The breeding performance is one of the main components of the demography of a raptor population. Evaluating reproductive rates is easier than other demographic parameters, and is a very useful metric to identify factors driving raptor population trends. The long-term monitoring of the Egyptian vulture population in Bulgaria (2005–2016) shows one of the highest breeding performances recorded in Europe based on breeding success (1.11 ± 0.13 fledglings / laying pairs), productivity (0.88 ± 0.1 fledglings / occupied territories) and fledgling success (1.2 ± 0.1 fledglings /successful pairs).

However, over the last 14 years the Egyptian Vulture population in Bulgaria has declined with 51.7%. The observed rapid population decline could not be explained by the breeding performance and seems to be related to high mortality in both adults and juveniles.

The results also show that the pairs breeding in territories with high occupancy rate have the highest breeding parameters and produce the majority of the fledglings in the population. These are territories with higher quality which hold the most productive individuals.

The paper recommends diverse conservation measures and individual approach at the level of breeding territories  in order to secure the survival of the species in the country.

Find the scientific paper “Breeding performance and population trend of the Egyptian Vulture /Neophron percnopterus/ in Bulgaria: conservation implications” here.

The two birds are in excellent health and, after the opening the door, spent the afternoon on the doorstep of their home, strongly interested in the vastness of their space. They are already actively preparing for their first flight by waving with wings and jumping.

We remind that on August 10, a team of BSPB and Green Balkans placed the two birds in the specially adapted nest near Madzharovo. Before the placement, the two young Egyptian vultures were tagged with satellite transmitters to track their movements after the release and during their first migration to Africa. The experimental "hacking" method - adaptation to the wild life of captive-bred vultures trough an artificial nest, aims to strengthen the endangered population of the Egyptian vulture on the Balkans.

The activity is part of a 5-year experimental programme for active management of the critically endangered Egyptian Vulture population in the Balkans in order to increase the breeding success and survival of the young individuals. It is carried out by a team of BSPB and Green Balkans within the framework of the LIFE project "Egyptian Vulture New LIFE", which brings together institutions and organizations from 14 countries spanning the Balkans, Middle East and Africa. The two Egyptian vultures have been donated to the project with the assistance of Anton Vaidl - coordinator of the European Endangered Species Programme (EEP) of the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA), and with the assistance of VCF.

It became now more and more common to observe over 10 Egyptian Vultures feeding in the same time at this station, together with about 50 Griffon Vultures and 1-4 Cinereous Vultures. What is more, this year at least nine different Egyptian Vulture floaters (immature and non-breeding adult birds) have been identified to visit the site thanks to the trail cameras installed at the feeding station. All four captive-bred Egyptian Vultures which were released through the delayed release method also regularly visit the feeding station.  There have been years since such congregations were observed in the Balkans and now due to the efforts of the conservationsts they seem to appear again.

Among the tagged Egyptian vultures with transmitters, at the vulture restaurant in Studen Kladenets the following birds could be observed: Iliaz - the only survivor from the nine juveniles tagged in 2012 (this breeding season, Iliaz spent a few months in Greece setting a territory and forming a pair with a Greek partner but still without nesting); the four individuals used for the delayed release programme in Eastern Rhodopes - Akaga, Polya, Panteley and Boyana;  and Boris - the adult male tagged in the 2015.

Overall the network of the vulture restaurants in Bulgaria, considering also the feeding stations efficiently managed by Green Balkans, FWFF and BSBP in other parts of the country, seems to play a key role as predictable food sources and a favorable precondition for forming small scale congregations of Egyptian vultures and benefiting not only floaters but also unsuccessful breeding pairs.

Before the placement in the artificial nest, the two young Egyptian vultures were tagged with satellite transmitters to track their movements after the release and during their first migration to Africa. The event was attended by representatives of the Inspectorate of Environment and Waters in Haskovo. The tagging of Egyptian vultures was used as opportunity to transfer knowledge to colleagues and volunteers from other countries (France and FYR of Macedonia).

The adaption aviary (hack) – a special lightweight construction with a net and a pipe for the food and the water for the vultures, is built in a rock niche inhabited years ago by a pair of Egyptian vultures. In this way the birds can’t see the people who take care of them. A video surveillance camera is also installed to monitor the behavior of the young vultures who will remain in the hack for 10-20 days. Over the next few years, the aviary is expected to shelter at least 10 birds in total.

The method requires the opening of the hacks door to be unnoticed by the Egyptian vultures. The time this will happen is chosen to coincide with the time when the wild young Egyptian vulture living in the area will leave the wild nests and start learning to fly. The approach proposes to socialize the captive-bred birds with the other Egyptian Vultures. Near the hack site there is a feeding site where the young Egyptian viltures can easily find safe food. The Eastern Rhodopes are the core of the Egyptian vulture population in the Balkans and home to the largest population of the Griffon vultures in Bulgaria, which will also contribute to the quicker adaptation of the released birds.

The activity is part of a 5-year experimental programme for active management of the critically endangered Egyptian Vulture population in the Balkans in order to increase the breeding success and survival of the young individuals. It is carried out by a team of BSPB and Green Balkans within the framework of the LIFE project "Egyptian Vulture New LIFE", which brings together institutions and organizations from 14 countries spanning the Balkans, Middle East and Africa. The two Egyptian vultures have been donated to the project with the assistance of Anton Vaidl - coordinator of the European Endangered Species Programme (EEP) of the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA), and with the assistance of VCF.

The project team assumes that the aggression caused among the young vultures in the first attempt at fostering is due to the early age of intervention and the long-term transportation of the zoo "baby" deprived of the indispensable for this age presence of its parents. Similar experiments  with captive-bred baby vultures fostered by wild Egyptian vulture pairs were conducted successfully in Italy with the age of the chicks being about 60 days. This fact, as well as the arguments that older chicks are less vulnerable to aggressive behavior, and the team can intervene much more adequately, tilted the scales to the decision to make a re-attempt to introduce the young vulture into a wild nest. Thus, at the age of 60 days, already strengthened and almost fully fledged, the young vulture from Prague Zoo was tagged with a satellite transmitter and was placed in the same wild nest.

Fortunately, this time the efforts of the experts from BSPB and Green Balkans were successful. Although after a short fight, this time initiated by the wild chick, the two fledglings began to coexist peacefully in the shared nest, as the wild parents welcomed the new chick and started feeding it. The nest in which this activity is carried out is under constant monitoring and subject of provision with supplementary food.

The next challenges for the fostered bird will be to leave the nest successfully, to adapt to life without the care of the foster parents and the most perilous test - the first migration to the wintering grounds. Thanks to the satellite transmitter we will keep track on its movements and fate. We hope one day to find it again in Bulgaria.

The activity is part of a 5-year experimental programme for active management of the critically endangered Egyptian Vulture population in the Balkans in order to increase the breeding success and survival of the young individuals. It is carried out by a team of BSPB and Green Balkans within the framework of the LIFE project "Egyptian Vulture New LIFE", which brings together institutions and organizations from 14 countries spanning the Balkans, Middle East and Africa. The baby vulture has been donated to the project by Prague Zoo with the assistance of Anton Vaidl - coordinator of the European Endangered Species Programmes (EEP) of the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA), and with the assistance of VCF.

Regarding the motives behind the use of poison baits, although in most cases the motive was not known (58.7%), when it was, the most common reason (56.1%) seemed to be disputes between land users (e.g. amongst livestock breeders and hunters or neighboring livestock breeders). It also appeared that only 15.4% of the cases targeted large carnivores due to livestock losses (e.g. livestock predated by wolves or beehives destroyed by bears). In addition, this study reveals the widespread action of a black market of illegal pesticides in Greece, as the most common active substances found in poison baits, apart from Methomyl (which is legal only in a specific form), were other banned carbamates such as Carbofuran and organochlorides such as Endosulfan.

Finally, a remarkable conclusion was that only 26.6% of the poisoning events were reported to the competent authorities. This may indicate, on the one hand, that the illegal use of poison baits is not regarded as a crime by local communities, -who seem to show a tremendous tolerance towards this type of incidents-, and on the other, a possible lack of confidence in the prosecution authorities responsible for the effective management of such poisoning events.

Finally, the authors of the paper propose some measures to confront the phenomenon, being the establishment of a clear legal framework in the form of a National Action Plan for the prevention of poison use in Greece their essential pillar.

The full paper is available HERE.

Thanks to the GPS transmitter placed on his back, the team from the 'New Hope for the Egyptian Vulture' project always knew the birds' location, but now, for the first time since it left the Eastern Rhodopes area, we managed to spot it as well.

The good news is that Pantaley is in an area where our colleagues from the Fund for Wild Flora and Fauna are bringing food regularly to, and there is also another, older wild Egyptian Vulture.

Pantaley-Jerez was gifted to the Bulgarian nature by the Jerez Zoo in Spain. We named it Pantaley because his traveling to Bulgaria was long and filled with difficulties. Here, he is continuing to prove he is worth of  his name.

We're hoping that Pantaley, as well as the other three vultures, will manage to adapt to life in the wild and successfully complete one of the great challenges of their lives - their first migration to Africa!

This year, the pair at the Rescue Center has a generation for a first time. One baby vulture hatched at the end of May, but now the juveniles are two, as the second arrived at the end of June from the Prague Zoo. The young bird had to be set up in a nest of wild Egyptian vultures in the Eastern Rhodopes by the "fostering" method to strengthen the population of the species in the country. But the behavior of the baby vulture in the wild nest forced him to be placed in the Green Balkans Center. Once grown up enough in the Rescue Center, we will once again try to release the fostered vulture from the Prague zoo into the wild.

One of the main roles of the Center is formation of Egyptian Vulture pairs and development of breeding birds’ population in captivity.

The camera allows everyone to touch to the life of one of the rarest and most intelligent birds on the planet and to witness the outstanding parenting care that many legends of ancient times have connected to.

The Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds and Green Balkans are partners in the LIFE project "Egyptian Vulture New LIFE", which brings together institutions and organizations from 14 countries spanning the Balkans, Middle East and Africa. The baby vulture has been donated to the project with the assistance of Anton Vaidl - coordinator of the European Endangered Species Programmes (EEP) of the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA), and with the assistance of VCF.

Paschalis was tagged with a satellite transmitter in Greece by the WWF Greece team within the LIFE project “The Return of the Neophron” and tracked to its wintering ground in Niger and Nigeria. Based on telemetry data, the bird was indicated as having died and two simultaneous investigations in both countries were done to reveal its fate.

The investigations were undertaken by partners of the project with the support of the Sahara Conservation Fund (SCF) in Niger, and the AP Leventis Ornithological Research Institute (APLORI) in Nigeria.  They discovered that Paschalis had been killed by a traditional vulture hunter who regularly comes from Nigeria to Niger to hunt. The aim is that the bird be sold to rich customers in Nigeria for traditional “magic” ceremonies. 

Different attitudes towards vultures were observed between Niger and Nigeria. In Niger, the attitude was more likely to be negative but there was no utilization of vultures, while in Nigeria, vultures represented a commercial interest due to the belief that vulture meat can bestow magical power. Although vultures are protected in both countries, there is an ongoing persecution of the birds by Nigerian hunters for trading purposes. More explicit investigation using a careful approach combined with appropriate awareness campaigns could be the ‘game-changer’ to stop this problem with its deep-rooted cultural basis.

Find the paper “First documented case of the killing of an Egyptian Vulture (Neophron percnopterus) for belief-based practices in Western Africa” here.

Funded by the EU, LIFE EuroSAP involves 13 partners and covers 16 species the populations of which have been in continuing decline. The project partnership was established in April 2015 and through a coordinated series of stakeholder consultations has aimed to prepare the ground for the successful implementation of nine Species Action Plans – a multi-species Action plan for eight lowland breeding waders, two SAPs for marine birds and six Single-species Action Plans for the Velvet Scoter, White-headed Duck, Cinereous Vulture, Bearded Vulture, Dalmatian Pelican and European Turtle Dove.

The Flyway Action Plan for the Conservation of the Balkan and Central Asian Populations of the Egyptian Vulture (EVFAP) is the first plan, posted on the online platform for monitoring the implementation of bird action plans created within the BirdLife International project LIFE EuroSAP. The platform provides the ability to track the development and implementation of international action plans for the conservation of birds. Everyone can find basic documents, links to online databases conservation projects or to contact people involved in developing concrete action plans.

The finalized plans will be submitted for approval by the European Commission and where appropriate by the 48th session of the CMS Standing Committee in October and the 8th Meeting of the Parties to AEWA taking place in South Africa in December and this year.

The Conference consisted of a series of presentations on subjects ranging from an overview of the EuroSAP project, the impacts of land use changes on bird populations, threats at sea such as bycatch, oil spills and plastic pollution, sustainable hunting, multi-species Action Plans as a model for international species conservation and implementation and funding of species action plans.

More details on the EuroSAP project can be found on the BirdLife International website.  EuroSAP was a LIFE preparatory project, co-financed by the European Commission Directorate General for the Environment, AEWA and the project partners including FACE (the Federation of Associations for Hunting and Conservation of the EU) and several national member organizations of BirdLife International.

The website www.LifeNeophron.eu  for the seventh consecutive year broadcasts the parental care of pair Egyptian vultures from the Provadiisko and Royaksko Plateau Special Protection Area, Bulgaria, thanks to a camera installed in 2012. Since then, every year this camera allows us to observe the life of this rare species and to become witnesses to the hatching and the first flight of a total of 9 young birds. This year the pair started incubation very late - at the end of April, so the babies hatched only a few days ago. Usually, chicks hatch in early June.

The camera for online observing of wild Egyptian vultures’ nest is the only of its kind in the world. It was installed by the Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds  team and was well camouflaged so that it resembles to the rock and do not disturb the vultures. During these seven years thanks to the camera we gathered valuable information for the behavior and feeding of these world endangered birds, which is needed for their better conservation. We gathered enormous video material used in the creation of the film "The life of the Egyptian vulture".

Every year the news about the arrival of the pair, laying their first egg and hatching of the chicks, enjoyed great interest from the people not only in Bulgaria but from all over the world. The website www.LifeNeophron.eu  gathered 60 000 visitors form 180 countries. The attention and the interest of the people, their concerns about the future of the Egyptian Vulture, are important for its conservation.

The BSPB team will continue to provide regular information about the famous pair within the new LIFE project "Egyptian Vulture New LIFE", which brings together institutions and organizations from 14 countries spanning the Balkans, Middle East and Africa.

The meeting was attended by the Manager of the LIFE project “Egyptian Vulture New LIFE”, as wll as most of the project partners (CMS Raptors MoU, BirdLife Africa, BirdLife Middle East, RSPB, HOS ect ) which brings together institutions and organizations from 14 countries spanning the Balkans, Middle East and Africa.

The outcomes of the Summit were informed by the release of the State of the World’s Birds 2018; of the world’s 11,000 bird species, one in five are migratory, of which nearly 40% are in decline, with one in eight being threatened with global extinction.

The main item under discussion was how migratory birds can be better protected at every point of their arduous journeys along the flyways.

A number of actions to address eight priority areas for flyway conservation were discussed and agreed:  (1) sustainable approaches to coastal ecosystem protection, management and restoration; (2) ensuring that onshore and offshore renewable energy and power transmission sectors take full account of the needs of migratory birds; (3) adopting a zero tolerance approach to the illegal killing, taking and trade of wild birds; (4) recognizing bustards as flagships for the grassland landscapes; for Houbara Bustards, ensuring that hunting is regulated and sustainable as part of an integrated in situ and ex situ approach; (5) highlighting the importance of implementing the CMS Multi-species Action Plan to Conserve African-Eurasian Vultures (Vulture MsAP) and the need to tackle the threat of poison baits; (6) scaling-up implementation of the Saker Falcon Global Action Plan (SakerGAP) especially as regards measures to address electrocution; (7) building the capacity of people and organizations involved in flyway conservation; and (8) more effective collaboration between donors through the establishment of an alliance to enhance efforts for bird conservation.

The LIFE project "Egyptian vulture New LIFE" was presented in a panel discussion on the Vultures session as a good example of conservation of the species along its migration flyway. The project was recognized as one of the flagships of the CMS Vulture MsAP. The Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds (BirdLife Bulgaria) significantly contributed to the development of the Vulture MsAP through its active participation in the Regional and Overarching workshops, and together with the partners under the LIFE+ project “The Return of the Neophron” (LIFE10 NAT/BG/000152) by developing of the Flyway Action Plan for the Conservation of the Balkan and Central Asian Populations of the Egyptian Vulture (EVFAP) is an integral part and annexed in full to the Vulture MsAP.

The Global Flyways Summit was convened by BirdLife International in association with the MAVA Foundation, the Ornithological Society of the Middle East (OSME) and CMS among others.  It was hosted by the International Fund for Houbara Conservation in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates.  At the end of the meeting, a Declaration was issued by BirdLife International.

The first stop was at the Green Balkans Wildlife Rehabilitation and Breeding Centre, where the visitors observed the Egyptian vulture’s pair with their baby. The center’s guests looked closely at the renovated aviaries that would host Egyptian Vultures. The Wildlife Rescue centre's role in the project is related to formation of Egyptian vulture pairs and their breeding as well as collecting juvenile birds hatched in zoos and found in distress in nature.

At the feeding station in the Eastern Rhodopes, the BSPB team and the Project Monitor observed the special adaptation aviary, in which two months were preparing for wildlife four young Egyptian vultures from the zoos in Prague and Jerez, as well as some of the young birds who was flying in the region.

In Dadia, Greece, the guests from Bulgaria visited a feeding station, one of the nests in the area, and took part in a special game dedicated to the Egyptian Vultures and organized by WWF-Greece in one of the schools that traditionally symbolically adopt  Egyptian vultures’pairs and disseminates information about the effects of poison in nature. Meetings with local people from the local anti-poison network were also held.

The last week a team of the Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds and Green Balkans set up an Egyptian vulture baby at the age of two weeks and hatched in the Prague Zoo in a nest of wild Egyptian vultures in the Eastern Rhodopes, Bulgaria. The aim was the vulture to be reared in wild conditions and better prepared for life in nature. The foster parents already had one chick, a few days younger than the fostered one. Such age difference is absolutely normal for hatchlings from the same brood.

Soon after the placement of the young bird, the team noticed unexpected and unusual for the Egyptian vulture aggressive behavior of the fostered chick towards the wild baby. Despite the visit of the male bird and his attempt to feed the two babies, the aggressive behavior of the introduced vulture did not stop. This required urgent intervention and transfer of the captive-bred vulture to the Wildlife Rescue Center of Green Balkans in Stara Zagora.

In the Center the chick was placed in the nest of captive Egyptian vulture pair, which for the first time this year hatched its own baby. But unfortunately again, the fostered chick showed aggression. We assume the cause of this atypical aggression is mostly related to the long time that the bird has spent for transportation, and to the individual characteristics of the young bird, rather than to competition for food between the two chicks in the nest. The swift intervention of the Rescue Center team with removal, feeding and re-return to the nest of the vulture gave a result, and the next day peace and tranquility came in the vulture’s family. Thanks to the video cameras in the nest in the days that followed, Green Balkans' team assured everything was OK, the fostered chick was well accepted and the two baby vultures enjoyed the warm care of their parents.

The BSPB team monitored the condition of the wild baby vulture from the nest in the Eastern Rhodopes and fortunately found it was stable without any grounds for concern. Once grown up enough in the Rescue Center, the fostered vulture from the Prague zoo will be tried again for release in the wild. However, based on the circumstances and experts opinion, this could take place by another method - hacking - placing young birds in an adaptation aviary (hack) in a rock nesting niche that is already ready and awaits its inhabitants.

Early in this spring within the LIFE project “Egyptian vulture new LIFE” another method has been tested - releasing into the wild of captive-bred Egyptian vultures by the delayed release method. After a few months' stay at the Green Balkans Wildlife Rescue Center, four one year old Egyptian vultures hatched in the Zoos in Prague and Jerez were placed in a special adaptation aviary in Eastern Rhodops. There for nearly two months they were preparing for wildlife. Before the release, each of the vultures was tagged with a satellite transmitter to track their behavior in nature and their adaptation. The aim of all these methods is to find the best approach for the purposes of a future restocking program for the Balkan population.

The activity is being carried out by BSPB and Green Balkans under the LIFE project "Egyptian Vulture New LIFE", which brings together institutions and organizations from 14 countries spanning the Balkans, Middle East and Africa. The baby vulture has been donated to the project with the assistance of Anton Vaidl - coordinator of the European Endangered Species Programmes (EEP) of the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA), and with the assistance of VCF.

