Habitat destruction

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There are a number of key factors which determine whether or not a site is good for nesting for the Egyptian vultures. The area needs to provide enough food; there need to be enough cliffs with suitable nesting sites. A good territory is characterized by open hills with pastures for extensive traditional livestock breeding, as well as with a diversity of wild animals: tortoises, hedgehogs, sousliks, hares and roe deer. Ploughing of pastureland and meadows, intensification of livestock breeding, creation of quarries and construction of infrastructural units, solar parks and wind plants are among the main reasons for the loss of habitat and the deterioration of the environment. Often these processes take place in territories which have been populated by Egyptian vultures for decades, and force the birds to leave them for good. Human activity in the close vicinity of the nests can also scare the birds away and thus ruin their nesting season. The vultures often roost on old dead trees; many are felled by nature or by humans. All these processes have a negative effect on the wild population of the Egyptian vulture.

Photo: Dobromir Dobrev