Below you will find an up-to-date information on how Griffon Vulture experimental release in Kotel Mountain is going.
Each vulture has a unique green ring with the codes written on it like B53, B54 and B59. During the diary we will refer to the birds by their individual ring codes which the observers are able to see in the field.
The preliminary results for the experimental release are now available!
During the diary terms like "starvation limit" will often be used. This is because after the vultures leave the cage they have 40 days to learn to fly and soar effectively to reach the feeding site before they starve to death. The word "attachment" will also be mentioned often because it is essential for the birds to associate the area with food otherwise they will fly away to find another colony of vultures as they are an extremely gregarious species and can travel hundreds of kilometers in a matter of days.
30/07/2009 Three Griffon Vultures, three Egyptian Vultures and one young Imperial Eagle (Aquila heliaca) observed at the feeding site together with 20 ravens. The Imperial Eagle is bearing satellite tag with which it was equipped by BSPB team in Sakar in 2008. The subadult and the adult Egyptian Vultures are keeping as a pair showing a kind of breeding behavior. So as the three Griffon Vultures experience display flights.
29/07/2009 Information about observation of Griffon Vulture near Sliven was reported by Ivelin Ivanov - Green Balkans. Three weeks ago the vulture was feeding next to a farm on the meat provided as food for guarding dogs. It seems the vulture is B20.
20/07/2009 Three Griffon Vultures and three Egyptian Vultures (imm.+ ad.+ subad.) at the feeding site.
16/07/2009 Three Griffon Vultures and two Egyptian Vultures (imm. + ad.), 16 ravens at the feeding site.
13/07/2009 Three Griffon Vultures B14, B18, B19 and an adult Egyptian Vulture, 11 ravens at the feeding site.
06/07/2009 Immature Egyptian Vulture observed on the feeding site.
02/07/2009 Four Griffon Vulture observed in flight over the feeding site. B20 has lost its radio tag.
30/06/2009 Released immature rehabilitated Griffon Vulture B20 with radio tag 151.555 MHz.
26/06/2009 Three Griffon Vultures and young adult Egyptian Vulture on the feeding site.
23/06/2009 B14 and B19 released again. B18 approaching the feeding site.
18/06/2009 B14 and B19 entered the acclimatization cage to share the food with the vultures inside.
17/06/2009 An immature rehabilitated Griffon Vulture with green plastic ring B18 and radio tag 151.574 MHz was released by "hard release" today.
12/06/2009 One immature Griffon Vulture is transferred from Green Balkans Stara Zagora to FWFF acclimatization aviary as return of a breeding loan. The same day an adult Egyptian vulture (Neophron percnopterus) has been observed on the feeding site.
05/05/2009 A immature captive bred Griffon Vulture with green ring B19 and blue wing tag with orange letters 10 was released by "hard release".
15/04/2009 Six Griffon Vultures are transferred from Mallorca within the BVAP with the help of Green Balkans.
13/04/2009 B14 has been released again. It is flying well and is flying around the cage and feeding site. Just today was finished the renovation of the feeding site. It is now fenced by net fence, but also by electric fence. Thus no any terestrial predator nor dogs could enter the feeding site. The food is now available only for flying scavengers.
Third Phase Experimental Release of Griffon Vultures in Kotel Mountain 13/04/2009 - on going
17/01/2009 B15 has died in the Rehab Center in Stara Zagora. Exhaustion due to starvation in harsh winter conditions is the reason for the death.
16/01/2009 B15 is found exhausted and sned to the Rehabilitation center of Green Balkans in Stara Zagora. It is proven a problem with the radio tag that is not working properly.
15/01/2009 B14 again entered the acclimatization aviary on its own.
09/01/2009 M56, M58, B14 seen to feed on a sheep carcass.
03/01/2009 M56, M58, B14 and B15 are released again.
31/12/2008 M56, M58 and B14 also entered the acclimatization aviary on its own.
26/12/2008 B15 has entered the acclimatization aviary on its own by the hole in the roof.
15/12/2008 Four Griffon Vultures M56, M58, B14 and B15 are feeding at the feeding site.
11/12/2008 Fifth immature captive bred Griffon Vulture with green ring B14 and white wing tag with blue letters 7G escaped on its own from the aviary. Probably the bird succeeded to escape from the hole on the roof of the aviary that is specially opened there to capture griffons (method described and used by Ohad Hatzofe and its team in Israel).
14/10/2008 Fourth adult rehabilitated Griffon Vulture with green ring M52 was released by "hard release".