On 18 and 19 June, a BSPB and Green Balkans team built an adaptation aviary (hack) on the rocks near Madzharovo, which soon will shelter at least 3 young Egyptian vultures hatched in 2018. The birds will be provided by rescue centers and zoos in Europe, with the assistance of Anton Vaidl - coordinator of the European Endangered Species Programmes (EEP) of the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA). The vultures will be released at the end of August as part of the restocking program for the Balkan population within the project.

After the placement of the vultures in the hack, a team from the project will monitor and feed them until they start their life in the wild. Through an installed video camera the team will monitor the behavior of the birds in the hack and their adaptation in nature. Each bird will be tagged with a satellite transmitter prior to its release.

The hack is built in a carefully selected rock niche, which has been used by pairs of Egyptian vultures for decades, but unfortunately in the past 5 years it is empty. In 2010 in this nest was hatched the first vulture tagged with satellite transmitter – Spartak, as well as Arda, which was tagged in 2012.

Despite the bad weather, the nearly vertical slope of the trail to the hack, and the extremely difficult terrain, the team and builders of Thermo Plus 2000 Ltd did the job on time. The aviary awaits its first inhabitants, and by the end of the project at least 10 young birds are expected to use the hack.

Simultaneously, this year, as well as the next few years other release methods will also be tested, e.g. fostering and delayed release method. The aim is to find the best approach for the purposes of a future restocking program for the Balkan population.

The first national workshop took place in Tirana on the 15^th of May, organized by the Albanian Ornithological Society (AOS) – also local partner of the “Egyptian vulture New LIFE” project. The main goal of this meeting was to gather basic knowledge of issues related to vulture and wildlife poisoning in general, and more importantly to ensure governmental engagement and support in tackling this threat through establishment of a National Anti-poison Working Group (NAWG). Some of the most important stakeholders from Albania attended the meeting, including representatives from the Ministry of Tourism and Environment, National Inspectorate of Environment and Forestry, Faculty of Science "University of Tirana", Regional Administrate of Protected Areas-Gjirokastra, Regional Administrate of Protected Areas-Berati, Regional Administrate of Protected Areas-Vlora, Food Safety and Veterinary Institute and representative from the hunting sector. The Albanian nature conservation NGOs of were also there: Albanian Ornithological Society (AOS) and Protection and Preservation of Nature Environment in Albania (PPNEA), both organizations partners within the Balkan Anti-poisoning Project (BAPP), coordinated by VCF and the Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds

After constructive debates, and through thorough gap analysis, several important conclusions were made, which will serve as a solid foundation for future work related to combat the use of poison in Albania. Unclear and somewhat inadequate national legislation, absence of proper protocols, as well as very low awareness of general public and relevant institutions regarding wildlife poisoning are probably the first obstacles that we need to tackle in order to prepare a national road-map or strategy to fight poisoning in Albania. The almost complete lack of data on poisoning incidents, as well as very low capacities for toxicological analysis have also been recognized as priority issues.

A significant breakthrough has been made in establishing cooperation with relevant government institutions in Macedonia towards combating wildlife poisoning. A National Anti-Poisoning Meeting took place at the 17^th of May in Skopje, which was attended by all relevant national stakeholders, including representatives from the ministry of environment, environmental inspection agency, ministry of interior affairs, forensic service agency, universities, veterinary inspection agency, ministry of agriculture and the veterinary institute. The meeting was organized by the Macedonian Ecological Society (MES), also local partner of the “Egyptian vulture New LIFE” project..

The meeting aimed at establishing a National Anti-poison Working Group, which will actively work on the preparation of a national road-map against wildlife poisoning. Through intensive and detailed debates, existing gaps in the investigation of poisoning incidents, toxicological analysis and legal proceedings were identified, with concrete recommendations made.

During the two meetings in Skopje and Tirana the BSPB presented the project “Egyptian Vulture new LIFE”, with a focus on the activities to be implemented in Macedonia and Albania.

One of the objectives of the Balkan Anti-poison project (BAPP), an integral part of the Mediterranean Anti-poison project funded by the Mava Foundation and coordinated by VCF, is to develop national anti-poison road maps in  5 countries (Greece, Macedonia, Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina & Croatia).

LIFE & Wildlife Crime shows how LIFE projects have already helped contribute to each of the areas identified in the EU Roadmap towards eliminating illegal killing, trapping and trade of birds: monitoring and data collection, prevention, information exchange, training and awareness-raising, and enforcement and legal aspects.

Among the presented LIFE projects are “The Return of the Neophron” - with an emphasis on the anti-poison dog units in Greece and building an anti-poison network; and “The Egyptian Vulture New LIFE” with aim to reinforce the easternmost European Egyptian Vulture population by delivering urgent conservation measures to address major known threats at breeding grounds and also along the flyway. The project is building on actions undertaken between 2011 and 2016 through “The Return of the Neophron” project and brings together institutions and organizations from 14 countries spanning the Balkans, Middle East and Africa.

The aim of the brochure is not only to highlight the actions of specific projects, but also to provide a set of lessons and best practices that will be of use to all those interested in tackling wildlife crime, with a particular focus on illegal killing (poisoning and poaching) of bird species and large carnivores.

Find the brochure “LIFE & Wildlife Crime” here.

These data are part of the recently published paper in the Journal of Avian Biology: Identifying critical migratory bottlenecks and high‐use areas for an endangered migratory soaring bird across three continents created by an international scientific team headed by Evan  Buechley of the University Of Utah. Key data for the analyzes were also provided by the LIFE+ projects “The Return of the Neophron” (LIFE10 NAT/BG/000152) and “Egyptian Vulture new LIFE” (LIFE16 NAT/BG/000874).

A key challenge for the conservation of migrants is the identification of important habitat, including migratory concentration areas, because species survival rates may be determined by events in geographically very limited areas. Remote‐tracking technology is facilitating the identification of such critical habitat, although the strategic identification of important sites and incorporation of such knowledge in conservation planning remains limited.

The paper tracks 45 individuals of an endangered, soaring migrant (Egyptian Vulture, Neophron percnopterus), over 75 complete migrations that traversed three continents along the Red Sea Flyway. The 45 Egyptian Vultures were trapped and fitted with satellite transmitters between 2010 and 2016 in the Balkans (Bulgaria, Greece, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, and Albania), the Middle East (Turkey and Armenia), and Africa (Ethiopia and Djibouti).The most important sites are located at the southeastern Red Sea coast and Bab‐el‐Mandeb Strait (Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Djibouti), the Suez Canal zone (Egypt), and the Gulf of Iskenderun (Turkey).

Discouragingly however, none of the area within the major migratory bottlenecks is protected and <13% of the high‐use areas are protected. This demonstrates a very concerning gap in the protected area network for migratory soaring birds along the Red Sea Flyway. Because reducing threats at migratory concentrations can be a very efficient approach to protect populations. The paper provides clear guidelines where conservation investment is urgently needed to benefit as many as 35 migratory soaring‐bird species that regularly use the Red Sea Flyway. The new LIFE project “The Return of the Neophron” will take into account these conclusions from the article in the implementation of thr conservation activities for the Balkan population of the Egyptian vulture in the bottlenecks of migration.

Find the article here: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jav.01629

We went on this 4 days mission with an objective of getting a global idea of the vulture status in the area. To have a good understanding, we first needed to evaluate the population state: are EVs numerous, can they easily be found? We also needed to know which threats were faced by vultures, that could significantly reduce their number. To complete the picture, it was very important to get an idea of how locals are feeling toward vultures, as it is a key factor to angle our work.

The best way to spot EVs is to proceed to cliff scans looking for their nests, that can easily be recognised thanks to the bird droplet trail. Also, escorted by locals we went through tens of rocky walls. That way, we observed 6 vultures and 7 active nests, 5 of them being unprecedently registered nests. We were pleased by those observations as it proves that there is a well-established resident population.

So that we could multiple and diversify our observations of vultures, we went to congregation sites, places of interest where vultures usually meet, and where we hoped we could observe many birds at the same time. The first spot visited was a slaughterhouse, where vultures usually go to eat the left over from the animals killed there. We had the chance to see two birds: an adult and a juvenile- which is the only one we would see during this mission. Unfortunately, the second congregation site visited was a water point but as it has already dried no vultures were there.

To complete our direct observations, we exchanged on the subject with local people; also, a mix of formal interview and informal conversation were conducted. We mainly focused on people susceptible to have more information due to their activities or social position: slaughters, village chiefs and old people were our target. Unanimously they confirmed they were witnessing the slow decline of vultures; It did concern them as it is an irrefutable proof that something is going wrong. Poaching was identified as the main threat- most of it to furnish Nigerian black market- but lack of water or food were also suggested hypothesis. Those exchanges were quite encouraging as we could see that people were interested on the matter, which will highly facilitate a future collaborative work to preserve EVs.

There is a lot to come before creating a favourable context for the EV conservation, an important part of it being the awareness raising. However, thanks to the observation made as well as the first contact we could established with locals, this first mission was very promising, and it constituted a very good start as it allowed us to know on what our work needed to be focused.

In line with the positive effect of the vulture restaurants on the high number of floaters and non-breeders registered in 2017, in 2018 the artificial feeding sites keep attracting floaters which are crusial for the survival of the population of the speies both in Bulgaria and in Greece. Till now at least five different birds were observed at Studen kladenets feeding site (currently maintained in the frame of the LIFE+ project ReVultures) and 2 more individuals at the vulture restaurants at Kresna and Kotel (maintained by FWFF, Green Balkans and BPPS in the frame of the project Vultures Back to LIFE (LIFE14 NAT/BG/000649). Amongst of all floaters visiting these important sites accross Bulgaria is Iliaz, the only one survival from the juveniles tagged in 2012. After a several days reload at Studen kladenets feeding site, he recruited in northern Greece, Kompsatos area and found a partner. Both birds are successfully mating and recovered one lost breeding territory in that part of Greece – what a happy news for the vanishing Egyptian vulture!

In 2018 in line with the our long-term program to ensure safe food for the species in Bulgaria we will keep to support at least 7 pairs at the vulture restaurants and another 8 pairs with the individual supplementary feeding scheme (60% of the population of the Egyptian vulture in Bulgaria). In Greece several feeding stations will operate to cover almost the whole population left in the country.

Fig.1 Number of occupied territories (2012 -2018)

Fig.2 Number of pairs (2012 -2018)

The event took place in collaboration with Rhodopes Antiquites Directorate and in the framework of the action "Green Cultural Routes 2018" of the Ministry of Culture.

Thousands of families visited dozens of workshops, including the stand of the Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds where they coloured a beautiful Egyptian vulture drawing and made a funny picture as the emblematic bird thanks to a huge board with the image of the species.

The unique bird drawings, including an Egyptian vulture, are part of a joint project with Alexandra Ilieva form Inspire Bulgaria for a coloring book with bird species that are emblematic for the country.

Until now in the nest guarding campaign more than 50 volunteers took part, including volunteers from Canada, Lithuania, Germany and the United States. They guarded 12 nests across the country in the most critical period before their first flight (July-August).

Here is what Karolina Klimaitė, a volunteer from Lithuania, told us after she spent 2 months as a volunteer in Eastern Rhodopes:

“I am Organization Of Environment Protection master‘s degree student with a deep interest in environment, ecology and nature conservation.  Also I am an active student, who wants to take every possibility which can be given for me. Moreover, I understand the importance of gaining practical knowledge which complements the textbook knowledge and helps a student gain a wider perspective of the subjects. So I had an opportunity to take internship with Erasmus and I couldn't say no. Bulgaria surprised me in a lot of different ways, nice people with big interests in nature conservation, amazing nature and magical birds. I'm really lucky that I choose BSPB as my internship place, it allowed me to see NGO kitchen with all pleasant and serious things.”


Help to save the Egyptian Vulture by volunteering! It is necessary to know that you need to cover all your expenses during your stay. We rely on your support!


If you want to join us to save this iconic species, please contact:

Vladimir Dobrev, BSPB Conservation Officer, LIFE project “Egyptian Vulture New LIFE” -  vladimir.dobrev[@]bspb.org, +359 878 599 381

You can learn more about part of the volunteers and contributors here.

The first days the vultures spent in the area of ​​release, learning the art of flying and how to use the air thermals to raise height, coping with the attacks of other bird species. On May 19, Polya for the first time dared to feed on the feeding station. You can see video from her first meal in the wild here.

The only vulture that made a long walk was Akaga. On the 20th of May she left the area of ​​the aviary and the next two days she explored the Eastern Rhodopes and traveled about 200 km. Here you can see a 3D visualization of Akaga's movements:

https://doarama.com/view/2165608 

https://doarama.com/view/2165633

On May 22, Akaga returned and immediately landed to eat at the place that young birds like to use for rest near the site. On that day, Boyana and Pantaley-Jerez also eat there. The team put food there to make them eat because they had not landed on the feeding station for nearly a week. A few days later, Boyana was the first bird that followed the example of Polya and landed to eat at the station. You can see her here. On May 27, all the vultures started eating at the feeding station.

Since the release, none of the birds have returned to the aviary. 10 days after their release, the vultures are already confidently coping with wildlife, eating, flying skillfully, choosing suitable and inaccessible places to stay, and coping with the moods of other birds in the area - Griffon, Black, Egyptian Vultures, Black Kite and Crows.

For nearly two months, birds were preparing for wildlife in a special adaptation aviary. The four birds were granted to the “Egyptian vulture New LIFE” project from the zoos in Prague and Jerez. This is a pilot experience in Bulgaria for releasing into the wild of captive-bred Egyptian vultures by the delayed release method (the vultures are one year old). Similar method has been successfully applied for years in Israel. This approach relies on the assumption that the birds have enough time to gain living experience in finding food and to enter into good fitness before taking on the challenging migration to the South.

The activity is carried out by a team of BSPB and Green Balkans under the LIFE project "Egyptian Vulture New LIFE", which brings together institutions and organizations from 14 countries spanning the Balkans, Middle East and Africa. The four young Egyptian Vultures have been donated to the project with the assistance of Anton Vaidl - coordinator of the European Endangered Species Programmes (EEP) of the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA), and with the assistance of VCF.

On 23 May during EU Green Week – Europe’s biggest environmental event – Commissioner Karmenu Vella announced the nine winners of the 2016 and 2017 LIFE Awards for the “Best of the best” LIFE projects. The nine winners include projects from Belgium, Greece, Spain, Italy, Austria, Poland and Slovakia. A special people's Choice Award, in line with this year's Green Week focus on sustainable cities, was given to a LIFE green city project, exploring solutions to reduce air pollution in cities.

The LIFE Awards recognise the most innovative, inspirational and effective LIFE projects in the fields of nature protection, environment and climate action. If applied widely, they can have a highly positive impact on the environment, boosting economic growth and providing significant benefits for European citizens.

The LIFE programme is the EU's funding instrument for the environment and climate action. It has been running since 1992 and has co-financed more than 4 500 projects across the EU and in third countries. The programme has contributed over €4 billion to the protection of the environment and climate and mobilised over €9 billion in total. At any given moment some 1 100 projects are ongoing. The budget for the LIFE Programme for 2014–2020 is set at €3.4 billion, and has sub-programmes for environment and climate action.

In 2011, four partners – BSPB from Bulgaria, HOS and WWF from Greece and RSPB from UK joined forces to halt the decline of the Egyptian vulture population in the Balkans. Recognizing the specific requirements of this long-distance migrant, the partners also took steps to broaden their cross-border approach to other countries along the species’ flyway.

Partners invested in efforts to stop the illegal trade of Egyptian vultures and eggs in the Balkans. A total of 178 Custom Officers were trained in Greece and Bulgaria, while international cooperation at the level of INTERPOL and international customs authorities was promoted. Intense capacity building and networking in Bulgaria also helped 1400 farmers to apply for agri-environment payments and thus nearly 100,000 ha of pastures within the Natura 2000 network are now being managed for the benefit of the Egyptian vulture and other wildlife. In addition, networking with public and private electricity transmission companies has resulted in the insulation of over 400 dangerous electricity pylons in both Greece and Bulgaria.

At an international level, the project has succeeded in achieving very fruitful cross- border collaboration. The clearest example is the successful development of the Flyway Action Plan for the Conservation of the Balkan and Central Asian Populations of Egyptian Vulture (EVFAP) which is a key element of the Convention of Migratory Species’ Vulture’s Multi-Species Action Plan. This document is the culmination of over two years of work and collaboration of 26 countries along the flyway of the species and many experts and is expected to be vital for the future of the species. Another successful example of cross-border cooperation with local institutions (SCF and APLORI) was the discovery of a yet unidentified threat to the Egyptian vulture. In some parts of Africa (Niger, Nigeria), vultures were being killed to use their body parts in traditional medicine. An even more impressive achievement was the decommissioning and replacement of a power line in Sudan, known to have electrocuted hundreds and perhaps thousands of individuals since its construction in the 1950s.

The six winners of the 2018 Natura 2000 Awards include activities on Natura 2000 sites in Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Portugal, Spain, and a trans-boundary project involving sites in Greece and Bulgaria with the United Kingdom as a partner.

The winners in the other 5 categories are:

Conservation Award - “Partnership to stop the poisoning of imperial eagles ” - ME BirdLife Hungary, 20 Natura 2000 sites in Hungary

Communication - "Natura 2000: Connecting people with biodiversity" - SEO / BirdLife; Agencia EFE

Reconciling interests/perceptions - "Co-existing with bears in the 21st century: Difficulties and achievements”- Callisto

Socio-Economic Benefits - “LIFE to alvars: restoration and grazing reintroduction for 2500 hectares of Estonian alvar grasslands” - Environmental Board of Estonia,16 Natura 2000 sites in Estonia

European Citizens’ Award - “School of Nature” project in Portugal.

Two more BSPB projects were nominated for the prestigious awards: the Project “Safe Ground for Redbreasts” and “The Salt of LIFE” Project.

The four birds were granted to the “Egyptian vulture New LIFE” project from the zoos in Prague and Jerez. This is a pilot experience in Bulgaria for releasing into the wild of captive-bred Egyptian vultures by the delayed release method (the vultures are one year old). Similar method has been successfully applied for years in Israel. This approach relies on the assumption that the birds have enough time to gain living experience in finding food and to enter into good fitness before taking on the challenging migration to the South (most of the wild young Egyptian vultures die during their first migration to Africa).

Tagging with satellite transmitters representatives of the only distant migrant among vultures in Europe is also devoted to the World Migratory Bird Day. “Unifying our Voices for Bird Conservation” is the theme of WMBD 2018, which was celebrated in over 60 countries around the world on 12 May 2018. This year, the campaign have a new global dimension, bringing together the world’s main migration corridors, also called flyways, for celebrations all across the world – and for the first time, with two peak campaign days in the year - on the second Saturdays of both May and October.

For migratory birds like the globally threatened Egyptian vultures, political boundaries do not exist. The only effective way to save this charismatic species is through multi-national and multi-institutional collaboration. The LIFE project “Egyptian Vulture New LIFE” was created for this purpose - it brings together institutions and organizations from 14 countries spanning the Balkans, Middle East and Africa. The four young Egyptian Vultures have been donated to the project with the assistance of Anton Vaidl - coordinator of the European Endangered Species Programme (EEP) of the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA), and with the assistance of VCF.

World Migratory Bird Day is celebrated each year to highlight the need for the conservation of migratory birds and their habitats. More than 300 events in more than 60 countries to mark World Migratory Bird Day 2018 will include bird festivals, education programmes, media events, bird watching trips, presentations, film screenings and a benefit concert to raise funds for international nature conservation. The Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) and the African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbird Agreement (AEWA) — two intergovernmental wildlife treaties administered by UN Environment — organize the campaign in cooperation with Environment for the Americas (EFTA).

Help us to increase the awareness about this  globally threatened species that quietly flies  away from our world. Give your vote for the project designed to protect him: "The Return of the Neophron" for the European Natura 2000 Citizens’ Award by following the link:

http://natura2000award-application.eu/finalist/3520

The Egyptian vulture, the only regular long distance migratory vulture in Europe, was once the source of myths and local folklore in the Balkans and revered as a sacred bird in parts of Africa. But due to lots of various threats like poisoning, direct persecution and nest robbery, disturbance during breading, electrocution by dangerous powerlines, and others, the Egyptian vulture is now on the edge of extinction. The only effective way to save this charismatic species is through multi-national and multi-institutional collaboration.

In 2011, four partners – BSPB from Bulgaria, HOS and WWF from Greece and RSPB from UK joined forces to halt the decline of the Egyptian vulture population in the Balkans. Recognizing the specific requirements of this long-distance migrant, the partners also took steps to broaden their cross-border approach to other countries along the species’ flyway.

