The last eight

08.10.2014

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The last eight

Twenty two satellite transmitters were set in the period 2010 - 2014 (20 young birds, one adult bird and one approaching adulthood) within the LIFE+ project “The Return of the Neophron”. Nine of them were placed in Bulgaria, nine in Greece, three - in Macedonia, and one in Albania.

In the first half of 2014 two more stars died on our map with tagged Egyptian vultures. The first one was Paschalis, the first young Egyptian vulture, tagged with satellite transmitter that successfully flew over the Mediterranean Sea. The other one, Svetlina (Light), was the first registered Egyptian vulture in the Balkans, which wintered in Ethiopia. Paschalis had been killed in Niger in early March, whereas Svetlina stopped moving on June 9 in southeastern Sudan.

In 2014 only one bird, a 4-yaers old individual, had been tagged with a satellite transmitter. The Egyptian vulture was found poisoned in western Greece in early May. The poisoned bird had a yellow ring with black letters on its left leg – ringed in Bulgaria on 9.7.2010. The vulture survived and was named Castor. Castor was then tagged with a satellite transmitter and he spent the next few months the Bulgarian-Greek border in the Eastern Rhodopes. On August 21, he was observed by a team of BSPB in the Eastern Rhodopes. On the next day he began his long migration and traveled 160 kilometers. On September 16, Castor reached his winter ground in Afar, Ethiopia covering about 4500 km.

Lefkipos, tagged in 2012 in Dadia, Greece, in 2014 moved from South Sudan back into Chad, with several rambles through Sudan, Egypt and Libya, covering more than 7 thousands km.

Iliaz, tagged in 2012 in the Eastern Rhodopes, Bulgaria, on the second year of his stay in Africa, he decided to move in Chad. In early May 2014 he moved through Libya and Egypt and after 8 thousand kilometers he established in Niger, where he is now.

Sanie, tagged in 2013 near Madzharovo, for now keeps close to a compact region in Chad. Sanie is the only chick from the hatchlings tagged with satellite transmitters in 2013 that is still alive.

Volen, tagged in 2012 in northern Bulgaria, on 21 May this year, moved from his wintering ground in Sudan and after one month reached central Turkey, where he stayed until 20 September. Then Volen began his migration back to Sudan. Until that moment he had covered over than 9 thousands km.

Dobromir, tagged in 2012 in northern Bulgaria, spent one an year and seven months in Sudan until the spring of 2014, when he took one of the longest documented Egyptian vultures journeys. Started on 9 May 2014, Dobromir covered more than 20 thousands km in five months, crossing 17 countries on 3 continents. He is the first Egyptian Vulture tagged on the Balkans, that passed through the Caucasus and Iran, places we have thought that are too far to be visited by a bird from the Balkans. Now Dobromir is in his wintering grounds in Afar, Ethiopia.

Tha last Egyptian vultures for this year in Bulgaria were observed around September 20 in northern Bulgaria, hours before the beginning of their migration.

Follow all Egyptian vultures with satellite transmitters here.

For more information:

Vladimir Dobrev
Conservation Officer for Bulgaria:
Mobile: +359 878 599 381
vladimir.dobrev@bspb.org

Photos