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From July 29 to August 3 in the Eastern Rhodopes held an International training workshop for field research techniques of Egyptian Vultures. The event was attended by representatives of environmental organizations from all Balkan countries where the globally endangered species still occurs: Bulgaria, Greece, Macedonia, Albania and Turkey. The seminar was attended also by experts from the UK and Sudan – a key wintering area of the Balkan population. The aim of the seminar was to exchange current information about the species in the Balkan countries and through migration and wintering areas. In the first two days were made presentations on various project activities: techniques for monitoring of the breeding areas, nest-guarding, supplementary feeding, struggle with poisons in Greece, sampling, satellite tracking. Other presentations focused on the population status of the Egyptian Vultures on the Balkans and on cross-border cooperation between countries on the migration routes as a tool for species conservation.
Next 3 days were dedicated to field work. 3 juvenile Egyptian vulture were tagged with satellite transmitters. The names that we gave them were to volunteers and participants in the setting of the transmitters - Asparuh, Sanie and Ibrahim. The satellite transmitters provide very valuable information on migration routes of the Egyptian Vultures, their winter lodgings, threats mortality factors.
Blood and veterinarian samples were taken in order to determine the health condition of eight juveniles. The participants in the seminar were involved in the process so that they can repeat the procedure in their own country.
Taking measures to reduce the mortality factors in one of the countries along the migration route of the Egyptian Vultures is not enough if there are still threats in other countries along the way. Therefore, the international cooperation is one of the most important activities for the protection of migratory birds, particularly the Egyptian Vulture. Sharing experiences among organizations working for the protection of the Egyptian Vulture, the identification of risks and threats minimizing are critical at a time like the present, when the Egyptian vulture population is on the brink of survival.
You can follow the routes vultures that mark last year here. The juveniles will be included in the map after taking off from their nests.
The seminar was held under the LIFE+ project “The return of the Neophron” and "Capacity Building to Support the Conservation of Migratory Egyptian Vultures from the Western Palearctic on their Wintering Grounds in Ethiopia, Sudan and Chad" funded by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