Partners invested in efforts to stop the illegal trade of Egyptian vultures and eggs in the Balkans. A total of 178 Custom Officers were trained in Greece and Bulgaria, while international cooperation at the level of INTERPOL and international customs authorities was promoted. As a direct result of these efforts, a renowned poacher was convicted and given a prison sentence in Bulgaria.

Intense capacity building and networking in Bulgaria also helped 1400 farmers to apply for agri-environment payments and thus nearly 100,000 ha of pastures within the Natura 2000 network are now being managed for the benefit of the Egyptian vulture and other wildlife. In addition, networking with public and private electricity transmission companies has resulted in the insulation of over 400 dangerous electricity pylons in both Greece and Bulgaria.

At an international level, the project has succeeded in achieving very fruitful cross- border collaboration. The clearest example is the successful development of the Flyway Action Plan for the Conservation of the Balkan and Central Asian Populations of Egyptian Vulture (EVFAP) which is a key element of the Convention of Migratory Species’ Vulture’s Multi-Species Action Plan. This document is the culmination of over two years of work and collaboration of 26 countries along the flyway of the species and many experts and is expected to be vital for the future of the species.

Another successful example of cross-border cooperation with local institutions (SCF and APLORI) was the discovery of a yet unidentified threat to the Egyptian vulture. In some parts of Africa (Niger, Nigeria), vultures were being killed to use their body parts in traditional medicine. An even more impressive achievement was the decommissioning and replacement of a power line in Sudan, known to have electrocuted hundreds and perhaps thousands of individuals since its construction in the 1950s.

Every single vote is important to us. People's support is the essence of protecting not only the Egyptian vulture but also the nature as a whole. Please sign and forward: http://natura2000award-application.eu/finalist/3520

This meeting launched the cooperation with the competent authorities on the issue of the risks to vultures from the use of plant protection products and veterinary and medical products and poisons. There are meetings with farmers and veterinarians in the areas where the Egyptian Vulture breeds to study in more detail what the practices of using potentially hazardous substances are.

All documents, protocols and suggestions generated during the meeting will be sent to the relevant competent institutions and participants in the meeting. At the end of the year the participants will reunite to make an assessment of the results achieved.

The workshop was part of the activities of the projects "Egyptian Vulture New LIFE" LIFE16 NAT/BG/000874 and "Conservation of the Black and Griffon Vultures in the Trans-border Regions of the Rhodopes" LIFE14 NAT/NL/000901.

Boris was the champion among them, covering the distance between his wintering ground in Afar, Ethiopia and his breeding ground in Bulgaria for only 20 days. Boris is an adult male Egyptian vulture from the Eastern Rhodopes tagged with a satellite transmitter in the summer of 2015.

Jenny is the adult female Egyptian vulture, tagged with a satellite transmitter in 2015, along with Boris. After spending the winter in central Chad, on March 4, Jenny started her migration to Bulgaria. Only two days ago she reached her breeding grounds in the Eastern Rhodopes.

Aoos - the other female adult Egyptian vulture that was tagged with a satellite transmitter in 2015, just like Jenny, spent the winter in Chad, in almost the same area. Both birds began their migration on March 4, and Aos is just a few hundred kilometers from her breeding territory in Albania. The migration of both female vultures  took about a month and covered more than 4500 km.

However not everybody is on a hurry. Iliaz - the only survivor from the nine juveniles tagged in 2012, just became a mature bird and is not on a rush. Two weeks ago he started his migration from the south of Chad and he is now in Egypt making his way north calm and slowly. We keep our fingers crossed for him to find a mate in the breeding grounds in the Balkans.

This is a pilot experience in Bulgaria for releasing into the wild of captive-bred Egyptian vultures by the delayed release method (the vultures are one year old). The method has been successfully applied for years in Israel. This approach relies on the assumption that the birds have enough time to gain living experience in finding food and to enter into good fitness before taking on the challenging migration to the South (most of the wild young Egyptian vultures die during their first migration to Africa).

The birds will stay in the aviary until mid-May when they will be released. They will be constantly feed and monitored through a video camera so that the experts can understand how the adaptation process goes. On April 10, another bird will be placed in the aviary, which will arrive from Gibraltar, Spain as well as later on another one is expected to arrive from Jerez. Before the release, each of the vultures will be marked with a satellite transmitter to track their behavior in nature and their adaptation.

Simultaneously, this year, as well as the next few years other release methods will also be tested, e.g. fostering and hacking. The aim is to find the best approach for the purposes of a future restocking program for the Balkan population.

The activity is being carried out under the LIFE project "Egyptian Vulture New LIFE", which brings together institutions and organizations from 14 countries spanning the Balkans, Middle East and Africa. The four young Egyptian Vultures have been donated to the project with the assistance of Anton Vaidl - coordinator of the European Endangered Species Programmes (EEP) of the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA), and with the assistance of VCF.

They will stay in the aviary until mid-May when they will be released. This period is needed so that the young vultures adapt to the site and stay in the area until the time for migration has come.

The area where the aviary is placed was chosen on purpose - it is in the core area of the population of the species in Bulgaria, where the level of threats is relatively low, and is in close proximity to one of the feeding sites regularly visited by Egyptian, Griffon and Black vultures. The young Egyptian Vultures will be in constant contact with other birds from the species and will be able to learn and interact with them, which is a key factor for their successful adaptation.  

This will be a pilot experience in Bulgaria for releasing into the wild of captive-bred Egyptian vultures by the delayed release method (the vultures are one year old or more). The method has been successfully applied for years in Israel. This approach relies on the assumption that the birds have enough time to gain living experience in finding food and to enter into good fitness before taking on the challenging migration to the South (most of the wild young Egyptian vultures die during their first migration to Africa).

In parallel, this year, as well as the next few years other release methods will also be tested, e.g. fostering and hacking. The aim is to find the best approach for the purposes of a future restocking program for the Balkan population.

In Greece, the illegal use of poisoned baits has resulted to the dramatic decline of the local bird of prey populations, especially regarding vultures. Epirus was no exception, and protected bird species such as the Bearded Vulture, the Griffon Vulture and the Egyptian Vulture, that were once common to the sky of Epirus, have either disappeared in local level or their populations are on the brink of extinction.

The workshop was organised by the Hellenic Ornithological Society and the Department of Wildlife and Game Management of the Ministry of Environment and Energy in the framework of the Egyptian Vulture New LIFE Project (LIFE16 NAT/BG/000874) funded by the European Commission and the A.G. Leventis Foundation that will be implemented until 2022, following the previous LIFE+ Project “The Return of the Neophron” (2011-2016).

Victoria Saravia and Charitakis Papaioannou, on behalf of the Hellenic Ornithological Society, presented the results of the previous LIFE+ Project "The Return of the Neophron", as well as the actions that will be implemented under the new LIFE Project, with emphasis on the antipoison actions that will take place in the Ioannina Region. Following the HOS presentations, Panagiota Karatza, on behalf of the Ministry of Rural Development and Food, presented the online prescription of pesticides and how controls can ban the illegal trafficking. It worth to mention that this presentation was particularly important, since the largest amount of poisoned baits are made from pesticides, which are usually prohibited. Finally, Nikos Bokaris, Head of the Department of Wildlife and Game Management, along with Konstantina Ntemiri, HOS Policy Officer  and Anti-Poison Task Force Coordinator, presented a specific framework of actions that can act as a manual of procedures to the local authorities and services in order to reduce the illegal use of poison baits.

The workshop was attended by the Coordinator of the Decentralised Administration of Epirus, Mr. Vassilios Michelakis, the General Director of Forests and Rural Affairs, Mr. Nikolaos Papafetimiou, and the Directorate for Coordination and Inspection of Forests, Forest Directorates of Ioannina, Florina, Kozani, Kastoria and Thesprotia, Forestry Services of Ioannina, Metsovo and Konitsa, representatives of the Ministry of Rural Development as well as of the local Municipalities of Zagori, Konitsa and Pogoni, members of the local Management Authorities of Protected Areas (National Parks of Northern Pindos, Tzoumerka and Pamvotida Lake), local customer services, the Veterinary Service, the Police Departments of Ioannina and Epirus, the 5th Hunting Federation of Epirus, local livestock breeders etc. In total, the workshop was attended by more than 70 people.

Participants were highly interested on the workshop presentations, followed by a fruitful discussion. The problem of the illegal use and dispersal of poison baits, is already well known to the local services with rural protection responsibilities. Indeed, due to the frequency of the problem and the collapse of the population of protected species of wildlife, this issue was the subject of a preliminary ruling procedure in the European Court of Justice, in which Greece was called upon to explain. This process is now at the “Reasoned Opinion” stage, just a step before the country's referral to the European Court of Justice.

The works are part of "Egyptian vulture New LIFE" project's action: Establishment of Balkan captive breeding population of Egyptian vultures for recovery of breeding populations in Bulgaria and Greece.

14 countries from Europe, Asia and Africa take part in the project. The Wildlife Rescue centre's role in the project is related to formation of Egyptian vulture pairs and their breeding as well as collecting juvenile birds hatched in zoos and found in distress in nature.

Home for these birds will be exactly the aviaries whose reconstruction has just started.

In 2016 the first releases of captive-bred Egyptian Vultures took place in Bulgaria. The Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds (BSPB) put three young Egyptian vultures in artificial nest within the Nature Park "Rusenski Lom" courtesy of the Department of the Park and Green Balkans. Two of the vultures (Regina and Lom) were provided by the Vienna zoo and the other one (Elodie) - by a zoo in Paris.  The young Egyptian Vultures were kept in the hack for 16 days until they have fully developed and adapted to the place. All three vultures were tagged with satellite transmitters in order to follow their movements and migration. Regina started its south migration first only 6 days after the release. Lom started his migration 4 days later. Both vultures were following similar migration route crossing through the Dardanelles and migrating through Western Anatolia in Turkey. They both reached the Adrasan Peninsula and decided to cross the sea reaching Cyprus. Afterwards both Regina and Lom continued southwest and were flying over the sea alongside and not far from the coast. However, due to unknown reasons they didn’t reach the coast and finally drowned into the sea. Elodie started its migration last and chose different migration route. She migrated through Greece and successfully crossed the Mediterranean Sea between Crete and Libya. But just like Paschalis - the first Egyptian vulture who successfully reached the shores of Africa, Elodie was killed in Niger.

On 13/09/2017 Elodie stopped transmitting from a place near the village Aboussa in southern Niger. Under the guidance of SCF, a team from the Management unit of the Biosphere Reserve of Gadabeji visited the last coordinates of Elodie to investigate her fate. The team visited the village of Aboussa, located 60 km east of Gadabedji in the Commune of Tarka (Department of Belbedji), not far away from the village of Guidan Dan Jimo. Once at the place the ground team with the help of the village chief searched the area to find remains from the vulture or the transmitter itself. They found two local people who helped them to find the transmitter and the ring, because they were aware of the case and knew the men who killed Elodie. According to the investigation held the bird was seen for the first time on 10/09/2017 at around 14:30 UTC, in the camp, feeding on a dead cow carcass. Two to three days later, the children were worried by this strange bird and this is what prompted two men to kill the vulture on Thursday 14/09/2017 around 16h in the camp. Panicked after discovering the equipment of the bird, they escaped by granting part of the meat to the children of the camp.

The local villagers stated that they have never seen Egyptian Vulture before, only the 65 years old head of the village has seen the species when he was young. During this mission, a local community awareness meeting had been organized. The purpose of this meeting was to present the images of the vultures encountered in Niger and to recall their status and their protection by the law. Since the identity of the poachers was revealed, the village chief asked them to present themselves. They will be held accountable in accordance with the law and this will serve as a lesson to all those who will attempt to perform such acts which are in contradiction with the national and international legislation.

The vultures were provided by the Praha Zoo within the framework of the European Endangered Species Programmes (EEP) of the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA), by courtesy of the Vulture Conservation Foundation (VCF).

More information about the first captive-bred Egyptian Vultures in Bulgaria find in the Technical report “First release of captive-bred Egyptian Vultures in Bulgaria”, prepared under the LIFE project “Egyptian vulture New LIFE”.

Antikythira is a small island of the Aegean Sea, located between Kythira and Crete in South Greece. The island serves as a leading line for migrating raptors which take advantage of the updrafts and the thermals created in the island in order to gain height before continuing their journey to and from Africa. The island is also used by migrating raptors for resting and refueling.

The observation of migrating raptors and other soaring birds took place from the 17th of August until the 30th of September. In total, 2064 raptors of 21 species and 237 soaring birds of four species were logged during the field season of autumn 2017. Among them were two Egyptian Vultures, a subadult and a juvenile. Both birds were recorded on September the 13th between 14:00 and 15:00.

The two Egyptian Vultures, along with a Saker Falcon (Falco cherrug) that was spotted on the 4th of September, are considered the most exceptional observations of the 2017 season. The Egyptian Vulture, is regularly passing though Antikythira during autumn migration and it is believed that all observed birds most probably belong to the Greek and Balkan population. The regular passage of the species in the area indicates that the island is a very important insular bottleneck for the species.

From the raptor monitoring that has been conducted by HOS over the last 5 years, the Egyptian Vulture shows a decrease in numbers through the term, with the exception of 2015, a trend that most likely mirrors the population status in Greece and the Balkans.

Find the Technical Report “Monitoring of Egyptian Vulture migration on Antikythira Island” here.

Iliaz is the only survivor from the nine juveniles tagged in 2012. The bird is already an adult (almost 6 years old) with an amazing background. Iliaz wintered from the east to the west of the whole Sahel area in the last 4 winters, used multiple and different migration roads (Figure 1, 2, 3 and 4) and in 2017 returned for a second time in the Balkans. Its spring migration in 2017 started on 4^th of April from Sudan (where it spent the winter) and ended up on 29^th of April in Bulgaria. Iliaz spent lots of time on the feeding station in Studen Kladenets, the Eastern Rhodopes, operated by the BSPB but also visited the feeding station supported by the FWFF in the Kotel mountains, Central Bulgaria. The autumn trip back to Africa started on the 30^th of August from the Eastern Rhodopes and ended up on the 1^st of October in Central Chad. On the way back to Africa Iliaz made 2 longer stops, in central Turkey and Egypt, to feed and stay in a good fitness during the long trip. The bird winters in desert and semi desert habitats in central Chad to woodland savanna n the south, spending nights on the ground or on top trees.

Aoos is an adult female breeding in Albania. In terms of its migration behavior, it is one of the most conservative birds we have ever seen. Aoos covers the same migration route since it was tagged in 2015 – from the area of Chad lake to Albania and back (Figure 5). In 2017 Aoos started the spring migration on 9^th of March and reached the breeding grounds on the 12^th of April. In the Autumn, its route was the same, starting on the fateful date of 11^th of September from Albania to successfully reach again Chad lake on the 6^th of October. More or less Aoos follows the same migratory corridor flying straight forward south and north with no stops except for roosting. The bird is wintering in a desert and semi-desert habitats in Chad.

Elodie is the only among the three captive bred juveniles provided by the EEP of EAZA tagged in 2016 that successfully flew over the Mediterranean sea and safely reached the wintering grounds. Elodie temporally settled in the border area between Niger and Nigeria. Elodie‘s wintering grounds are a mixture of semi desert and savanna habitats with dense population and many settlements in the area. Often spends the night on top trees, bushes, or on the ground. Unfortunately in September 2017 the bird was shot for bush meat in Niger (evidence kindly provided by SCF) – expect soon details on the case.

Boris is an adult male,tagged in 2015, that breeds in the area of Studen Kladenets, Bulgaria. The bird traditionally spends the winter in Afar, Ethiopia, close to Djibouti border (Figure 6).Boris is very often roosting on the main power line between Djibouti and Ethiopia which is safe for the bird and sticks to a compact area feeding in and around human settlements In 2017, he started the spring migration on the 2^nd of March to reach the breeding grounds only in 20 days. Few months later, Boris and his partner raised one chick who successfully left the nest on the 18^th of August. About a month later, on 21^st of September,  Boris hit the migration road south and reached Ethiopia only in 16 days!

Jenny is an adult female tagged in 2015, who was left without a partner due to delayed return in the breeding grounds in 2016. The late return was caused by a sandstorm in Africa and her mate found a new female meanwhile. Thus, during the breeding season 2016 Jenny did not breed but was floating within the Eastern Rhodopes. Nevertheless, in autumn 2016 Jenny migrated back to Africa and spent the winter in Central Chad (Figure 7). Jenny is wintering in almost the same area of Chad where Aoos spends the winter. They sometimes share the same areas and come across each other or migrate very close using the same corridor. On the 15^th of March she headed back to Bulgaria. It took almost a month to reach the breeding grounds where she spent some time in the western parts of the Eastern Rhodopes before she found a partner. What a great news for us, the tag on her back helped us to find very easy the location of the new pair and to observe it mating together. She found a new home 15 km away from the old one with a new partner. Very often in the birds of prey and vultures the young or new formed pairs didn‘t raise chicks because they are not experienced enough. Jenny found the partner relativelly late in the season too so finally they didn‘t have chicks. On the 12th of September Jenny left the new breeding territory and started her autumn migration . She reached the wintering grounds in central Chad it on the 28^th of September.

Find more information about the movements of the tagged Egyptian vultures here.

Three years ago, the students of Evros and Rhodope regions next to whom the Egyptian vulture nests and brings up the chicks, placed signboards along forest and rural roads in order to raise awareness among citizens of this area about the threat of illegal use of poison baits poses the life of this endangered vulture. A month ago, they proved that they have been keeping their promise of protecting the Egyptian vulture. In order to replace the old signboards that had been destroyed through the years, they constructed seven new ones and place them with the collaboration of the WWF team in the region of Dadia National Park, especially in the villages of Lefkimi, Giannouli and the town of Soufli.

Thus, they will persist in reminding to local people the urgency of stopping the use of poison baits due to their harmful consequences to the environment, especially threating the life of so rare and extraordinary bird as it is the Egyptian vulture. Thus, we are very lucky to have it still next to us in summer season.
The active and creative support of our young friends does not stop here, but it continues with brand new ideas and the involvement of more schools in the Evros and Rhodope region. The main scope is to share and spread widely among people the message for collaboration and individual responsibility of human activities and co-existence with the nature without damaging it.

The Egyptian Vulture is a globally threatened species and over the last 30 years its population in the Balkans has declined by more than 80%, with no more than 70 pairs remaining. The reasons for this can be found not only on its breeding grounds on the peninsula, but also along its flyway. Among the four vulture species breeding in western Palearctic, the Egyptian Vulture is the only regular long-distant migrant. Every autumn, individual birds fly over 8,000 km to their wintering grounds in Africa, and return back to the Balkans in the following spring.

The aim of the project is to reinforce the easternmost European Egyptian Vulture population by delivering urgent conservation measures to address major known threats at breeding grounds and also along the flyway. The project is building on actions undertaken between 2011 and 2016 through The Return of the Neophron project. The project objectives are in line with the aims of most recent strategic document outlining the conservation tactics to save the species: the Flyway Action Plan for the Conservation of the Balkan and Central Asian Populations of the Egyptian Vulture Neophron percnopterus (EVFAP), as an integrated key component of the Multi-species Action Plan to Conserve African-Eurasian Vultures (Vulture MsAP).

The main efforts under the Egyptian Vulture New LIFE project will be targeting two key components: (1) Achieving a steady increase of the population on the breeding grounds in the Balkans; and, (2) Enhancing the context for conservation along the flyway and in the wintering grounds by minimizing loss of migrating birds, particularly mature individuals.

The Balkan regional component (Bulgaria, Greece, Albania, FYR of Macedonia) of the project involves creating vulture safe zones (free of poison and with sufficient safe available food) and developing the capacity and infrastructure to deploy a full scale restocking programme in the near future, considered necessary to rapidly halt and reverse current populations declines. The project will actively engage with national institutions to ensure appropriate legal protection is in place and being implemented effectively.  In addition, local authorities in rural settlements will be encouraged to establish controlled carcass dumps offering safe food for the vultures. The illegal use of poison baits is still an issue for all Balkan countries; hence, the project aims to replicate successful activities already implemented in Greece to raise awareness among institutions, stakeholders, and individuals affected with the aim of creating a Balkan anti-poison network. To eliminate accidental poisoning, the project will campaign to discourage the overuse of hazardous agriculture chemicals (e.g. by reducing agriculture subsidies to violators) and toxic veterinary drugs (e.g. prohibit veterinary use of Diclofenac and encourage use of alternatives).

