Wind Farm stopped to save the life of a juvenile Egyptian vulture

14.09.2012
Dobri's journey

The juvenile Egyptian vultures are still inexperienced. Sometimes they need a little luck and care at the right time to continue their flight without any problems.
So, this is the story of Dobri. Hatched in a nest in Northern Bulgaria, he obtained a satellite transmitter on 1st of August this year. Only 10 days later he made his first successful attempt to fly. After that Dobri began his migration on 6th of September. On the same day he managed to get to Balchik. There he spent his first night away from the nest.
The next day the bird was spotted by Martin Marinov, an expert ornithologist at IBER (Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research) at BAS and AES wind farm near Kaliakra. He sent a signal to stop the work of the wind farm. Meanwhile, other expert ornithologists who track the autumn migration - Victor Vasilev and Strahil Peev, informed the BSPB. As the bird was tagged with a satellite transmitter, its way could be easily traced. So, the wind farm stayed off for a few hours on the 7th and all day on the 8th of September. After receiving information from the transmitter that the bird is away from the danger area, the propellers rotated again.
So Dobri continued its journey by going back to its nest once again and then flew off to Turkey.  For one day he traveled 340 kilometers. Currently the juvenile bird is in the Southwest of Turkey and continues its journey to the winter quarters.
We are very grateful to the expert ornithologists Martin Marinov, Victor Vasilev, Strahil Peev, Karina Ivanova and assoc. prof. Pavel Zehtindjiev, and the management of wind farm AES for their adequate and prompt reaction.
The actions to protect the Egyptian Vulture is performed on the project LIFE + "The Return of the Neophron".

For more information:
Vladimir Dobrev
Conservation Officer
Mobile phone: 0878 599 381
vladimir.dobrev@bspb.org

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Where is B14?

Where is B14?

The breeding performance of the Egyptian Vulture population in Bulgaria is among the highest in Europe

The breeding performance of the Egyptian Vulture population in Bulgaria is among the highest in Europe