The Black Vulture was observed by Luchezar Bonchev of FWFF, together with 19 Griffon Vultures, released within the Vultures Return in Bulgaria LIFE08 NAT/BG/278 Project. the Egyptian Vulture seen at the same time was an adult.
Despite being wide spread in the past, there are no breeding pairs of Black Vultures presently confirmed in Bulgaria. Single birds have been reported in the Eastern Balkan Mountains in the 1970s, and the last nesting attempts there were recorded in the afforested hills near Provadija. Since then only single young wandering birds have been recorded in the area of Kotlesnka Stara planina in 1993-1994, probably also coming from the Eastern Rhodopes.
Several days ago we have photographed a Black Vulture in the Kresna Gorge, where they are running the LIFE for Kresna Project for restoring Griffon Vultures.
We found out a young bird on one of our supplementary feeding sites for the first time in 2013, and were also visited in 2014. A third subsequent visit of the Eastern Balkan Mountains is an extra reason for celebration and hope that we are on the right track to the vultures return in Bulgaria!
Egyptian Vulture is a critically endangered species, which population is rapidly declining in Bulgaria. Some of last breeding pairs nest in the area of the Eastern Balkan Mountains and obviously make a good use of the Griffon Vulture lunch, served within the Vultures Return in Bulgaria Project. Last year we photographed an adult carrying food in July, while a juvenile appeared in August.
Our current progress prove that the conditions of the Balkan Mountains which lead to the extermination of vultures, have changed, and the Balkans are ready to welcome back their birds. Let’s hope that one day we will see all four species of vultures, once found in Bulgaria – Egyptian, Griffon, Black and Bearded Vulture!