The Flyway component of the project will undertake urgent activities proposed in the International Flyway Action Plan to tackle known threats. Unfortunately, large parts of range countries in the Middle East (Egypt, Lebanon and Syria) and some African countries (Chad, Ethiopia, Niger, Nigeria and Sudan) are subject to various levels of human military conflict. The project strategy is therefore to secure transfer of experience and to build capacity in those territories which are safe enough to do so and work with the most stable local organisations (governmental or non-governmental). The main goals are to: reduce the loss of individuals due to electrocution at the main roosting sites in Ethiopia; pilot actions to eliminate the use of Strychnine or other poisons used to control rabies (which can affect birds), specifically at key vulture congregation sites in Ethiopia and Chad; develop local capacity to combat the use of birds in the believe-based traditional healings (Nigeria); and, enhance local capacity to combat illegal killing of birds (Middle East).

A large scale awareness-raising and information campaign is built into the project.  This will comprise several distinctive clusters of activity specifically designed to meet the needs of key stakeholders and audiences.  Within the project, two major information campaigns are planned to raise awareness about the threats for the Egyptian Vulture – from electrocution to poisoning and poaching. A campaign entitled “A Mile for the Egyptian Vulture” will compare the Egyptian Vulture migration journey – a race for survival – with a marathon runner.  Both are difficult, challenging and present many obstacles along the way. During the second campaign entitled “Fly with the Vulture” huge murals about the Egyptian Vulture and the main threats it faces during migration will be created at some of the biggest airports along the Egyptian Vulture’s flyway. Communication activities under the project will also involve: capacity building for local institutions through seminars, involving practical fieldwork; communicating the main threats to the vultures based on country specific messages targeted particularly at local audiences who are responsible for generating the main threats (poisoning, shooting, belief-based use, etc.); and, training offered to local communities to promote the uptake of techniques to establish vulture safe zones, including by adopted vulture-friendly practices (e.g. switch to using non-toxic veterinary drugs, ceasing the use of Strychnine or agriculture chemicals illegally, refraining from shooting birds, strengthening law enforcement, etc.).

The period of implementation of the project is 5,5 years (1 July 2017 – 31 December 2022).  The Coordinating Beneficiary is the Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds / BirdLife Bulgaria (BSPB). Associated Beneficiaries are:  Hellenic Ornithological Society / BirdLife Greece (HOS),  WWF Greece, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds / BirdLife UK (RSPB), Doğa Derneği / BirdLife Turkey (DD), regional offices of BirdLife International in Africa and Middle East, A.P. Leventis Ornithological and Research Institute (APLORI), CMS Raptors MoU, Green Balkans.

Project website: www.LifeNeophron.eu

In 2017 we reached the maximum of non-breeding birds and floaters in the last 5 years appearing across the feeding stations in the Balkan Mountains and Kresna gorge supported by Green Balkans, FWFF, BPPS, and in the Eastern Rhodopes by the BSPB. Non-breeders and floaters play an important role in the population as a reserve pool and the higher their number is the greater is the chance for establishment of new breeding territories or replacements in already existing ones.

In Greece, the final number of occupied territories was six out of which five were occupied by pairs and one by solitary single individual. In Thrace, four territories were located, all of them occupied by pairs, whereas in Central Greece only two territories were found, occupied  by a pair and a single bird. Unfortunately this year, Thrace suffered the loss of a territory occupied by a single bird in 2016. Incubation was confirmed for all Greek pairs (100%), but only three of them managed to raise offspring (all three of them in Thrace), totaling three juveniles (two in the Dadia National Park and one in Kompsato) that successfully left from their nests.

Supplementary feeding

In Bulgaria, 11 pairs (6 in Northern Bulgaria and 5 in the Rhodope Mountains) were regularly fed throughout the breeding season 2017 with small quantities of meat. Another 3 pairs in the Eastern Rhodopes were feeding at the vulture restaurants in the area. Generally, 358 supplementary feedings were done by 9 local contributors in 7 project areas and 589 kg of meat (provided by local farmers and slaughter houses) were provided to the vultures.

Also this year, the three pairs nesting in the Dadia National Park benefited from the feeding station which was operated and monitored on a systematic basis by the Management Body of the Dadia National Park and the Regional Unit of Evros. The highest number of individuals was nine counted in August, of where six were adults, one immature and two juveniles. These two juveniles might be those that fledged in the Dadia National Park. In Central Greece another feeding station was operated by HOS for the benefit of the two remaining territories, whereas in the area of Epirus the existing small feeding site, targeting foraging Egyptian vultures from the neighboring Albania, was operated by a local stakeholder.

Nest guarding

During the breeding season birds can be easily disturbed and sometimes juveniles fail in their first flight attempts, so each year the project provides protection of nests and juveniles. The period around the first flight of the juveniles  (late July-early August) is the most critical since, due to lack of experience, some of them may fall out of the nest, get hurt or become a victim of predators.

Each year we feed a regular number of pairs but we also make sure that everything is going well so our collaborators look after the pairs they feed too. In 2017, 8 of our local collaborators were guarding 11 pairs as well. Additionally 8 volunteers covered extra nests in the fledgling period in the Eastern Rhodopes. In this line, 14 successful nests were guarded during the fledgling period in total. We succeeded to secure 17 (74%) out of 22 juveniles who successfully left the nests in 2017.

In Greece, specifically in Thrace, two nests were guarded by the EVS volunteers (European Voluntary Service) hosted by WWF Greece, Dadia Project. Guarding took place on a daily basis from mid July until the pair and its offspring migrated in September to their wintering grounds.

We are grateful to the donors and volunteers, thanks to which the nest guarding of the Egyptian vulture for this year completed successfully!

At the final plenary session today, Parties adopted the Multi-species Action Plan to Conserve African-Eurasian Vultures (Vulture MsAP).  This document represents the culmination of three years of intensive work by the Coordinating Unit of the Raptors MoU, supported by three key partner organisations, IUCN SSC Vulture Specialist Group, BirdLife International and the Vulture Conservation Foundation.

The Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds (BirdLife Bulgaria) significantly contributed to the development of the Vulture MsAP through its active participation in the Regional and Overarching workshops, and together with the partners under the LIFE+ project “The Return of the Neophron” (LIFE10 NAT/BG/000152) by developing of the Flyway Action Plan for the Conservation of the Balkan and Central Asian Populations of the Egyptian Vulture (EVFAP) is an integral part and annexed in full to the Vulture MsAP.

Vultures are truly spectacular birds. They are Nature’s garbage collectors and provide critical ecosystem services, cleaning up carcass and other organic waste in the environment, thus reducing the spread of dangerous diseases.  By doing so, they provide highly significant economic and human health benefits.  Unfortunately, vultures are under extreme pressure from a range of human activities and are one of the most threatened groups of birds on earth.

In the last 30 years, drastic and widespread population declines have been observed, beginning with the catastrophic collapse of species in South Asia, followed more recently by a similar crisis on the African continent.  Most species of Old World vultures are now classified as either Endangered or Critically Endangered at global level on the IUCN Red List.

It was against this backdrop that CMS Parties established the mandate for the Vulture MsAP at their previous Conference of Parties (COP11) held in Ecuador in November 2014.   The Vulture MsAP covers 15 species of vultures, which occur in 128 Range States in the African-Eurasian Region.  The plan aims to rapidly halt current population declines, reverse these trends to bring the conservation status of all 15 species back to a favourable level, and to provide management guidelines applicable to all Range States.

A highly collaborative approach was adopted during the development of the Vulture MsAP.  Questionnaires were circulated to all Range States seeking up-to-date information about the status, distribution and threats to vultures at a national scale.  Three Regional Coordinators were established covering Africa, Asia and Europe, and an Overarching Coordinator was hired to bring these three components together into a single comprehensive and cohesive plan.  Five Workshops were held in four different countries on three separate continents, with the participation of over 250 government representatives, vulture experts, conservation managers and other stakeholders.  The 2^nd Draft of the Vulture MsAP was subject to a month-long Public Consultation Exercise.

The Vulture MsAP identifies poisoning in various forms (both unintentional and otherwise) as the main threat to Old World vultures.  But there are many other dangers that are exerting significant pressures on populations, such as electrocution and collision with energy infrastructure, lack of food availability, habitat degradation and destruction, as well as human disturbance at nesting and roosting sites.  More importantly, the plan sets out a Framework of 124 Actions to address these threats, including priorities, timelines and key stakeholders who need to be involved.

The Vulture MsAP aims to compliment other existing conservation efforts.  To demonstrate this, three important stand-alone documents are Annexed to the plan, namely a Flyway Action Plan for the Conservation of the Balkan and Central Asian Populations of the Egyptian Vulture; Flyway Action Plan for the Conservation of the Cinereous Vulture; and, a Blueprint for the Recovery of South Asia’s Critically Endangered Gyps Vultures.

Within minutes of adopting the Vulture MsAP, CMS Parties began implementation by agreeing to list ten species on Appendix I of the Convention.  This affords a species the highest level of protection available under CMS.  In addition to preventing killing and taking, the listing also requires Parties to protect species’ habitats and to address the threats to their populations.  The ten species are: Red-headed Vulture Sarcogyps calvus; White-headed Vulture Trigonoceps occipitalis; Hooded Vulture Necrosyrtes monachus; White-rumped Vulture Gyps bengalensis; White-backed Vulture Gyps africanus; Indian Vulture Gyps indicus; Slender-billed Vulture Gyps tenuirostris; Cape Vulture Gyps coprotheres; Rüppell’s Vulture Gyps rueppelli; and, Lappet-faced Vulture Torgos tracheliotos.

Funds are now urgently needed to enable the establishment of the international coordinating structure envisaged in the Vulture MsAP, and to implement the most essential actions in the plan.

The Hellenic Ornithological Society -with the help of its project partner, WWF Greece - managed to deliver this successful result after several years of efforts and of close collaboration with the Greek Ministry of Environment and Energy. The drafting and approval of this SAP was one of the most important actions of the LIFE Project "The Return of the Neophron" and had undergone an extensive consultation process with all local relevant bodies and stakeholders, such as Forestry Services, Management Bodies of Protected Areas, scientific community, environmental NGOs, hunting associations, stockbreeders, municipal and other relevant local and national authorities.

Although the Egyptian vulture is strictly protected both by national and European laws, this SAP -foreseen in the National Law for Biodiversity (law 3937/2011)- ensures the implementation -together with the much needed funding- of several conservation actions specifically targeting the most important threats this species faces in Greece (e.g. illegal use of poison baits, electrocution, lack of awareness, etc).

The Egyptian vulture's National SAP was approved together with that of the Lesser White-fronted Goose and the Regional Action Plan for the Lesser Kestrel (region of Thessaly), a huge feat for the conservation of Greek biodiversity as these are in fact the first Action Plans to be officially endorsed by the Greek Government.

According to Mr. Panagiotis Latsoudis, President of the Hellenic Ornithological Society (HOS): "This news is of extreme importance as this is the first time that Greece officially approves Action Plans for the protection of endangered species. Although SAPs have been drafted in the past, none had been endorsed due to the lack of a concrete legal framework. HOS awaits with expectation the implementation of these three Action Plans whose budget has already been approved by the Green Fund. The adoption of these Joint Ministerial Decisions now opens the way for the establishment of National Action Plans for the remaining 254 endangered species of vertebrates in Greece."

More information:

Konstantina Ntemiri
HOS Policy Officer
Phone. +30 210 8228704 & +30 210 8227937

e-mail: kntemiri@ornithologiki.gr

Find the presentations from the workshop here.

The new emblem keeps the previous blue shade, but also allows for the interchanging of several other colours, which lie in the organisation’s new visual identity.

The logo was chosen through a contest for professional designers. The winner was the young artist Vasilena Georgieva, who graduated with a masters in advertisement design from the National Academy of Arts and now makes a living in London, where she’s been working as a designer for a software company since 2016.

The image she created was chosen by the members of the general assembly on the 13^th of May 2017 by the grand majority.

The Egyptian vulture on the logo of BSPB has been the symbol of the organisation ever since its creation on the 3rd of July 1988. The species is endangered worldwide and continues to represent nature conservation in the current day and age, being the bird of prey with the fastest declining population in Europe at the moment. In the last 30 years just the Bulgarian population of Egyptian vultures has declined by over 80%.

BSPB works for the protection and conservation of wild birds, their habitats, important for them places such as mating or hunting grounds, as well as the overall biodiversity of the region. Through their work they aid the sustainable use of the natural resources in the area and the general wellbeing of the people who live there.

The BSPB is also a part of the biggest and oldest nature conservation partnership organization in the world – BirdLife International. Created in 1922, Birdlife joins the forces of like-minded organizations in over 120 countries and has over 13 million supporters worldwide.

Vultures are declining world-wide, but Europe used to be a safe place. 3 years ago this changed radically when approval was given to the commercialisation of veterinary diclofenac. Today, we launch a new international campaign in Spain, Portugal and Italy that aims to ban the drug that could wipe out Europe’s vultures… just as it has already nearly done in Asia.

For millennia, vultures ruled the skies over the Indian subcontinent: from the Himalayas to the southern tip of Sri Lanka, and from the Hindu Kush Mountains in the west to the Arakan Mountains in the east. Tellingly, these majestic birds are featured prominently in the Sanskrit epic poem the Ramayana – undisputedly, one of the great pillars of Hindu culture. In one famous tale, the demi-god Jatayu, the heroic ‘king of the vultures’, is described as a ranger of the skies who valiantly fights the saga’s antagonist Ravana to rescue the princess Sita from his clutches.

 In the blink of an eye

With such a rich natural and cultural heritage, it feels all the more ignoble that the vulture’s reign in South Asia should have been brought to such a tragic, and avoidable, halt. And within our own lifetimes…under our watch. In the 1990s, in less than ten years, the use of a veterinary drug called ‘diclofenac’ in cattle resulted in 99% of four species of vultures being wiped out on the Indian subcontinent.

99%...ninety-nine per cent! It’s a statistic that needs to be repeated again and again until its full, heart-breaking truth sinks in.  It seems unfathomable, too monstrous and abstract to comprehend…what does it even mean in real terms? Well, simply put, in the late 1980s, there were 80 million White-backed vultures (Gyps bengalnsis) in India and today, there are less than several thousand. And what of the Red-headed vulture (Sarcogyps calvus), the Slender-billed vulture (Gyps tenuirostris) and the Indian vulture (Gyps indicus)? In the blink of an eye, all brought to the brink of extinction.

An international campaign to ban veterinary diclofenac

In spring 2013, the Spanish Agency for Medicines (AEM) approved two products containing diclofenac to be used on pigs and bovine cattle. Since then, the BirdLife partnership has been documenting and fighting this threat across Europe. Despite all our efforts, vet diclofenac is now legally commercialized in Spain and Italy and has been requested for authorisation in Portugal.

This is why BirdLife Europe & Central Asia, together with our partners SEO-BirdLife Spain and SPEA (BirdLife Portugal), and along with the Vulture Conservation Foundation (VCF) and WWF Spain, is today launching a new campaign to ban veterinary diclofenac in Europe. Together, Spain, Portugal and Italy host 95% of the European Union’s vulture populations; these countries have a heightened responsibility to protect these majestic birds from suffering the same fate as their eastern cousins.

Nature’s clean-up crew

Vultures are important. Though they are popularly misrepresented as sinister or morbid, in reality, this couldn’t be further from the truth – they are nature’s clean-up crew! As scavengers, vultures are adapted to consume foods that other species cannot process, including food that could be a source of infection and disease for a lot of other animals, including humans. In fact, their free cleaning services save us billions of euros in sanitary measures every year.

 The answer is simple: Ban Vet Diclofenac!

Some veterinary authorities allege that it is enough to simply tell farmers not to use diclofenac to treat livestock that are commonly consumed by scavengers. But self-regulation is not reliable enough to be a safe solution. The presence of diclofenac in just 1% of livestock carcasses abandoned in fields was enough to virtually eliminate vulture populations on the Indian subcontinent. Quite tellingly, since the drug was banned in India and Nepal, the decline in vulture populations has stopped. Moreover, there are safe, equally effective and comparably priced veterinary drugs that could be prescribed as an alternative to diclofenac. These would not have a negative impact on either livestock of farmers’ pockets.

A formula for extinction

C₁₄H₁₁Cl₂NO₂ (the chemical composition of diclofenac) is a formula for extinction.

There are good alternatives.

So why has it not been banned in Europe?

It’s seems like common sense to us – if you agree, support our campaign by SIGNING YOUR NAME on our campaign website.

The handbook will be disseminated in Customs (National Agency of Protected Areas), Inspectorate of Environment - Forestry police, Police chief of the villages where Egyptian vulture nests, Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Trade in Albania, local and national environment conservation  NGOs, National Library of Albania, schools, journalists etc.

The handbook is designed to facilitate and support the daily work of the customs officers and border veterinarians in their work on the prevention of illicit trafficking and trade in protected species with the main accent are the birds of prey. The handbook includes a brief description of the legislation regulating the trade of rare species, a brief description of the most common methods and techniques used to conceal and transport the animals, practical guidelines for effective actions and short guide for the identification of the birds of prey, owls and songbirds that are subject of trafficking.

The Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds prepared the handbook in 2013 within the LIFE projects "Conservation of Imperial Eagle and Saker Falcon in key Natura 2000 sites in Bulgaria" and  “The Return of the Neophron”.

The handbook is available in Bulgarian, Greek and Albanian.

In Greece, this year 6 territories are occupied with five pairs and a single bird. There are four pairs in Thrace, and one pair and a single territorial individual in the rest of Greece. There is one territory less in comparison with 2016 (due to an unoccupied territory in Thrace). All five pairs laid eggs and chicks hatched in four of them.

As during the implementation of the LIFE+ project “The Return of the Neophron” (2012-2016), efforts to supplementary feed and guard the nests in Bulgaria and Greece continue in 2017 with the aim to decrease the risk of poisoning, disturbance and poaching. In northeastern Bulgaria, BSPB regularly provides with supplementary safe food six nests, and five more in Eastern Rhodopes. Five more pairs and five different immature individuals are supplementary fed on the vulture restaurants around Madzharovo and Studen Kladenets (currently maintained in the frame of the LIFE+ project ReVultures). Additionally, the vulture restaurants maintained by FWFF, Green Balkans and BPPS in the frame of the project Vultures Back to LIFE (LIFE14 NAT/BG/000649) are visited by two more pairs (Byala Reka and Eastern Stara Planina) and minimum 8 immature birds or adult floaters (Kotel – 6, Sliven – 3, Partizani – 1, Kresna – 1, Vratza – 2,). Some of the floaters (e.g. the tagged with satellite transmitter five years old vulture Iliaz) circulate between the supplementary feeding sites, including between Eastern Rhodopes and Eastern Stara Planina mountains. Overall, the supplementary fed Egyptian vulture pairs in the country are 17, plus 15 immature or adult floaters. The number of guarded nests will increase in early August during the first flight of the fledglings, when a volunteer nest-guarding programme will be implemented in Eastern Rhodopes by BSPB for fourth consecutive year.

The vulture restaurant in Meteora (Central Greece) is operated as in previous years, and is visited by the three remaining individuals in the area. In the area of Konitsa, Epirus, the two supplementary feeding sites created during the implementation of the LIFE project to support a pair of breeding Egyptian vultures in the neighbouring Albania are operated with the collaboration of local stakeholders.

In Thrace, specifically in Dadia National Park which is considered as the last stronghold of the species in the country, the feeding station is regularly visited by three pairs since their arrival this spring. The Dadia feeding station is maintained and operated by the Evros Prefecture in conjunction with the Management Body of the National Park. In addition, two nests where the birds succeeded to hatch chicks are being guarded during the critical fledgling period.

Four Egyptian vultures have died in the last year due to collision with wind turbines in the area of Tarifa (Cadiz, Andalusia), in the southernmost region of the Iberian Peninsula. The last death, a breeding female, meant also the loss of the last breeding pair in this area, together with the loss of the female's chick, who couldn't be raised by the remaining male alone. Only 23 pairs survive in the whole region of Andalusia, where the population is down by half since the year 2000. Death by collision with the increasing number of wind turbines that are concentrated in the Strait of Gibraltar has become the second cause of unnatural death of the species in Andalusia and is main factor leading to extinction, along with poisoning. What's more, local environmental NGOs have denounced that the death of these four vultures evidences deficiencies in the environmental impact assessments of the wind farms of Tarifa and have alerted that these deaths are just the tip of the iceberg as thousands of birds die every year when colliding against windmills in the Strait, one of the most important migration routes between Europe and Africa.

Worrying news come also from Segovia (Castilla y Leon). WWF Spain denounces that 40% of the satellite tracked Egyptian vultures in the region have died from the illegal use of poison baits. During the period 1992-2013, the Autonomous Community of Castilla y Leon registered 1.908 poisoning events amounting to 4.343 poisoned animals. In an attempt to control this illegal practice, in 2015 the legal framework punishing this crime against fauna was toughened, and now fines range between 5.000 to 200.000 € as well as the suspension of the establishment or the activity where the poisoning event took place.

