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A Record Number Of Griffon Vulture Pairs In The Eastern Rhodopes
Record 56 pairs of Griffon Vulture numbered in the annual monitoring of birds in the Eastern Rhodopes by the Bulgarian Society for Protection of Birds (BSPB). This is the largest number of couples registered in the last 23 years. There were 47 couples in 2010.
A significant improvement in nesting success compared to last year was also reported by the experts. Last year, the bad weather conditions resulted in the lowest nesting success over the last 23 years: 23 young birds took off which is only 0.49 young per couple. This year, 35 young vultures were successfully reared. That number ranks third in the statistics since the monitoring the population of the species in Bulgaria has began.
A very promising observations this season was the recolonisation of some historical nesting cliffs located in the western part of the valley of the Arda River, which held no breeding vultures since almost thirty years. As BSPB reports, these data confirm once more the positive trend of Griffon Vultures in the Eastern Rhodopes.
Protection of the breeding colonies of Griffon vultures in Bulgaria is one of the most successful activities of the BSPB. Additional feeding, establishing of protected areas and educational activities which started in the early 90s resulted in long term positive results. The number of breeding Griffon Vultures increased from 10 pairs in 1991 to 35 pairs in 2005 and 56 pairs in 2011.