08/10/2008 Third immature captive bred Griffon Vulture with green ring B15 and wing tag 09 and radio tag 151.504 MHz was released by "hard release".
28/09/2008 Second adult rehabilitated Griffon Vulture with green ring M58 and blue wing tag 03 and radio tag 151.474 MHz was released by "hard release". In the same time food has been provided at the feeding site. The Griffon Vulture M56/04 came and started to feed at the feeding site. 40 minutes after its release M58/03 reached the feeding site. When it saw the other vulture M56/03 taking food it joined the meal as well. So this vulture first took food only 40 minutes after its release.
24/09/2008 An adult rehabilitated Griffon Vulture with green darvic ring M56 and blue wing tag with orange letters 04 and also radio tag 151.533 MHz was released by "hard release". Food has been put at the feeding site on 25/09/2008 at 9.30 am. The vulture came at the feeding site at 11.00 a.m. and took food together with three ravens. So it was less than 24 hours when the vulture was observed first time feeding after its release.
Second Phase Experimental Release of Griffon Vultures in Kotel Mountain 24/09/2008 - 12/01/2009
25/07/2008 Two adult Griffon vultures were transferred from Sofia Zoo to Kotel acclimatization aviary. One more has been exchanged fro one of the birds received from Zoo de Doue.
09/07/2008 A Griffon Vulture was observed near the village of Veselinovo (35 km east from Kotel) reported by George Kuzmanov. It is believed this is B54.
07/06/2008 The Griffon Vulture B54 is observed again at the feeding site. Few days later cow and sheep carcasses were reported to exist in Zlosten area killed by wolves. Bear presence is also reported. A Griffon Vulture has been observed in the area to feed and to roost on the cliffs according to local forestry officer.
27/05/2008 The Griffon Vulture B54 is observed back to the feeding site near Kotel. A whole cow carcass and the vultures in the aviary could be the reason for its return.
07/05/2008 Four Griffon Vultures were transferred to Kotel acclimatization aviary from Biopark Zoo de Doue - France. The FWFF team bring these vultures by car with a trailer traveling more than 6000 km.
10/02/2008 The Griffon Vulture M54 was found dead in the aviary. The reason for its death is unknown.
17/01/2008 The Griffon Vulture B54 has frequently been observed near the town of Omurtag for last ten days. It was observed by local hunters to feed on carcasses and slaughter offal disposed on the rubbish dump. The bird was seen to spend the night in a forest not far from the dump. The information was received from the Regional Environmental Inspector of Shoumen.
15/01/2008 A Griffon Vulture was observed near Stara Zagora of about 60 km SW from Kotel. It is still uncertain if this bird is one of the released in Kotel, but as according to the observer George Kochev the behavior was of a not much experienced bird. Ivailo Klisurov from the Green Balkans- Stara Zagora said, they will search for the bird tomorrow.
16/12/2007 B54 was observed near the town of Omurtag, about 30 km north from the release area of Kotel. The vultures was observed by local person on the town's rubbish dump. The report was received thanks to Tsvetomira Yotsova from BSPB/ BirdLife Bulgaria.
10/11/2007 B53 has been successfully released near Canakkale in Turkey after a month of rehabilitation. The ring was removed as caused an infection on the leg. So it was released without any marking, but at least it is again flying free over Trakia. FWFF team is grateful to its Turkish colleagues, that have taking care for the Griffon Vulture B53.
09/11/2007 B54 is flying around the releasing site in Kotel better and better. It is now named "Pioneer Vesko". "Pioneer" - because is the first Griffon successfully attached in the area of Kotel, that will be the nucleus of the future population, and "Vesko" - in memoriam of Vesselin Talazov - Vesko, the Director of the Natural History Museum of Kotel, who unfortunately died a month before the first release of vultures in Kotel.
10/10/2007 B53 has been recovered in TURKEY! It was found by local people near Canakkale somewhere very near the coast about 280km S of the Kotel release site on the 04/10/07. It was clearly exhausted and had collapsed but is now being properly looked after by a government vetenarian. Its location is interesting as its near a major migration route for birds of prey crossing the Bosporus so it is possible that it met some other Vultures from the Madjaravo colony and was heading south with them. The FWFF team will do all it can to get the vulture back to Kotel and re-release it where we hope it will become attached to the area as B54 is still there and there is another bird in the aviary waiting to be released. Unfortunately this will be extremely difficult as there is a lot of legal issues surrounding the transportation of an endangered species between countries due to the CITES regulations (Convention on International Trade on Endangered Species) and a lot of paperwork will have to be filled in both sides of the border!