In a time when wind farms development is at its peak in Greece, reading of the consequences of such uncontrolled development in other countries such as Spain should come as a warning in order to make the necessary and correct planning to avoid the loss of the last remaining pairs of Egyptian vultures in Greece (monitoring in 2017 gave the same numbers as in 2016: only five pairs are left in the whole of the country!). The same applies for the issue of the illegal use of poison which has already been identified as the main cause of extinction of the species in Greece. Following the example of Spain, changes in the law should be made in order to ensure that harsher fines and punishments are applied for those still using this cruel and pointless practice.

The EVFAP development was launched by a Kick-off workshop held in 2015 in Sofia, where over 70 researchers, conservationists and representatives of the authorities from 33 countries took part. Based on this meeting the first draft of the EVFAP was developed. In January 2017, a month-long public consultation exercise was launched, aiming at the main target groups from the EVFAP range including national governmental authorities (i.e. Environment Ministries, Wildlife and Forest Services, etc.), private sector companies (e.g. power and utility companies, infrastructure developers, etc.), conservation organisations, universities, research institutions, consultants, ornithologists and any other individuals with an interest in the conservation of the Egyptian Vulture. As well as being published on the internet in three languages (English, French and Russian), the Coordinating Unit Raptors MoU has circulated an email inviting comments from almost 1,000 relevant contacts on its mailing list. All comments were reviewed and, where appropriate, integrated into the Final version of EVFAP which, together with the Cinereous vulture FAP and the Blueprint for the Recovery of South-Asia’s Critically Endangered Gyps Vultures, was included as a key component of the Multi-species Action Plan to Conserve African-Eurasian Vultures (Vulture MsAP). The latter is being developed for presentation at the 12th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP12) to the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS), scheduled to be held in Manilla, Philippines in October 2017.

The overall long-term goal of the Action Plan is to improve the conservation status of the Egyptian vulture, leading initially to its downlisting to Vulnerable and eventually achieving a favorable conservation status of the species across FAP range. In shorter term, by 2026 the EVFAP seeks to halt the downward trends in the declining meta-populations while maintaining stable or increasing trends for the healthy ones. More specifically, through 67 actions the EVFAP aims to significantly reduce Egyptian vulture mortality in the FAP range due to poisoning, illegal killing, electrocution and collision with energy infrastructures; enhance the size and productivity of breeding populations; and ensure endorsement and effective implementation of the EVFAP by all Range States. It is envisaged that the EVFAP will be implemented over a 10-year period, reviewed every five years and updated every 10 years.

Find the final version of the EVFAP here.

BSPB, the partners (HOS, WWF Greece and RSPB) of the LIFE+ project “The Return of the Neophron” and CU Raptors MoU would like to sincerely thank everybody who in one or another way participated in the development of the EVFAP, including the sponsors and donors (European Commission, A. G. Leventis Foundation, MAVA and CMS).

Conservation on African-Eurasian Vultures (UNEP/CMS/COP12/Doc.24.1.4), including a Draft Resolution in Annex 1

Vulture MsAP (UNEP/CMS/COP12/Doc.24.1.4/Annex3) – currently available in English only (due to resource constraints)

A short Summary Document of the Vulture MsAP will be posted on the COP12 page in due course – in English, French and Spanish

Proposal for inclusion of five vulture species occurring in sub-Saharan Africa – submitted by Kenya

Proposal for inclusion of four vulture species occurring in Asia – submitted by Pakistan

Proposal for inclusion of the Lappet-faced vulture – submitted by Israel

Proposal for inclusion of the Lappet-faced vulture – submitted by Saudi Arabia.

Background about the development of the Vulture MsAP can be found here, and Reports of the Regional Workshops here. The CU Raptors MoU, BirdLife International, Vulture Conservation Foundation and the IUCN SSC Vulture Specialist Group are planning to hold a side-event at CMS COP12 on Conserving African-Eurasian Vulture for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services: the Role of the Multi-species Action Plan (working title), to which all interested participants will be invited, especially government representatives from the 128 Vulture MsAP Range States (thus, for those who are planning to attend COP12 and would like to support this side-event, please contact CU Raptors MoU).

The Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds (BirdLife Bulgaria) significantly contributed to the development of the Vulture MsAP through its active participation in the Regional and Overarching workshops, and together with the partners under the LIFE+ project “The Return of the Neophron” (LIFE10 NAT/BG/000152) by developing of the Flyway Action Plan for the Conservation of the Balkan and Central Asian Populations of the Egyptian Vulture (EVFAP) is an integral part and annexed in full to the Vulture MsAP.

We thank all the teachers and students for their active participation and their continuous efforts to inform local people about the importance of their adopted Egyptian Vulture pairs.

The BitHope Foundation is the first Bulgarian non-governmental organization (NGO) in the public benefit that uses ONLY cryptocurrency to accumulate funds for the campaigns that are hosted on the BitHope.org platform. What the Foundation and the platform do is actually convert your bitcoins into tangible good for the people, animals, and the environment. Bitcoin does not discriminate on the basis of borders, religion, race, gender or social status, much like love and hope.

The "Brotherhood of the Phoenix" was one of the first campaigns involved in the project.

The aim of this campaign was to raise funds for safeguarding four of the most vulnerable nests in Bulgaria located in the Eastern Rhodopes and in Rusenski Lom. The funds will cover the travel expenses of the volunteers – to reach the nests and the travel budget for providing supplementary food to the hatching pairs.

Saving the life of each of the Egyptian Vulture hatchlings is of paramount importance for securing the future of the species in Bulgaria. At present the country harbours some 35% of the Balkan population. The trend established is rather worrying – the population number has dropped by 80% in the last 30 years.

We are very grateful for the opportunity and support of BitHope and all the donors involved in the campaign!

It has become tradition every spring for tha last six years to look closely at the Egyptian Vulture pair's nest in which a BSPB team installed a camera in 2012 for online observing. This year also, our team has done our best to bring the camera back to the website of the LIFE Project "The Return of the Neophron." Unfortunatelly, for the first time we will not observe the hatching of fledglings in June.

The Egyptian Vulture family successfully returned in April, prepared the nest and started incubation. Despite the regular supplementary feeding and monitoring of the pair, about two weeks before the expected date of hatching, the birds began to get up of the eggs and gradually abandoned them. We could speculate that the cause of failure is barren eggs. However, in certain parts of the day birds are still in the nest and can be seen through the camera on the project website www.LifeNeophron.eu.

The camera for online observing of wild Egyptian vultures’ nest is the only of its kind in the world. It was installed by the BSPB team and was well camouflaged so that it resembles to the rock and do not disturb the vultures. Over the last 5 years this camera allowed us to observe the life of this rare species and to become witnesses to the hatching and the first flight of a total of 9 young birds (2 juveniles in 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2016, and 1 in 2015).

Thanks to the camera we gathered valuable information for the behavior and feeding of these world endangered birds, which is needed for their better conservation. We gathered enormous video material used in the creation of the film "The life of the Egyptian vulture" and will also benefit to other popular science films and the media. Every year the news about the arrival of the pair, laying their first egg and hatching of the chick, enjoyed great interest from the media and people. In these periods the project site www.LifeNeophron.eu gathered most visitors, who wanted to look at the Egyptian vultures’ nest through the site – only for a week the site was visited by 7,000 people from over 70 countries around the world (generally after the camera was installed in 2012, the site was visited by more than 60,000 people from over 180 countries).

In total, 26 of the species’ breeding territories known in the last 15 years were visited. Out of them, 10 territories were confirmed to be still occupied (7 pairs and 3 single territorial birds were observed). These are good news as it indicates that the population in the country the last 5 years seems to be stable. In comparison, 11 territories were found active 10 years ago - in 2007 (Ben Hallman, unpubl. data), 7 in 2012, 9 in 2013 and 6 in 2014 (monitoring was not complete this year).

The typical habitat of the Egyptian vulture in Albania consists of traditional rural landscapes with extensive livestock grazing (mainly sheep and goats) and small-scale farming practices. In those areas where Egyptian vultures were present, the researchers noticed that there was plenty of food available (livestock, tortoises and other wildlife). Semi-structured questionnaires were used to collect additional information from the local people about the presence of the species, threats and its cultural value in the visited regions (ca. 40 interviewed people). Poisoning, illegal killing, and electrocution on dangerous poles were identified as the most serious threats for the species in the country. The team also used every opportunity to raise public awareness in the areas it visited about the status and threats of the Egyptian vulture.

The bird had been recovering for a several months and MES team has decided to release it and tagged with a satellite transmitter. The team of BSPB put the transmitter and the Egyptian vulture was released in the area where it was found. We hope that the adult bird will take part in the breeding season.

At first the vulture did not fly well, but gradually began to take increasingly bold flights. Currently the bird is provided with supplementary food and its movements are monitored. We wish to the vulture a successful and safe return to the wild!

Both exhibitions will be presented in the museum until April 28.

We express our gratitude to the Blagoevgrad Regional Museum of History for the assistance and the hospitality!

This 2^nd Draft Vulture MsAP is the result of more than a year of intense efforts.  From the outset, the Coordinating Unit adopted a highly collaborative and inclusive approach by reaching out to governments, conservation organisations, specialists and other stakeholders in all 127 Range States within the geographic scope of this 12-year plan (2017 – 2029).  Almost 300 government officials, partners, vulture specialists and other interested individuals have already contributed to the development of the Vulture MsAP.

Four Regional Action Planning Workshops have been held in recent months:  in Dakar, Senegal covering Africa (October 2016); in Monfrague, Spain covering Europe (October 2016); in Mumbai, India covering Asia (November 2016); and, in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates (UAE) covering the Middle East (February 2017).  In addition, an Overarching Workshop took place in Toledo, Spain on 16-19 February 2017, where a 1^st Draft of the Vulture MsAP was reviewed and enhanced by representatives from range states and specialist stakeholders.

The purpose of the Public Consultation Exercise is to reach out even further to invite comments and improvements from anyone who recognizes the importance of vultures and the critical need to conserve them.  As well as being published on the Raptors MOU website, the Coordinating Unit has today circulated an email inviting comments from almost 1,000 relevant contacts on its mailing list.  The main target groups include: national governmental authorities (e.g. Environment Ministries, Wildlife and Forest Services, etc.), conservation organisations, universities, research institutions, consultants, technical experts, ornithologists and any other individuals with an interest in the conservation of the African-Eurasian vultures.

The overall aims of the Vulture MsAP are: to rapidly halt current population declines in all species covered by the Vulture MsAP; to reverse recent population trends to bring the conservation status of each species back to a favourable level; and, to provide conservation management guidelines applicable to all Range States covered by the Vulture MsAP.

Comments on the 2^nd Draft Vulture MsAP should be submitted via email to cmsoffice.ae@cms.int by 16 April 2017.  All comments received during the consultation period will be reviewed and, where appropriate, integrated into a final version of the Vulture MsAP, due to be completed by mid-May 2017 for formal submission to the CMS Secretariat.  The Vulture MsAP is expected to be considered by Parties to the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) at the 12th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP12), scheduled to be held in Manila, Philippines in October 2017.

The Flyway Action Plan for the Conservation of the Balkan and Central Asian Populations of the Egyptian Vulture (EVFAP) will form a key component of the Multi-species Action Plan to Conserve African-Eurasian Vultures (Vulture MsAP).

The workshop in Sharjah focused on five species, two of which (Egyptian Vulture and Lappet-faced Vulture) are already classified as ‘Endangered’ by the IUCN Red List of threatened species, and two (Cinereous and Bearded Vulture) are listed as “Near Threatened”.

“The Middle East is extremely important for vultures for two reasons: it hosts important breeding populations of two species and it serves as a flyway for the migratory species.  Many vultures originating from Europe and Asia migrate through the Middle East ever year.”

(Dr. Jose Tavares, Director of the Vulture Conservation Foundation (VCF)

“We are developing a comprehensive action plan covering 15 species of Old World vultures throughout their ranges which extends to over 120 countries in Africa, Asia and Europe, based on the mandate from CMS Resolution 11.14.  The overall aim is to halt the current vulture population declines, and to restore each species’ conservation status to a favorable level.”

(Nick P. Williams, Head of the Coordinating Unit of the Raptors MOU)

BSPB took part also in the concluding Overarching Workshop from 16 to 19 February in Toledo, Spain. On the workshop was presented the first draft of the International Vulture multi-Species Action Plan. It includes the most up-to-date population status reports of the species and a detailed analysis of the threats that are affecting these important birds. The Action Plan includes solutions to address the most imminent threats. The overarching Action Plan will be applicable throughout the ranges of all species and aims to promote a step-change in collaborative international conservation efforts.

The final draft will be sent for public consultation in the next few weeks – we encourage you all to contribute (more news soon in the VCF webpage). A final version of the Action Plan will be submitted to the 12th Meeting of the Conference to the Parties to CMS to be held from 23 to 28 October in Manila for adoption. The Flyway Action Plan for the Conservation of the Balkan and Central Asian Populations of the Egyptian Vulture (EVFAP) will form a key component of the Multi-species Action Plan to Conserve African-Eurasian Vultures (Vulture MsAP).

LIFE EuroSAP aims to tackle the severe threats that affect the conservation of iconic birds on a continental scale. LIFE EuroSAP will run for three years, involving 13 partners and covering a total of 16 species. The bird species targeted by the LIFE EuroSAP project are some of the most charismatic and threatened in Europe.

The platform provides the ability to track the development and implementation of international action plans for the conservation of birds. Everyone can find basic documents, links to online databases conservation projects or to contact people involved in developing concrete action plans.

Currently is carrying out a month-long Public Consultation Exercise on a draft Flyway Action Plan for the Conservation of the Balkan and Central Asian Populations of the Egyptian Vulture (EVFAP). All comments will be reviewed and, where appropriate, integrated into the final version of EVFAP which is due to be completed by the end March 2017. The EVFAP will form a key component of the Multi-species Action Plan to Conserve African-Eurasian Vultures (Vulture MsAP), which is being developed for presentation at the 12th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP12) to the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS), scheduled to be held in Manilla, Philippines in October 2017.

The Consultation period runs until 20 February 2017.

More information about the Public Consultation can be found here.

The draft EVFAP has been developed based on completed questionnaires received from Range States of the species, coupled with the highly constructive inputs of over 70 stakeholders who participated in the EVFAP Planning Workshop held in Sofia, Bulgaria in 2015. It has been published in three languages - English, French and Russian. The Consultation period runs until 20 February 2017.

From the outset, those leading the preparation of the EVFAP have adopted a highly collaborative and inclusive approach by reaching out to government officials, conservation organisations, specialists and other stakeholders in all of the Range States within the geographic scope of the plan, which includes the Balkans, Central Asia, Caucasus, Middle East, and Central and Eastern Africa. The purpose of the Public Consultation Exercise is to reach out even further to enhance the quality of both the content and conclusions contained in the EVFAP.

As well as being published on the internet in three languages, the Coordinating Unit has circulated an email inviting comments from almost 1000 relevant contacts on its mailing list. The main target groups include: national governmental authorities (i.e. Environment Ministries, Wildlife and Forest Services, etc.), private sector companies (e.g. power and utility companies, infrastructure developers, etc.), conservation organisations, universities, research institutions, consultants, ornithologists and any other individuals with an interest in the conservation of the Egyptian Vulture.

All comments will be reviewed and, where appropriate, integrated into the final version of EVFAP which is due to be completed by the end March 2017. The EVFAP will form a key component of the Multi-species Action Plan to Conserve African-Eurasian Vultures (Vulture MsAP), which is being developed for presentation at the 12^th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP12) to the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS), scheduled to be held in Manilla, Philippines in October 2017.

Summary overview of the EVFAP

The Egyptian Vulture (Neophron percnopterus) is recognized as a globally ‘Endangered’ species by IUCN due to rapid population declines throughout most of its range, especially across Europe, Africa and India. The overall European population has decreased by 50% over the last 50 years, whereas the Balkan population has declined by 80% over the last 30 years and is at serious risk of extinction.

Egyptian Vultures from the Balkans are long distance migrants wintering in the Sahel zone of Africa.  These annual return journeys can be perilous and there is evidence to show that most mortality occurs along the flyway. In 2015, in an effort to halt these serious population declines, the EU LIFE+ Project ‘The Return of the Neophron’, in collaboration with the Coordinating Unit of the CMS Raptors MoU, initiated the development of a Flyway Action Plan (EVFAP). Considering the partial overlap of migration routes, huge knowledge gaps and a strong need for conservation actions to address declines in some of the neighboring populations, the scope of the EVFAP includes populations breeding across the Balkans, Central Asia and Caucasian region, which migrate through the Middle East and winter in Central and Eastern Africa.

The overall long-term goal of the EVFAP is to improve the conservation status of the Egyptian Vulture throughout the flyway, initially aiming at its downlisting to ‘Vulnerable’ on the IUCN Red List of threatened species, and eventually achieving a favourable conservation status of the species across its range. More specific objectives are to maintain the current population level in the areas with stable numbers of breeding pairs and to reverse negative population trends in those parts of the FAP range where large declines have been reported in recent years.

In July 2015, an Action Planning Workshop was held in Sofia, Bulgaria. Over 70 researchers, conservationists and representatives of the authorities from 33 Range States attended. Detailed information was gathered about the regional distribution, status and population trends of Egyptian Vultures by means of a Questionnaire circulated in advance of the workshop.

Earlier in 2015, the Coordinating Unit of the Raptors MoU had commissioned an ‘Implementation Review of the EU Species Action Plan for the Egyptian Vulture (Neophron percnopterus)’. The overall aim was to better understand the successes, challenges and lessons learned from the EU Species Action Plan adopted in 2008, so as to incorporate this information into the EVFAP. The contractor, Vulture Conservation Foundation, presented the review results at the EVFAP Workshop in Sofia.

Participants identified the major threats along the flyway as: poisoning, primarily via organic bait laced with toxic chemicals aimed at mammalian carnivores; electrocution and collisions with energy infrastructure; and, direct persecution. The drivers behind these threats are presented in the EVFAP, alongside a suite of conservation actions to address them.  Additional needs are identified including: long-term research and monitoring; designation of protected areas; building conservation capacity; improving exchange of information; enhanced coordination of NGO-driven initiatives; partnerships with industry (e.g. energy, agriculture); and, improving awareness-raising and publicity.

It is envisaged that the EVFAP will be implemented over a 10-year period and formally reviewed after five years.  It is proposed that an EVFAP Working Group be established to promote and support the implementation of the Plan within each of the Range States.

Readers are invited to submit comments and feedback on the EVFAP via email to: Mr Stoyan Nikolov (stoyan.nikolov@bspb.org), with a copy to the Coordinating Unit (cmsoffice.ae@cms.int).  The deadline for responses is 20 February 2017.

If you have any questions, please contact Mr. Stoyan Nikolov (BSPB / BirdLife Bulgaria) via e-mail or telephone: +359 878 599 372 (English, French and Russian is spoken).

Reference documents

Draft EVFAP – English

Draft EVFAP – French

Draft EVFAP – Russian

Report of EVFAP Workshop (July 2015) – English

Report of EVFAP Workshop (July 2015) – French

Report of EVFAP Workshop (July 2015) – Russian

The full paper is available here.

The full report is available in PDF here.

Find the whole article here.

During the last years, there has been growing concern that vulture species are affected by lead poisoning. There has been much research about this threat among waterfowl species, but not so much for vulture and other large raptor species. Vultures would be exposed to lead intoxication when consuming carcasses of wild animals that have been shot but not recovered during hunting activities. Although conservationists have been campaigning for years against their use, hunting with lead ammunition is still permitted in most countries in Europe, while bans or simple recommendations to use steel ammunition instead apply only in wetlands.

The newly released article presents the case of Castor, an adult Egyptian vulture found in 2014 close to Kastoria, Northern Greece, with clear symptoms of lead poisoning. Lead levels in the vulture's blood were extremely high, measuring 3210 μg/L (values of more than 1000 μg/L are considered toxic). Although the X-rays revealed the absence of shots embedded in the vulture's body, it is known that lead is rapidly dissolved due to the low PH in raptor stomachs, so it can be quickly absorbed and cause sudden illness or death. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first confirmed case of lead poisoning of an Egyptian vulture in the Balkans.

Thus, lead poisoning is added to the long list of threats that the species faces in the Balkans and its wintering grounds. Some simple practices implemented by hunters, such as shooting only the prey they can retrieve and removing all the remains of hunted animals from the countryside, may contribute to lessen this threat. However, in the long-term only the complete banning of lead ammunition will ensure that no vultures die from lead poisoning.

