at the Wildlife Rescue Center in Stara Zagora, the three Griffon Vultures were moved to the Green Balkans adaptation aviary in the “Sinite kamani” Nature Park, and later, in early March, were released into the wild. Because the three birds are adults, hatched, and raised in a zoo, they would have a harder time adapting to life into the wild. This is the reason they are looking for the closeness of people and why two of them actually moved towards the city, walking quite calmly among the citizens of Sliven, without worrying that someone might harm them. Fortunately, as in previous cases, well-meaning citizens signalled for the birds. After literally hundreds of signals to the Green Balkans and the Directorate of the Sinite kamani Nature Park, the two birds EE (Wee Georgie) and YY (Delicious) were captured and returned to the adaptation aviary. We will now monitor the behaviour of the third bird TT (Delectable).
Usually donated birds are quite young and after staying in the aviary where they contact their wild "brothers", they more easily "go wild" and avoid the closeness of people. Such birds also nest most often in the wild.
The methodology for returning Griffon Vultures to the wild has been established and having proven its effectiveness, is used in a number of countries including Bulgaria. It is part of the Balkan Vulture Action Plan and the Species Action Plan in Bulgaria. With this methodology, the Griffon Vulture was restored by Green Balkans, FWFF and BPPS in Stara Planina and the Kresna Gorge. In the Balkan mountains it nests in two colonies - in Vratsa Balkan and Sliven-Kotel area.
In addition to the International Center for Birds of Prey, 19 other zoos from 7 countries, as well as the governments of the Kingdom of Spain and France, have donated Griffon Vultures for the program, with nearly 350 birds of the species released into the wild as part of the program.
Green Balkans thanks all citizens who are involved in the fate of birds and our work! We remind you that vultures are extremely useful birds, nature’s cleaning crew, which (if restored) can save millions of levs to the Bulgarian economy, which are now spent to securely destroy dead domestic animals through Rendering plants.
You can follow our vulture activities on the "Bright Future for the Black Vulture" project website:
https://greenbalkans.org/VulturesBack/en/News.c120
Additional information:
Ivelin Ivanov - Project Manager "Bright Future for the Black Vulture" LIFE14 NAT/BG/000649
phone: +359887 589995, email: iivanov@greenbalkans.org
