A total of 20 Cinereous Vultures were counted through visual observation and transmitter data in Vrachanski Balkan in July. This is a record-breaking number of this rare species for the entire Balkans, outside the breeding colony in the Eastern Rhodopes, Greece.
In the past few days the situation in the Vrachanski Balkan NP is extremely dynamic. Two more Cinereous Vultures were released from the adaptation aviary in the area mid-July, making a total of 9 birds released in 2021. The birds, released last year, which survived and remained in the area are 7. Together with all these vultures, the supplementary feeding site is also used by two “foreign” vultures, who came here on their own – Ultramarin, tagged with a transmitter and another, non-marked one. In addition to them, transmitter data and observations record two of the Cinereous Vultures released in the Eastern Balkan Mountains several hundred kilometers away. This accounts for a total of 20 Cinereous Vultures in the area of Vrachanski Balkan!
This is an absolute record-breaking number for birds of the species, observed outside the breeding colony in the Eastern Rhodopes, Greece. The last published data for the average number of the incubating pairs there accounts for a mean of 24 pairs between 1994-2018, with a maximum of 35 pairs in 2014.
At the same time we would like to remind you that before the start of the Bright Future for Black Vulture Project and the first release of Cinereous Vultures in the area in 2020, the species was considered extinct from the territory of Vrachanski Balkan for the past 70 years. The very first breeding pair was confirmed just a year following the first release, so nature lovers can congratulate.