Thanks to the treatment received in the Wildlife Rescue Centre ANIMA in Athens, Castor was saved and released back into the wild after some weeks. What's more, Castor was tagged with a satellite transmitter and provided important information about the dispersal behaviour of a non-breeding individual, as well as the species migratory route and wintering grounds.

You can download the full article here.

The LIFE project “The Return of the Neophron” was present in this year’s event with a special session dedicated fully to the problem of poison baits. The session “Use of poison baits and impacts on wildlife – National Action Plan” was organized by the Hellenic Ornithological Society and counted on the participation of the NGO Callisto and the Ministry of Environment and Energy. Around 50 people attended the session that lasted over 2 hours. During this session, the two NGOs presented the problem of the illegal use of poison baits and its impact on wildlife to the attendees while the Ministry detailed the steps that the authorities are planning to take to address this issue in the near future. The main concerns expressed by the session’s participants were the low level of involvement and commitment showed by the authorities until now to solve the problem and their belated reaction, which seems to be caused mainly by the Reasoned Opinion sent by the European Commission to the Greek Government this past September due precisely to its lack of initiative to address this important conservation problem –one of the most acute threats to Greek wildlife.

The most important output of this special session was the drafting of a resolution, agreed by all participants of the 8th Congress of the Hellenic Ecological Society, petitioning the ministries of Environment and Energy, Rural Development and Food, as well as the Ministry of Interior and Administrative Reconstruction for their immediate action against this illegal practice which has so dramatically affected Greek biodiversity and in particular, vulture populations which are practically on the verge of extinction. More precisely, the resolution requests the drawing of a National Strategy against poison, and this to be further supported by a National Action Plan against poison.

The resolution will be presented to the ministries in hope for a quick response from their side. Greek biodiversity, with the Egyptian vulture at the lead, are running out of time... 

You can read the resolution agains poison baits here

During the two years that the Canine Teams were active (2014-2015), 28% of the total poisoning events recorded in the database were detected thanks to the use of the Teams, proving just how effective these units can be and underlining the importance of having such a tool in the fight against poison.

In nearly 86% of the poisoning events no official complaints were made either to the prosecutor/police or to other relevant authorities (i.e. Forestry Services). This is in part due to the lack of a clear legal framework determining the responsibilities of all relevant authorities; this also has negative consequences regarding the removal of poisoned animals and baits from the field as well as the collection of evidence and samples for toxicological analyses that could subsequently be used for the investigation of the crime and at court. In addition, the fact that most of the poisoning event records come from areas where the organizations of the Antipoison Task Force are active indicates that the cases registered are only the tip of the iceberg.

In brief, the situation in Greece regarding poison baits can be described as critical. Since 2012, at least six Egyptian vultures have been poisoned (national population is estimated to be less than 10 breeding pairs). What’s more, the European Commission has started an infringement procedure against Greece due to the mass poisoning event in Nestos Gorge in February 2012 which wiped out a whole colony of Griffon vultures and the local breeding population of the Golden eagle. Beyond the negative impacts on protected wildlife species, the illegal use of poison baits is an extremely complex problem which has deep socio-economic implications. An integrated National Strategy against the use of poison baits is needed in order to effectively address this problem. This Strategy should be supported by a National Action Plan that includes targeted actions to prevent this practice, to eradicate the motives, to specify the responsibilities and the role of competent authorities, as well as aiming to inform and increase public awareness.

The report is available here: PDF.

The Project has managed to operate in total three feeding sites in Greece. The largest one, in the area of Meteora, was an already existing feeding site which had not been operating for the last years. Thanks to the project, the feeding site was reopened and supplied weekly with food, supporting at least two of the pairs that survive in the area. The other two sites were what are known as "light feeding sites", and were created in the wider area of Konitsa, in Epirus, close to the border with Albania. The aim of these two sites was on the one hand, to support pairs nesting in the neighbouring Albania that visit the valley of Konitsa on a daily basis to forage for food, and on the other, to attract any floaters or subadults present in the area in an attempt to encourage them to recolonize this area of Epirus. The novelty of these two light feeding sites is that there is an ongoing collaboration with carefully selected local stakeholders, who also supply food for the vultures whenever possible. This is a great advantage as it means that the sites are self-sustainable and that their operation is ensured beyond the end of the project.

The feeding sites are monitored constantly by means of trap cameras, activated by movement. In particular, the cameras at the feeding site located in Meteora have provided really good snapshots of the birds in the area. These photographs are useful not only to monitor the presence of the birds and their use of the feeding site, but also to learn things about their feeding habits and identify different individuals through their plumage patterns and face markings.

Although the Project is approaching its end, the actions and efforts to save this emblematic species will continue!

Do parents migrate with their juveniles?

This year we tagged the fledgling (called Maria) in the nest of adult male Boris (tagged in 2015 in Bulgaria) in order to see if the parent will migrate together with the juvenile and if they follow similar itinerary. Both birds started to migrate on 24^th of September, but they were flying with different speed and followed different itineraries. For just 8 days Boris covered 2,500 km reaching Saudi Arabia, flying straight through Bosphorus, Ankara, Adana and Iskenderun in Turkey, and crossing Syria and Jordan. For the same period, Maria covered less than the half of this distance (1,100 km), hesitating in the area of Thrace (Greece) and Dardanelles (Turkey), but finally crossing through Bosphorus. Hopefully, when reaching the coast of Adana Through, followed the coast to northeast to Mersin (currently she is still in Turkey). Actually, the juvenile and its father started to migrate differently since the first day: Boris flew 200 km and roosted on a high voltage pylon in the area of Corlu (Turkey), while Maria flew only 30 km and roosted in Bulgaria (Bjal Gradets).

What happened with the other tagged wild vultures?

Dobromir – (tagged as juvenile in 2012 in Bulgaria) who visited the vulture restaurant of BPPS in Vrachanski Balkan (Western Bulgaria) in early August, then flew northwest to Oreshets and started to follow the Danube river to the east reaching Adamclisi (southeastern Romania) where fed for two days in pasturelands. Dobromir started migration on 13/8/2016 flying south trough Eastern Bulgaria – over Dobrich, Provadia, Reservoir Tsonevo, Burgas wetlands and enters in Turkey via Starndzha Mountains. He crossed Turkey for about two weeks (17/8-2/9/2016), flew over the Sea of Marmara via Dardanelles and in the region of Soma changed the direction of light and went east to Eskisehir. He made two stops for “refueling” in the country: 3 days in the region of Kayalikoy and Kirklareli reservoirs and Pinarhisar, and 10 days in the area of Polatli (between Eskisehir and Ankara) where he fed on pastures and rubbish dumps, and very often roosted on high voltage pylons. On 2-3/9/2016 flew through Syria, on 3-7/9/2016 flew through Jordan and on 7-8/9/2016 crossed Saudi Arabia. On 9/9/2016 flew over the Gulf of Aqaba and entered in Sinai Peninsula and on 11/9/2016 flew over Suez Gulf and entered Africa. On 13/09/2016 reached Sudan and settled in the area of Northern Kordofan. Unfortunately, on 25/9/2016 Dobromir died (probably killed) as the coordinates are from the village Halasa, while on 27/9/2016 the last coordinates are from a building in the settlement Barah.

During its 5 years lifetime, Dobromir took one of the longest documented journeys of Egyptian vultures from the Balkans, flying over 30,000 km and crossing about 20 countries on 3 continents. For first time it was him to show that Balkan Egyptian Vultures can migrate through Caucasus and Iran. The winters of 2014/2015 and 2015/2016 Dobromir spent in Ethiopia (Afar) and Sudan.

Iliaz – the only survivor (tagged as a juvenile) out of 9 birds tagged in 2012. In summer 2016 it was floating in Eastern Rhodopes, Bulgaria. Started migration on 26^th August. It flew over Bosphorus on 28/8/2016 and in the period from 30/8 to 2/9/2016 stayed in the area of Beypazari probably for “re-fueling”. On 4/9/2016 Iliaza entered Syria and after four days it entered in Jordan. A day later it entered in Saudi Arabia and followed the coast of the Red Sea to Yemen (entered in the country on 18/9/2016), wondered fore few days in the desert area in the SW part of the country and on 25/9/2016 crossed the Red Sea through Bab-el-Mandeb and entered in Djibouti. On 27/9/2016 Iliaz entered in Ethiopia and currently stays in Afar region.

Sanie – (tagged as a juvenile in 2013 in Bulgaria) spending the summer in Eastern Rhodopes and started migration on 21/8/2016. On 22/8/2016 Sanie flew over Istanbul and crossed Bosphorus. For few days (23-26/8/2016) it stayed in Beypazari area for “refueling” and then continued southeast but flying some 300 km east from the traditional migration road through Adana and Iskenderun. On 29/8/2016 Sanie entered Syria and on 1/9/2016 - in western Iraq. Sanie crossed Jordan and on 5^th of September entered Saudi Arabia. For few days stayed in the mountains in the area of Al Bad, but after that continued to fly south along the Red Sea coast and on 17/9/2016 reached Yemen where stayed for about a week in the area of Ta’izz until 24/9/2016 when crossed to Africa through Bab-el-Mandeb, flew through Djibouti and settled for wintering in Afar region, Ethiopia.

Aoos is an adult female Egyptian vulture breeding in Sothern Albania but often visiting and feeding in Epirus, Greece, where it was trapped and tagged in Konitsa, Epirus, early 2015. This year Aoos successfully raised one fledgling and started migration on 21/9/2016. She flew through Dadia, crossed the Sea of Marmora via Dardanelles, went through Konya and when reached the area of Mersin, started to fly along the coast in northeastern direction to reach Adana and then fly southeast to Iskenderun. She crossed Syria and Jordan and currently is in Egypt, west of Gulf of Suez continuing her journey to the south.

Jenny is an adult female, tagged in Bulgarian part of Eastern Rhodopes in 2015. Interestingly, she delayed on the way to the breeding grounds in the spring 2016 and did not participate in the breeding this year but stayed as a floater in the area. Her nest was occupied by another female. She started migration on 19/8/2016 from the Eastern Rhodopes, where she has been settled during the summer. She flew through Istanbul and crossed Bosphorus. In Turkey, similarly to Dobromir, stayed for a while (22-23/8/2016) for refueling in the area of Polatli, and similarly to Sanie flew some 300 km on the east of the coast of Adana and Iskenderun, passing near the Ataturk Reservoir. She flew through Syria, Jordan, Israel, Egypt (crossed the Suez Channel on 2/9/2016 and crossed Nile near Asut on the next day). In the next week she flew over 1,600 km and on 8/9/2016 reached her final wintering destination – Chad. Since 13/9/2016 she settled in the area of Batha, NE of Fitri Lake. Overall, she flew ca. 5,000 km for 25 days, with in average 200 km daily run.

Two of the birds - Regina and Lom (brother and sister with Turkish origin) started migration in early September. They followed very similar itinerary but few days apart, through Turkey and Cyprus and unfortunately have drowned into the sea. During their unsuccessful migration each of two birds flew over 1,500 km (out of them 500 km over the sea) for 8 days, with average run ca. 200 km per day.

Something that worth to note regarding the migration of these two birds:

# There is no evidence they stopped for a rest during the day or "refueling" nevertheless both were flying through areas with operating vulture restaurants in Bulgaria (Sliven and Madzharovo) and Greece (Dadia).

# They followed migration road of birds of prey, as in the area they landed in Cyprus there is an observation point for monitoring of autumn raptor migration. However, this road (through Cyprus) has not been evidenced for use of wild Egyptian vultures from the Balkans and generally there are very few observations of the species in Cyprus (just 1-2 individuals per year, and not every year / data from BirdLife Cyprus).

# The similarity in the migration journeys of these two (related) birds was really amazing, considering they were flying few days apart.

# It is still a huge enigma what motivated their behavior to change the direction of flight so close to the coast (70 km for Regina and 40 km for Lom) so that instead to reach the land, they continued to fly some more 130-150 km to the southwest over the sea, which decision actually caused their deaths.

Elodie – the youngest captive-bred Egyptian vulture, started migration the latest (end of September), and probably due to her genetics (French origin), she started to migrate on southwest, reaching Peloponnese and facing the huge challenge to cross the Mediterranean Sea.

More details on each individual vulture could be found below:

Regina originates from a Turkish population, hatched on 1/6/2016 and raised in Vienna Zoo. The first flight she made on 26/8/2016. After a week flying in the area of hacking site, on 2nd September she suddenly started migrating south. Same day she flew over Eastern Stara Planina and Eastern Rhodopes, and went in Greece in the area of Dadia (Thrace). The next day (3/9/2016), she entered Turkey, crossed the Sea of Marmara via the Dardanelles and continued to travel south along the Aegean coast. On 7th of September she reached the western coast of Antalya Basin which was a critical point in her travel. In the next morning (8/9/2016) Regina choosed to cross the sea instead to continue east along the coast. She flew over 270 km for 9-10 hours over the sea and finally reached the western coast of Cyprus. In the morning of 9th of September, without any break, she continued her migration south entering again into the sea through Akrotiri Peninsula at 10:00 - the distance to the nearest coast was 240 km. For 6 hours she flew over 190 km and at 16:00, some 50 km from the Lebanese coast, she changed the direction of flight and continued 130 km more in southwestern direction. Obviously very exhausted drowned into the sea at 20:00, just 25 km from the coast of Tel Aviv...

Lom originates from a Turkish population (brother of Regina), hatched on 6.6.2016 and raised in Vienna Zoo. The first flight he made on 26/8/2016. He started migration on 6.9.2016 and interestingly, he followed her sister Regina almost exactly in her footsteps, with few days delay. Unlike Regina, he had crossed the Marmara Sea through the Marmara islands – and not through the Dardanelles, and migrated through Central Anatolia rather than following the coast. On the 13th September Lom entered into the sea from the same place (Adrasan) that Regina used, reaching the western coast of Cyprus, where it spent the night. The next day (14/9/2016) he continued to fly south over the sea, almost reaching the Israeli coast (some 40 km away), but then veered southwest and continued to fly 150 km more, where in the evening drowned off near Egypt.

Elodie originates from Pyrenean population, hatched in Paris Zoo on 16.6.2016 and raised in Praha Zoo. She made her first flight on 1st of September and almost a month was staying in the area of the hacking site, regularly visiting the nearby vulture restaurant. She started migration on 26th of September, in southwestern direction, which could be expected from her origin. Same day she flew 85 km and roosted on a hill in Elena Forebalkan. Next day continued over Stara Zagora, Haskovo, Kurdjali and entered in Greece trough Komotini area. Second night Elodie spent in agricultural field near the Burugyol lagoon. On 28th at 14:00 Elodie reached Athos over the sea (110 km) and obviously tired, spent the night very close to the place it reached the peninsula (just 1,5 km away). On the next day (29/9/2016), she continued to fly over the sea (100 km) and reached the Greek island Alonnisos. On 2/10/2016 she reached Peloponnese (last coordinates are near the settlement Poulithra). Choosing this migration road, eventually through Crete and crossing the 300 km over the sea to reach Africa makes her journey extremely challenging (many juvenile Egyptian vultures drown into the sea during their first migration - you can read more on this subject here).

The captive-bred birds were donated to BSPB by Praha Zoo within the framework of the European Endangered Species Programmes (EEP) of the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA), under the close collaboration with the Vulture Conservation Foundation (VCF), and were released in collaboration with  the Nature Park "Rusenski Lom" and Green Balkans.

The Jury vote for the first award was verry difficult, because of some wonderful photographs, but finally they choose their favorite photo - one of Kalin Botev's pictures.

The second awrad is for the photo of Khemthong Tonsakulrungruang, Thailand

The public award, with no doubt is for Hüseyin Dönmezoğlu, Turkey, with his photo "The guardian of the ancient tomb".

17 more photographs were choosen to be included in an exhibiton, which will be presented for the first time in Haskovo, on 9-th of September.

Total 14 photographers with 47 photos took part in the copmetition. The participants are from Bulgaria, Greece, France, Czech Republic, India, Izrael, Turkey and Thailand.

You can find all photos from the competition here:

https://www.facebook.com/TheReturnOfTheNeophron/photos/?tab=album&album_id=656364497835620

Just few days after the first flight of the juvenile of the only wild pair of Egyptian vulture left in the region of Lomovete (NE Bulgaria), the hack of the three captive-bred fledglings was opened. The juveniles were provided for releasing in the Rusenski Lom Nature Park from the Zoos in Prague, Vienna and Paris, in the frame of the European Endangered Species Programmes (EEP) of the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA), and in collaboration with the Vulture Conservation Foundation (VCF). The birds spent two weeks in a hack (artificial nest), constructed by Green Balkans, in order to adapt to the new environment. The three fledglings were observed on a daily basis and supplied with food through a tube by a team of BSPB and the Nature Park, without having direct contact with humans. Additionally, on the top of the hill with the hacking site, the vulture restaurant was prepared for the new “guests”: it was clearedfrom shrubby vegetation and two decoys were installed, very skillfully made by the local sculptor Daniel Kanchev and thanks to the kind collaboration with the Regional History Museum in Ruse, to show where the safe source of food is located. So everything was ready for the releasing of the captive-bred juveniles. On 26^th of August, it was the male Lom who first left the hack and who was quite inpatient to fly in the last few days. He was followed by his sister Regina, while the French juvenile – Elodi preferred to stay in the hack. Breathless, we followed their first flights. The first day both juveniles from the Vienna Zoo exercised to fly and land, as well as investigated the surroundings. Regina roosted near the hack, while Lom chose a tree to spend the night. On the second day, they continued to improve their skills in flight, and new actors appeared on the scene – the wild individuals from the neighboring pair. Non-intentionally the adults played the role of instructors in flight, with the captive-bred juveniles following them in the air but then always returning to the hacking cliff. Amongst the major challenges for the captive-bred juveniles, after learning the art of flying, was to find the feeding site.  The decoys perfectly played their function. Besides the fact that they attracted the wild adults who flew 6-7 times over the feeding in the site same day and landed to feed (in the last few months this was not observed as the pair has been provided supplementary food very close to its nest), the decoys were like a guiding light also for the unexperienced juvenile birds. Initially, Lom and Regina landed next to the decoys clearly seeing the food, but it seemed they were not confident (probably because of the “behavior” of the feeding adult decoy-bird) and did not touch the food this day. On the next day more food was provided and dispersed over the feeding site and the juveniles greedily benefited from this “service”. They adapted to the site so quickly that started to jump over the heads of the decoys and even Lom demonstrated atypical bird territorial behavior (for a juvenile) and chased away the wild adult male who came to feed on the site. Finally, on 1st of September, Elodie – the smallest amongst the three vultures, successfully left the hack too. Thus, the first critical step in their new life has been made. We hope that soon all the tree captive-bred vultures will find a safe way along their first migration.  Fingers crossed for all of them!

The new traveling exhibition, created this year under the LIFE+ project "The Return of the Neophron" is already installed in the Burgas Municipality Culture Center “Sea Casino”. In the last days of August and during the beginning of September, residents and guests of the city of Burgas can learn interesting facts about the Egyptian vulture.

The exhibition consists of 10 panels representing different aspects of life and status of Egyptian Vulture, myths and legends associated with the species, threats and various activities for its conservation. An interactive dashboard, designated for children, is also part of the exhibition.

Before Burgas, the exhibition visited Provadia,  Plovdiv and Madara.

We would like to thank to the Burgas Municipality Culture Center “Sea Casino” for the hositality!

The traveling exhibition was made in early 2016, since the old one – created at the very beginning of the LIFE+ project "The Return of the Neophron", was damaged by the Sun. The new exhibition first visited the Plovdiv Natural History Museum, then the City Gallery of Provadia.

At the beginning, Egyptian Vultures seemed quite shy and visited the site only occasionally. It has only been this spring when the birds seem to have got over their initial diffidence and now the area's last three surviving individuals can be seen at the feeding site practically every day! They visit not only to feed but also to collect wool for their nest and some "socializing", quite a difficult feat taking into account the extremely few individuals that remain... Thanks to the trap cameras we have placed in the feeding site, we have photographs of some of these magic moments giving us an insight into the private lives of these incredible birds.

A new traveling exhibition was made in early 2016, since the old one – created at the very beginning of the LIFE+ project "The Return of the Neophron", was damaged by the Sun. The new exhibition first visited the Plovdiv Natural History Museum.

Now, it is situated at the City Gallery of Provadia, in ten days it will visit  “Dimitar Blagoev” School and after that – the Professional School of Agriculture "Zemya", city of Provadia.