Through this experimental release FWFF believes that we have proved captive bred birds have can be used for re-introduction but only after an initial training period as accidentally happened to B54, this is why we are confident that if we can get B53 back to Kotel after rehabilitation we will be able to successfully re-release it into the wild as happened with B54. See the
preliminary results for full explanation of our findings and the impact this could have on Griffon Vulture re-introductions globally.
Unfortunately there is still no news about B59 but with one bird already recovered we are still optimistic that he will be found and we will be able to eventually re-release him.
05/10/2007 B54 made a fantastic attempt at soaring all around the Kotel farm area perhaps looking for food by itself away from the feeding site. The progress of this bird could not be better. See the preliminary results for why we think this bird has done so well and the other 2 birds have not. The latest thinking for the other 2 birds is that they are probably somewhere in the lowlands still unable to fly properly (ie. soar and elevate back into the mountains), if they have not found food they will be at the limit to how long they can last so we can only hope that someone finds them collapsed somewhere and brings them back to us for rehabilitation. This happened before when B54 escaped (see preliminary results and the viability study which is in PDF format for details) so we have high hopes for it happening again. Also a juvenile Imperial Eagle was seen today around the farm. This is another exciting development as it was hoped the vultures would attract other raptor species like the globally endangered Imperial Eagle to the farm area where they will be safe to breed and will have a good food supply from the feeding site. Still no sign of B59.
23/09/2007 B54 was seen to eat twice today and is showing very good attachment to the area especially since it has a "friend" in the aviary. A report came in that B53 has been seen next to the village of Jeravna c.15km S of Kotel, the area was checked by FWFF staff and volunteers but it could not be located. This is mixed news as it shows the bird is still alive but as its away from the feeding site it may struggle to find food and die once the 40 day starvation limit is up. Unless it found food in the meantime it has spent 23 days without feeding so only has roughly 17 days left to find food. Still no sign of B59 18/09/07 Zlosten Cliffs c.5km E of the aviary were checked as this is where it is hoped the birds from future releases will set up a colony but unfortunately the missing 2 birds were not seen. Also another vulture (M54) from Sofia Zoo has been placed in the acclimatization aviary. It will help to keep B54 in the area as they are a highly social species and once more birds arrive from France (anytime soon) and put in the aviary this bird will released into the wild. 16/09/07 B54 seen feeding again but the other 2 birds have still not been sighted.
14/09/2007 Mixed news today, B54 has been seen feeding at the feeding site. Its the first bird to be seen to eat and which is great news as it means this bird is likely to survive as it will not die of starvation and it will hopefully stay in the area as it will associate it with food. But the bad news is B53 has not been seen since 11/09/07 and B59 has not been seen since 09/09/07 08/09/2007 Two birds have been seen at Kaleto Rocks B53 and B54 and both have been seen to soar to a height of 400m before being dramatically chased away from the area by Golden Eagles who even tried to grab one vulture from the air! Again great news as the quicker the birds learn to soar the higher the chance of survival, if the Golden Eagles don't get them that is!
07/09/2007 One bird practiced soaring for the first time and reached a height of 500m!!! It flew 2 km East to the nearby Kaleto Rocks. This is what we've all been waiting for, now the birds are learning to fly properly they will be able to start feeding themselves before the they reach the starvation limit at 40 days.
06/09/2007 Up to now Vultures have been seen everyday doing short flights between the rocks but only individual birds and we have been unable to read their rings so we don't know exactly how many birds are still around the aviary cliffs. But the fact they are already practicing flights is encouraging. Interestingly they usually are only flying after being heavily chased by Ravens, sometimes more than 20 have been seen to chase one vulture in flight.
02/09/2007 All 3 Vultures are now out of the aviary and have been seen on the Yurushky Scalay rocks. 3 wild Griffon Vultures around Kotel is a dream come true for the FWFF team, lets just hope they survive to start breeding next year. 01/09/07 During a storm when the observers retreated to the farm one of the birds decided to leave the cage, much to the annoyance of the observers! Its current whereabouts are unknown due to the weather but we now have the first wild Griffon Vulture in Kotel for decades, a fantastic result. We now only hope it learns to fly quickly enough to fight starvation.
28/08/2007 A hole has now be made in the acclimatization aviary and food has been placed outside to tempt the vultures into the wild. Now we just have to wait until the birds feel ready to leave the aviary, during the French releases this has taken more than 5 days!
First Phase Experimental Release of Griffon Vultures in Kotel Mountain 28/08/2007 - 24/09/2008