The exhibition consists of 10 panels representing different aspects of life and status of the Egyptian Vulture, myths and legends associated with the species, threats and various activities for its preservation. A large board with an image of Egyptian Vulture allows anyone to take a funny photo. The interactive dashboard, designated for children, is also already part of the exhibition.

We would like to thank to the City Gallery of Provadia and to the schools for the hositality!

Find the article here.

Electrocution was identified as one of the main threats for the steeply declining Balkan population of the Egyptian vulture. To mitigate the threat, mapping and risk assessment of electricity pylons were conducted in active and recent breeding territories of the species in Bulgaria (29) and Greece (11) in the frame of the LIFE+ project “The Return of the Neophron”. The study area included ten Special Protection Areas in Bulgaria and three in Greece. The fieldwork was carried out in 2012 and 2013 outside the breeding season (October – March). Protocol for data collection and algorithm for the risk assessment were developed.

All electricity pylons in the medium voltage (20 kW) electricity network within a buffer of 5 km around targeted Egyptian vulture nests were mapped – in total 9,496 pylons along more than 1,000 km power lines (7,071 pylons along more than 700 km power lines in Bulgaria and 2,425 pylons in Greece along more than 200 km power lines). As an added value, 4,643 pylons were mapped in the wintering grounds in Africa and the risk to birds from electrocution was assessed.

A total of 112 dead birds were found under the mapped pylons and power lines in Bulgaria, of which 76% were victims of electrocution and 24% of collision. There was only one case of a subadult Egyptian vulture found electrocuted within the project area. The 112 carcasses found belonged to the following species: White and Black stork (47%), Golden eagle, Short-toed eagle, Common buzzard, Goshawk, Sparrowhawk, Commom kestrel (18%), Passeriformes (25%, out of which corvids 11%), Tawny owl and Eagle owl (4%), other (6%). No electrocuted birds were found in Greece.

Risk of electrocution was assessed for all mapped pylons and sensitivity maps were produced. A total of 5,572 pylons were identified as critically dangerous to birds (4,023 in BG and 1,549 in GR) based on the type of the pylon. Additional prioritizing of the pylons for the aim of insulation was made considering also landscape cover and distance to the nest. Thus, we identified 1,283 dangerous pylons in Bulgaria and 1,524 in Greece which are recommended for insulation in the near future. As an added value, 3,728 pylons were identified as dangerous based on their construction in one of the main congregation sites of the species in Eastern Africa.

The full report could be found here.

The initiative was implemented in the frame of the CEPF project “Land of Eagles and Castles” implemented by the Association for Protection and Preservation of Natural Environment in Albania (PPNEA) and the Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds (BSPB) / BirdLife Bulgaria. After the murals in Haskovo and Madzharovo, this is the third murals with Egyptian vulture produced through the effective collaboration of BSPB and 140 Ideas, and a good example of fruitful transfer of experience by the LIFE+ project “The Return of the Neophron” to other countries.

In the framework of this project, two Canine Teams (CT) especially trained for the detection of poison baits were created in March 2014 and since then are working in Central Greece and Thrace. Their main objective, in collaboration with local authorities, is to control and clean on time the countryside from poison baits and poisoned animals before they can cause further poisoning.

Patrols cover mainly the territories of last Egyptian vultures in Greece, but not only. In addition, special emphasis, with intense patrolling, is given to sites where a poisoning incident has occurred in the recent past and to areas where new poisoning incidents have been reported by Forestry Services, Management Bodies of protected areas or even civilians.

In 2015, the second year of operation of the CT, 46 patrols were carried out in Central Greece and 21 in Thrace in 64 days and 171 km were covered by the handlers. Totally, 39 dead animals were found poisoned throughout the course of 16 patrols. The most common species found poisoned was the dog (shepherd and/or hunting dogs), with a total number of 24 dead individuals (61.6% of the findings), followed by the fox with 9 dead individuals (23.1% of the findings). Additionally 2 Griffon Vultures, 2 Wolves and 2 domestic cats were found poisoned (respectively 5.1% of the findings). In total, 48 poison baits were found (usually a piece of poisoned meat, but also wax “capsules” containing animal fat and a toxic substance were found in other several occasions). The main suspected reasons for the use of poison baits were the following: fox or wolf extermination, stray dogs control and personal disputes between shepherds and/or hunters.

The toxicological analyses carried out have identified three active ingredients: two of them are pesticides, Phorate and Carbofuran (both banned in Greece), while the third active ingredient was the highly toxic Potassium Cyanide. Some results on ongoing analyses were not available at the time this report was written.

Summarizing the work of the two CT for two years (2014 & 2015) we have the following results: a total of 155 patrols have been carried out covering 376 km (by the handlers). In 35 of them, 66 poisoned animals and 52 poisoned baits have been located. The most common species found poisoned was the dog (shepherd and/or hunting dogs), with a total number of 45 dead individuals (68.2% of the findings), followed by the fox with 13 dead individuals (19.7% of the findings). 77% of the poisoning incidents occurred during the period when the Egyptian Vulture is present in Greece.

In conclusion, the Canine Teams have proved to be an innovative and effective prevention action that has contributed to throw some light on the extent of the illegal use of poison baits. In addition, this action has also potentially saved from certain death many scavenger birds and mammals, including that of the globally threatened Egyptian vulture.

The full annual report for the anti-poison dog units 2015 is available in Greek with English summary here.

We are also celebrating World Migratory Bird Day 2016 with events on the ground. In Bulgaria, the Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds (BSPB) is organising events in Provadia and at the Nature Conservation Centre “Eastern Rhodopes”. We invite you to join us on a bird watching tour on Saturday 14th May in Provadia and to explore our exhibition on the Egyptian Vulture. The Nature Conservation Centre "Eastern Rhodopes" in Madzharovo is opening its doors to welcome visitors to the exhibition hall and to watch Griffon and Egyptian vultures flying in the skies above.

In Greece, The Hellenic Ornithological Society (HOS) in collaboration with the Natural History Museum of Meteora, invites children of all ages to celebrate World Migratory Bird Day, along with the Egyptian Vulture, the flag species of Meteora. The 2-day event, on 16-17th of May, includes presentations, implementation of environmental education activities and guided tours to the Natural History Museum exhibition. Join us to create bird masks and mobiles, learn more about the magical phenomenon of bird migration and how we can all help to safeguard the last remaining Egyptian Vultures in Greece.

Moreover on the 18th of May, an educational trip will be organised with the pupils of the 4th Elementary School of Kalambaka, that will include implementation of outdoor educational acticities and Egyptian Vulture birdwatching!

Less than 10 Egyptian vulture couples remaining in Greece are in danger mainly because of poisoned baits. Students of Thrace have undertaken an active role in raising awareness of the local community in order to stop this criminal practice. As part of a series of actions, which have been launched in order to take place until the end of the school year, 3 of the 5 schools have been at viewpoints of the vulture nests.

On 5 April, students from the primary and secondary school of Tychero have been at Gerakina top and with great enthusiasm they left their own imprint.

Students of Tychero handed over the baton to the students of Secondary school of Soufli's Environmental Team on April 8, which started with enthusiasm and eagerness to observe the nests of vulture in Dadia region. Those days were the most important in the migration route of the Egyptian vulture, which was returning from Africa and nesting in Dadia forest to give birth to its young.

Shortly before their ascent to the observation point of the nest, students and teachers together left their strong signal near the "home" of Egyptian vulture.

In observation of the nest, students came up with a nice surprise: Ioli and Paris, the pair of Egyptian vultures, that had been adopted three years ago, were in the nest and welcomed them! These two days were full of creativity and gratification, motivating everyone to continue the efforts passionately.

We would like to thank the Management Body of the Dadia-Lefkimi-Soufli National Park for the permission and the assistance provided to transfer students from Lefkimi to Gerakina top, the Municipality of Soufli who gave buses to transport the students from Tichero and Soufli to the viewpoints, the EVS volunteers for their help at the creation of messages and the Center of Environmental Education of Soufli for cooperate at the implementation of the annual program of this symbolic adoption of Egyptian vulture pairs from the students of the region.

Find the full report “Nest guarding of the Egyptian vulture (Neophron percnopterus) in Bulgaria and Greece (2012-2015)” here.

Awards for each category:

1st place:  A weekend in the Kingdom of the vultures in Bulgaria or Greece. In the autumn of 2016 you will have the opportunity to spend two unforgettable days amongst the vultures of either Bulgaria or Greece. In Bulgaria, you will be able to visit the Nature Conservation Centre “Eastern Rhodopy”, to see the sites with a guide, and to stop by a hide, where you will be able to observe and take pictures of the birds. In Greece, you will have the chance to visit the magical place Meteora – one of the last shelters for Egyptian vultures in the country. The project will cover your accommodation and food, but not the travel expenses.
2nd and 3rd place: The winners of 2nd and 3rd places will receive T-shirts of the project, a vulture pin and the new Collins identification bird Guide in Bulgarian or  Greek.

The photographers chosen to participate in the exhibition will receive an Egyptian vulture painting by the wildlife artist Pashalis Dugalis.

The official announcement of the winning entries will be made on the International Vulture Awareness Day – 3 September 2016.

More information and documents from the meeting find here.

Specific funding for coverage of the 2nd Meeting of Signatories to the Raptors MoU has been provided by the CMS Office - Abu Dhabi.

Use of poisoned-bait in the countryside is one of the most widely used predator eradication methods worldwide and is a threat to biodiversity in the European Union. Poison is used to kill wildlife which is considered to be harmful to certain activities, in particular, game management for hunting, livestock farming and other agriculture. Illegal use of poison, particularly targeting of birds of prey, is considered one of the most important issues regarding illegal killing of birds due to the serious conservation impacts and is confirmed to be among the most important direct threats in Europe to the Spanish imperial eagle (Aquila adalberti), Eastern imperial eagle (Aquila heliaca), red kite (Milvus milvus), or Egyptian vulture (Neophron percnopterus). Poison-baits have been identified as the primary limiting factor in the expansion of reintroduced population of red kites in northern Scotland and of the UK golden eagle population. Indiscriminate use of poison baits also presents a risk to other wildlife, pets and human health, with potentially lethal consequences.

Very large numbers of birds are killed annually as a result of deliberate misuse or otherwise illegal use of poisons. This unnecessary mortality can severely affect the conservation status of vulnerable species, including species protected under national, EU and wider international law. A transboundary approach at EU level is needed to address this problem in the case of migratory species.

Use of poisoned-baits commonly involves lacing a food item in a toxic substance, normally phytosanitary products like insecticides, rodenticides, fungicides, herbicides or molluscicides (snail and slug pellets). The prepared bait is left in a spot accessible to the target animals and often to other non-target species which may also be affected. Deliberate poisoning is therefore a large-scale, non-selective and destructive method of control that has a huge knock-on effect on non-target species; it may even pose risks to human health.

The most common substances used in poisoned-baits are insecticides and, to a lesser extent, rodenticides, usually those that are known as highly toxic by users. Carbamate insecticides, such as carbofuran and aldicarb, are often used in poison-baits for predator control in numerous areas around the world. For example, in Spain, between 2005 and 2010, 50% of cases of poisoning were caused by aldicarb and 22% of them were by carbofuran.

A lot of species like the Egyptian vulture for example, are direct victims of illegal use of poisoned bait. For such migratory birds, collaboration with interested NGOs and institutions, at both European and international level are of paramount importance for effective prevention of these threats. In Bulgaria, BSPB works hard in that direction in recent years and under different projects such as “The Return of the Neophron” and “Preserve key forest habitats of the Lesser Spotted Eagle (Aquila pomarina) in Bulgaria”. BSPB carried out various activities to support the fight against illegal use of poisons and prevention and detection of different crimes against protected species. BSPB actively support the work of key institutions as Police, MoEW, the Customs Agency and others by conducting specialized seminars, creating handbooks, providing expertise and signaling and information. In many of these activities experts are involved from various European and international partners, BSPB and key experts with experience from foreign ministries and agencies.

The full paper in PDF could be found here.

The Egyptian Vulture is declining throughout most of its distribution range. In the Balkan Peninsula, the population has declined from over 500 pairs in the 80es to less than 80 pairs currently (Velevski et al. 2015). There are numerous threats affecting the species in its breeding areas and along the flyway, such as use of poisons, electrocution, collisions with power lines and wind-turbines, direct persecution, habitat loss, food shortage, and others. Poor health condition resulting from the use of pesticides, antibiotics and other veterinary products, contamination with heavy metals and different diseases, was suspected as one of the main drivers for the population decline in the breeding grounds.

To understand more on this critical issue on the conservation of the species in the Balkan Peninsula, a study on the health condition of the Egyptian Vulture population in Bulgaria and Greece was conducted by the Vulture Conservation Foundation (VCF) and the Center for Analysis and Diagnosis of Wildlife (CAD) in Malaga, Spain, in the frames of the LIFE+ project “The Return of the Neophron” (LIFE10 NAT/BG/000152). The study aimed to identify possible infections (bacteria or virus) and potential exposure to toxic substances or intoxications caused by heavy metals, pesticides and veterinary medicaments.

A total of 182 samples (36 blood samples for toxicology, and 146 samples from throat, cloaca, and eye for pathogen analysis) from a total of 49 individuals (mainly fledglings) coming from different Egyptian Vulture territories from Bulgaria and Greece, were collected by the Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds, Hellenic Ornithological Society and WWF Greece during 2012 and 2013, and send for analysis in 2014.

For the infectious part, a long list of microorganisms (Salmonella spp., Campylobacter spp., Esherichia coli 0157, Chlamidia spp., Avian mycoplasma, Avian adenovirus, Avian circovirus, Newcastle, West Nile and Bordetella) was analysed  - all of them known as potential pathogens affecting birds of prey or Egyptian Vulture in particular. For their identification and quantification microbiological and PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) analyses were used. The results revealed that these microorganisms did not affect the sampled individuals. Only very low concentrations of Newcastle were detected in some of the samples and in some low concentrations of Avian adenovirus and Avian circovirus were detected. This means that these individuals had only a contact with these viruses (probably very common), but were not suffering from these diseases.

In terms of toxicological analyses, samples were analysed for heavy metals (lead and cadmium), 270 different pesticide compounds, 137 antibiotics and 21 anti-inflammatories. All these compounds can be found in vulture food (coming from agricultural and veterinary practices) and might have negative effects on the Egyptian Vulture’s health condition. The results were surprisingly good - nearly all of the samples were negative. Only very small insignificant amount of Aspirin (Acetylsalicylic acid) was detected in one group of samples taken from Greece.

In conclusion, the analyses performed suggest that the juveniles sampled were in good health condition during the period of sampling – not affected by any pathogen or toxic substances. While this does not allow us to extrapolate to the whole of the Balkans, and for other periods of time, it suggests that wildlife disease and intoxication with heavy metals (including lead), and with toxic compounds from agriculture or veterinarian practices may not be a significant threat to Egyptian Vultures in Bulgaria and Greece.

The full report in PDF could be downloaded from here.

During the monitoring of occupied territories in Greece 10 territories were detected, out of which eight were pairs and two were solitary individuals. Of the eight pairs, six started incubating. Four of them hatched five chicks, but only three chicks, from two pairs in Thrace, managed to fledge. In addition, one of the pairs in the area of Thrace failed during the incubation (with two eggs) and although there was a trail camera installed in the nest, no obvious reason for the breeding failure could be discovered. Another pair failed in the area of Meteora in the same period due to unknown circumstances. One of the chicks (about 20 days old) was predated by a fox in the nest and another fledgling (about 40 days old) was found dead in the nest, and we hope the reasons of its death will be revealed soon thanks to the different analyses that will be carried out in a toxicological laboratory in Spain.        

How did the LIFE+ project “The Return of the Neophron” help the vultures raise successfully their offspring?

Supplementary feeding: after returning from Africa, the majority of pairs in Bulgaria and Greece were regularly fed with safe food. Thus, pairs were encouraged to nest and raise offspring, while the risk of death due to poison was decreased. Depending on the specifics of the area, the density of pairs, the presence of competing species, and the project’s resources some of the pairs were fed individually (near the nest) with small quantities of meat (1-3 kg) every 2-3 days. Other pairs were provided with large amounts of meat at specialized feeding sites (or so called “vulture restaurants”) once a week. Feeding sites were used to attract wandering birds inciting them to stay in the area and find a pair - as was the case in the Rusenski Lom Nature Park. There the supplementary feeding was done on two platforms simultaneously and the effort paid off - this year a pair was formed which has risen offspring (in 2014 the region had only one single female bird).

Supplementary feeding in Bulgaria this year was carried out for 19 pairs (seven in Northern Bulgaria and 12 in the Eastern Rhodopes) thanks to the efforts of 11 local project collaborators. Generally, over 400 supplementary feedings were done and over 10 tons of meat (provided by local farmers and slaughter houses) was provided to the vultures.

In Greece the individual supplementary feeding (near the nest) was carried out in three nests (one in Thrace and two in Meteora). In one case, the action stopped when the chick was eaten by the fox, while in another it was stopped when the adults were found poisoned. Three of the pairs located in Dadia National Park benefit from the feeding station in the Park that has been working for over 20 years. In the area of Meteora, one of the three pairs regularly visits the feeding station that has been re-opened in the framework of the project.

Nest guarding: Because during the breeding season birds can be easily disturbed and sometimes juveniles fail in their first flight attempts, each year the project provides protection of nests and juveniles.

In Bulgaria in August, like in 2014, а volunteer program was organized in the Eastern Rhodopes where the main part of the national population of the species is located. Twelve volunteers from across the country and two foreigners from Lithuania and Germany attended the programme and besides them a few more people helped nest guards. Thirteen out of the 15 successful nests (which covered 18 out of the 21 juveniles) in the region were guarded daily. In Northern Bulgaria all four successive nests with a total of 4 juveniles were guarded and the activity was carried out by the local people who feed the vultures.

We are grateful to the donors and volunteers, thanks to which the nest guarding of the Egyptian vulture for this year completed successfully!

In Greece, all four nests in Thrace were guarded since June 3-5 days per week. After the incubation failure in one nest and the chick death in another one, only two nests left subject of nest guarding which afterwards were guarded on daily basis from the beginning of July until the departure of birds to Africa. The activity was implemented by EVS (European Voluntary Service) and Greek volunteers. In Meteora, two nests were regularly supervised as part of the supplementary feeding scheme.

This year there were two chicks saved thanks to the nest-guarding programme –one in Greece and one in Bulgaria. At the beginning of August one chick was saved in Thrace, Greece, when fell down below the nest and alone was not able to get back there. In early September, the unique juvenile in the Natural Park “Rousenski Lom”, Northern Bulgaria, was abandoned by the parents and in early September it was taken from the nest and sent to the Green Balkans Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Stara Zagora. All the other 27 young Egyptian vultures from Bulgaria and Greece left their nests successfully.

Egyptian vultures have already started to leave the Balkans and are heading to Africa where they will spend the winter. The young birds for the first time will face the enormous challenge of migration. We wish them a safe trip - hopefully they will survive and will return to their homeland after a few years!

“Only 30 years ago, Nature Park Lomovete was famous for representing one of best places for the Egyptian Vulture in Bulgaria, with over 10 nesting pairs at the time. In 2011 when the LIFE+ project “The Return of the Neophron” started, only two pairs remained on the territory of Lomovete. In 2012, thanks to the conjoined efforts of the project’s team, the park’s administration and local collaborators, both pairs were provided with additional food and protection and bred successfully. Unfortunately, one of the male birds disappeared during the incubation period. The female was fed frequently, but during one of her absences from the nest, the eggs were destroyed by corvine birds and the nest was abandoned (throughout the course of the incubation the parents take turns over the eggs and feed separately; otherwise the male brings food to the nest). In 2013 only one pair returned to Lomovete, but it would soon suffer the same fate: the male left during the incubation period and the female abandoned the nest. The reoccurrence of these unfortunate events prompted a more thorough research, which suggests pesticide poisoning (see the full report HERE). We have no concrete proof, but in both cases the male bird has most likely died as males are particularly attached to their nest and territory and wouldn’t leave while the female is incubating.

In 2014 a single female bird circled the Nature Park, but couldn’t find a male to nest with. This year (2015), when all signs were pointing that we had lost the Egyptian Vulture from Lomovete, we didn’t lose hope. Together with the administration of Nature Park “Rusenski Lom” and local collaborators we started bringing large quantities of meat to two of the three available feeding sites in the park. The results arrived without delay. The female from last year returned and also a young male arrived, ringed in the same region in 2010. They bred successfully, though a bit later than usual. This was only possible with the care of Krasimir Manev (a writer from Ruse with a deep love for nature, who observed, guarded and fed “his friends” as he calls them) and Georgi Georgiev from the administration of Nature Park “Lomovete” (who coordinated the local activity and provided the “vulture restaurants” with healthy and diverse menu). Everything was going well, until the young bird had to fledge and embark on its first migration to Africa. The parents urged their fledgling to make its first flight, but sadly the bird was too young for that. In the end the migratory instinct of the parents turned out to be stronger and in the end of August they left their summer home and abandoned the young. We waited for a week, for the parents to return and continue feeding the fledgling, but alas they didn’t come. Without food or water, the young was surely going to die.

And so, on 08.09.2015 we set off to rescue the only and last young Egyptian Vulture from Rusenski Lom. We departed from Sofia before dawn and arrived at Lomovete around noon. Waiting for us there were representatives from the Administration of NP Rusenski Lom, the Regional Environmental and Water Inspection Ruse, the correspondent from the Bulgarian National Radio Asya Vasileva and of course our local collaborator Krasi Manev, who knew the nest site like the back of his hand. We moved quickly to the nest with the help of the park’s off-road veteran Lada “Niva” and Speleologists from the “Helictit” club. Kostadin Stoichkov and Georgi Kolev made their descent to the nest and picked up the young vulture. The bird appeared healthy but it was very thin (barely 1.3 kg; the young vultures at that age normally weigh around 1.7-1.9 kg). At first it tried defending itself with its beak, but after we gave it some water it realized we are not “so bad” and started begging for food. We gave the bird the emblematic name “Zhoro Manev” for the three people who cared for it right from the hatch ( Krasimir Manev and Georgi Georgiev ) and who pulled it out of the nest ( Georgi Kolev ).

Without further ado, we headed to the Wildlife Rehabilitation and Breeding Centre - Green Balkans in Stara Zagora, where the bird would find medical care. During the ride, the fledgling didn’t stop begging for food and we couldn’t resist feeding him. We noticed a roadkill fox on the side of the road and offered Zhoro some of the viscera, which he voraciously swallowed. He demanded more, but we resisted and thank God for that as Zhoro Manev wasn’t accustomed to riding and after half an hour, in a turn heavy part of the road, he vomited copiously. Neither the sight nor the smell were pleasant, but we tried our best to ignore them until we arrive at Stara Zagora.

In the Rescue Centre, the vulture was fully examined, hydrated, and treated against parasites. Zhoro appeared very lively considering the long day he had – he was standing on his feet, managing his plumage (other birds in the similar circumstances would lie down, at times with a slumped head). Zhoro Manev will remain in the Centre until his full recovery. We cannot release him into the wild yet as he has missed the migration period and without the lessons of his parents we would be leaving him to his doom. He will be involved in future breeding programs in the Centre.

This is the story of Zhoro Manev, or barely the beginning of it – the story of the only and last Egyptian Vulture from Lomovete in 2015. Are there going to be more in the future? We cannot say, but we know that there will be vultures, as long as there are people longing to see them… “

The guarding of the rescued Egyptian vulture was realized thanks to the donation of Marieta Koleva. As a reward for her generosity she received the right to name the young bird, but she immediately agreed with the proposal of the BSPB to give the Egyptian vulture the name of its rescuers.

In the BSPB Nature Conservation Center "Eastern Rhodopes" the event will be organized with the support of the Municipality of Madjarovo and Rewilding Europe and will start from September 3 with a team of volunteers to clean up the Center, painting the bridge of Arda River and setting of new information boards. On the day of the event (September 5, Saturday) a lot of games and quizzes for children with many awards, and graffiti show will be held at the beach of the river. Additionally, a presentation dedicated to the vultures and a film about bird crime in Bulgaria will be broadcasted.

And that's not all - from 1st to 5th of September the artists of "140 ideas" will paint a wall of a residential building in Madzharovo. The theme will be devoted to vultures and their invaluable function in the nature.

In Ruse the event will be organized with the cooperation of the Rousse Regional Museum of History and the Rusenski Lom Nature Park and will also include games and quizzes for children with many awards, presentations, and the film about bird crime in Bulgaria.

In Provadia the IVAD will be held in front of the Municipality, where students of the schools "Dimitar Blagoev" and "Earth" will give name of the young vulture from the nest with the online video camera. A quiz with prizes will be organized as well as a birdwatching tour.

Egyptian vulture population in the Balkans for the past 30 years had declined by more than 80%. The main reasons for this are the unsafe electrical networks, the illegal trade with rare animals, and the irregularities in the use of pesticides and insecticides in agriculture, the poison baits, which are dangerous not only for the species, but also for humans and domestic animals.

The vultures have rapidly become one of the most threatened families of birds on the planet. Three of every four old-world vulture species are already Globally threatened with extinction or Near Threatened according the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Unless threats are identified and tackled quickly and effectively, vultures in Africa and Europe could face extinction within our lifetime.

Until 2015, in total 20 Egyptian vultures (18 juveniles: 8 in Bulgaria, 7 in Greece, 2 in FYR of Macedonia, and 1 in Albania; and 2 adults in Greece) were tagged with satellite transmitters in the frame of the LIFE+ project “The Return of the Neophron”. The number of marked juvenile birds was large enough to study their migration routes, wintering areas and the mortality causes in the first two years of their life (for more information see the paper of Oppel et al. 2015). Although the tagged adult bird Lazaros revealed shocking facts about the magnitude of the illegal use of poison baits in Greece, the number of marked adult birds wasn’t enough to make sound empirical conclusions about their habitat use, migration and mortality factors. At the same time, recently published population viability analysis for the Egyptian vultures in FYR of Macedonia evidenced that the survival of this age class is of key importance for the persistence of the population (Velevski et al. 2014). This is why this year the partner organizations implementing the project – Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds (BSPB), Hellenic Ornithological Society (HOS), WWF Greece and Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), focused their efforts on trapping and tagging adult Egyptian vultures in the Balkans.

However, trapping and tagging adult Egyptian vultures is not at all a quick and easy task. The preparation started in the spring with the arrival of the vultures. This is how in April, in Western Greece, the first adult individual – Aoos, was trapped and tagged. The transmitter showed that the bird breeds in Albania but forages frequently in the neighbouring area of Konitsa in Greece.

In Bulgaria, this spring a trapping cage was installed in one of the vulture restaurants in Eastern Rhodopes. Unfortunately, the cage was destroyed by the bad weather conditions. Because time was running out, foreign experts - Dr. Mike McGrady (from International Avian Research), Jenny and Ewan Weston (from RSPB), with experience in trapping birds of prey were invited in July to transmit knowledge and help the BSPB staff.  Different methods were applied, but the most efficient for Bulgaria was the whoosh net. This method helped trapping of two adult birds in the second half of July – a male (Boris) and a female (Jenny). The tags of both birds successfully transmit signal confirming that these Egyptian vultures breed in Eastern Rhodopes, and continue to visit their nests and feed their fledglings. The information which will be gathered with the help of Boris and Jenny before their migration will help us understand more about the territory use and behavior of the Egyptian vultures in the Balkans, and thus help to select the most effective conservation actions in the breeding grounds.

In order to avoid disturbance of the breeding birds, the tracks of marked adult birds Aoos, Boris and Jenny will be shown at the project website once the birds start their autumn migration.

This event is the second case involving poisoned Egyptian vultures in the area of Meteora in only four years, and has hit one of the last three surviving pairs of the area. In just one incident, one third of the local breeding population has disappeared. It’s a crying shame, especially when considering that just until after the turn of the century, this area could proud itself of having the highest concentration of breeding Egyptian vultures in Greece, and probably of all the Balkans.

While the whole world has its attention focused on Greece and its economic and political situation, no one seems to be aware that in the same country, a rare species is rapidly slipping into extinction. Egyptian vultures were a common sight in the Greek countryside not so many years ago, whereas now -according to the survey carried out this year- only 10 pairs survive. The main reason for this dramatic decline is the illegal but nevertheless widespread use of poison baits throughout Greek rural areas.

As the saying goes “What the eye doesn't see, the heart doesn't grieve over”. This is quite true with poison. Poison baits are usually placed by an anonymous hand in relatively remote places where nobody sees what the results are: if there is no body, there is no crime. It has been estimated that only 10% of poisoned wildlife is ever found. This means that the magnitude of the problem is always underestimated and thus, can be put aside by the authorities as a matter of minor importance. But is this true? Thanks to the work implemented by HOS and WWF in the framework of the LIFE+ Project “The Return of the Neophron”, but also by other NGOs in other projects, much data and evidence has been collected in the past years to prove that poison baits and their impact on wildlife are not such a trivial issue and cannot be ignored in the hope it will just “go away”. The irrefutable fact is that this practice is illegal; it is a CRIME and should be regarded as so by the society and the authorities.

In only four years, Greece has lost 5 Egyptian vultures to poison baits. An emblematic species is disappearing right in front of our eyes so it is high time for both society and authorities to stop looking the other way and start acting. The Central Administration must pass down the order to relevant regional and local authorities such as Forestry Services and Municipalities, providing them with the resources needed to fight this scourge and enforce the law, implementing proper surveillance and monitoring, establishing action protocols and carrying out investigations and prosecutions among others. Society in its turn must also wake up and face its responsibilities; on many occasions the people in a village know who exactly the anonymous poisoner is, but perhaps out of fear or perhaps simply because nobody likes to be a snitch, the offender carries on with his illegal activity quite undisturbed.

In the meantime, time is running out for our Egyptian vultures...

You could find the Declaration from the attendees here, the list with participants here, presentations from the workshop here and photos here.

Mr. Guy Clarke, HO of the UK Border Force CITES team, with more than 20 years experience on the matter, gave a one day seminar where he shared his extensive knowledge with the participants. Apart from the presentations, the officers had the chance to put into practice the information received in the seminar with a practical exercise. After this, they had time to discuss with Mr. Clarke and solve any doubts concerning the enforcement of the CITES Convention and their responsibilities as Custom officers.

Over 40 persons attended the seminar, most of them belonging to different Customs Offices such as the AIA Custom Office, 5th and 6th Custom Offices of Piraeus Port, Elefsina’s Port Custom Office and the Directorate of Customs Strategy of Control and Offences. However, people from departments and services of the airport itself also attended (cargo, handling, and environment department among others).

The wildlife trade involves hundreds of millions of individual plants and animals, as well as their parts and derivatives, from tens of thousands of species. International trade in species of conservation concern is monitored by CITES. From 2006-2010, CITES recorded a total of approximately 1.7 million live birds, 7 million live reptiles, 19 million reptile skins, 236,000 cat skins, 6,000 tonnes of caviar, 17 million live corals and 387 million live orchids. Illegal trade of wildlife is believed to be the third most profitable type of illegal trade, reaching an estimated US$10 billion, and is now linked to other criminal activities such as drug smuggling or even financing of terrorism. Greece, due to its geographical location is believed to play an important role in this network of wildlife trafficking. Thus, it is essential for the authorities to give this problem the relevance it deserves.

We would like to warmly thank Mr. Guy Clarke for travelling to Greece and giving this seminar. We would also like to thank the Athens International Airport (AIA) for hosting the event and helping in the logistics. Finally we would like to thank the Custom Office of the AIA for showing their commitment to fight this problem by encouraging the organization of the seminar.

The third and the fourth grade (that had implemented the Hellenic Ornithological Society’s Environmental Education Programme for the Egyptian vulture) dedicated their performance to this threatened vulture, making a journey back in time, to the period when the Egyptian vulture, the “Ikarus of our hearts” as they call him, left Egypt to nest on the rocks of Meteora. It crossed the Mediterranean sea, travelling for thousands of kilometers only to find poachers, poison baits and many other threats, but fortunately, also people that fight for its protection.

Everybody was there: the ancient Egyptians, the Pharaoh that made the laws for its protection, the Spring with its flowers and swallows, the three remaining Egyptian vulture pairs of Meteora along with their chicks, Kuki – the special trained dog for the detection of poison baits, the Hellenic Ornithological Society and many more!

Everybody´s role was related to the life of the Egyptian Vulture; Natasha Papachristos (third grade teacher) and Hercules Malakasiotis (fourth grade teacher) wrote the wonderful script and directed the theatrical play that was performed by the pupils.

We set our next appointment for the next school year, as we wait for the iconic bird of the rocks of Meteora to return home again!

Below are some of the verses of the pupils’ play:

"Why, oh why you reckless people, use poisoned baits?
What do you want to achieve?
Don’t you know that we are all connected through the same chain?
If one the links gets poisoned,  
the poison will soon reach the next
and the one next to it
only to end
where it all started from!
That means you, you mindless man!”

Ten occupied territories are registered in Greece. Five of them are in Thrace occupied by five couples - three in Dadia, one in Kompsatos, and one in Nea Santa. Four of the other five areas are inhabited by four couples – three in Meteora and one in Mt Menoikio (Serres), whereas in the fifth one – in the area of Paramythia – only one single adult bird has been observed. This means there are three less active territories than last year, although the number of pairs remains the same.

Masks cover faces, picket signs high in the air, leaflets in hands, 60 pupils marching with the banner "Respect animals and nature" in the front and slogans shouted at maximum volume.

It is farmer's market today and the streets of the town are quite busy. The emissaries of this unique endangered species maneuver between the benches holding the produce in order to raise awareness regarding one of the most crucial problems it faces: poison baits!

The demo ends in the Town Hall Square, where the slogans are replaced by a silent protest. Τhe day's message "Poison baits spread death, respect animals and nature" became a hit!

Environmental NGOs along the Balkans work to stop this practice, but it is a complex socioeconomic issue with multiple aspects to be addressed. Hence, exchange of knowledge and experience is necessary to achieve this difficult target.

For this reason, the Hellenic Ornithological Society, together with WWF-Greece and the Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds (BSPB) organised a workshop in Papingo (Zagori, Epirus), on the 25-26th of May. The workshop, entitled “The illegal use of poison baits in the Balkans. Conservation problems and solutions” aimed to promote the exchange of the existing know-how on the illegal use of poison baits among Balkan countries, as well as to increase the awareness on this huge conservation problem among the Greek authorities. Representatives from seven countries from the Balkans and Europe attended the workshop, together with representatives from several relevant Greek public authorities such as local Forestry Services and Directorates, local Municipalities, Environmental Directorates, Management Authorities of local protected areas, Hunting Associations, NGOs etc.

The workshop provided the opportunity for all these stakeholder groups to come together, learn about the consequences of the use of poison baits and discuss openly about the motives and constraints that motivate this illegal practice and suggest possible solutions. The workshop participants also had the chance to see in action the Antipoison Dog Units that are operating in the framework of the LIFE+ Project “The return of the Neophron” in the areas of Meteora and Dadia, and that so successfully manage to detect and consequently remove poison baits from the Egyptian vultures’ habitat.

The main outcomes of the workshop were the agreement that this practice must be abandoned in order to save the last Egyptian vultures in the Balkans and the need of a commitment from the public authorities to actively fight against the use of poison.

All stakeholder groups must work hand in hand to successfully reach the long-term goal of eradicating this terrible threat from our countryside.  

Sanie, who spent a long time near Fitri Lake in Chad moved to Egypt in early May, then headed south through Sudan.

On April 23 Iliaz left Niger and is currently located in northwest Egypt.

Dobromir, our  long-distances record-holder for 2014, on began its flight on April 24 from Southern Sudan and his current position is above the Dardanelles.

Follow all Egyptian vultures with satellite transmitters here.

The trapping site had been carefully prepared for over a month: a small hide had been concealed among the trees, the trap had been set and camouflaged, and trap cameras had been installed to follow the comings and goings of Egyptian vultures and other birds around the site. Once it was confirmed the site was being frequently visited by the vultures, the actual trapping started. Nothing could go wrong if the team wanted to safely trap a bird! And then the day arrived when all the right conditions neatly fell into place and... bang! It was a magnificent adult male! The team decided to call him Aoos, the name of the main river in the area where it was trapped.

Biometric measurements were taken and a satellite transmitter was fitted on Aoos back. Thanks to this transmitter we will be able to follow all his movements both here in its breeding area as well as on its way back to Africa, and discover which route will the experienced adult take: the safer but longer route all the way around Turkey, or the shorter but more dangerous one over the Mediterranean? Many other mysteries will surely be revealed due to the transmitter such as where exactly does this bird nest, but also, what threats does he face in order to survive.

All this information will help the project team decide better management and conservation actions that will hopefully help to save this species from extinction in Greece and the Balkans.

We thank Vasilis Karafillidis (Photo Studio Apikonisi) and Gregory Azoridis for their voluntary support in video and photography shooting respectively during the events. We also thank Athina kafetzi for the sound editing.

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Download the Newsletter № 5 here.

The Seminars were held at the Centre of Labor Unions of Kalampaka, which was kindly granted by the local Municipality, on the 31st of March (Forestry Service) and the 1st of April (hunting community).
A total of 40 forestry workers attended the seminar for the Forestry Service, including the head officers of Kalampaka and Pertouli, game officers, workers and wardens of the forestry departments of Kalampaka and Pertouli as well as employees from the Forest Directorate of Trikala. Also important was the presence of the vet of the local rural veterinary clinic. The seminar for the hunting community was attended by, among others, the chairman of the 7th Hunting Federation of Thessaly and N. Sporades, the chairman of the Hunting Club of Kalampaka and 10 Game Wardens.

The seminars had an informational – educational character, focusing mainly on the presentation of the Project’s actions, the issue of poisoned baits and the ways to deal with this illegal practice. The next presentation was about the Anti-poison Dog Unit, followed by explicit instructions for relevant authorities and local stakeholders on how to handle a poisoned bait incident and collect carcasses and/or baits with safety. Forestry workers, members of the hunting clubs and game warden showed great interest and described the seminars as very constructive and useful for their work.

The discussion with the forestry workers and the vet that followed the seminar highlighted the issue of the confusion of concerned authorities’ competences, mainly in the process of dead domestic or stray animal collection from the wild, as the existing legislation does not clearly obligate the Forestry Service to intervene. The inability of the Veterinarian Office to respond to any incident handling (autopsy and toxicology tests) was also cited, due to the serious shortages in personnel and resources.

All the attendants agreed that specific legislation should be applied for the appropriate handling of poison incidents (detection, collection, toxicology tests, judicial investigation) in order to fight illegal poisoned bait use, and that the forestry and veterinarian services should be manned and funded.

At the end of the Seminars, the Forestry Service and the 7th Hunting Federation along with its Game Wardens responded willingly to the call of the Hellenic Ornithological Society for a joint operation for the protection of the Egyptian Vulture from poisons, detecting and removing the baits from the environment, before new poisoning incidents occur. 

Do you know that juvenile Egyptian vultures travel on average 5,275 km during their first migration, and fly for 35 days with an average speed of 172 km per day on their way to Africa? Under specific weather conditions they can even reach a speed of 80 km per hour and fly over 500 km per day! These interesting facts were discovered by the use of satellite transmitters attached to 19 juvenile Egyptian vultures from Bulgaria, Greece, FYR of Macedonia and Albania between 2010 and 2014, to identify important migratory routes and wintering areas.

Unfortunately, we discovered that 25% of the birds died during the first autumn migration because they chose the wrong route when they tried to cross Mediterranean Sea. The unlucky birds that died originated mostly from the western part of the Balkans – Greece, FYR of Macedonia and Albania, and only one out of 10 birds successfully managed to cross the 250 km of open water between Crete and northern Africa, probably due to stronger tailwind. We think that in a declining population with fewer experienced adults, more and more juvenile birds are being forced to migrate without the guidance of their elders and are therefore choosing the more hazardous route, resulting in high juvenile mortality. On the other hand, all tagged juvenile birds that took a long detour over land via Turkey and the Middle East successfully arrived on their wintering grounds in Africa.

The tagged juvenile Egyptian vultures that survived the journey wintered across a vast range of the Sahel and eastern Africa, and had large movement ranges (individual wintering territory ranges between 5,000 and 90,000 sq. km), with core use areas at intermediate elevations in savannah, cropland or desert. Even though they had survived the perilous journey, the juvenile vultures that arrived at their wintering grounds were not out of danger. Two of the tagged vultures were found shot in Africa, which shows that effective conservation in Africa is a challenging issue. The threats faced by Egyptian vultures on their migratory journey are several, and given the broad distribution of the birds and the threats, they will require long-term investment to be tackled effectively. We recommend that in the short term, more efficient conservation could target narrow migration corridors in southern Turkey and the Middle East, and at known congregation sites in African wintering areas.

These interesting facts and much more is described in a new scientific paper written by the team of the LIFE+ project “The Return of the Neophron”and published in the ornithological journal Ibis. The paper can be downloaded from here (pdf, 500 kB).