November was filled with a diverse range of events, lectures, workshops, and activities related to the protection of vulture species in Europe and worldwide. Experts from the Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds (BSPB) took аn active part in most of them and presented some of the results and activities from the project “Conservation of black and griffon vultures in the Rhodope mountains”.
At the beginning of the month the project team participated in a conference with special focus on minimizing the risks to birds associated with power lines and poisons. It was held in Budapest, Hungary from 7 to 9 November. The aim of the Conference was to bring together nature conservationists, industry professionals and governments and to stimulate joint actions to address the problem of large-scale bird mortality on power lines at the European level. During the forum, experts from LIFE Vulture project presented some vultures conservation activities in Eastern Rhodopes rewilding area. The team presented the work of the antipoison dog unit and the team – Nikolay Terziev from BSPB and Bars. The team caused some serious interest among the attendees of the conference. Colleagues from BSPB also shared some previous experience securing risky eclectic grid. During the conference, our part of our LIFE Vultures team made contacts with other LIFE projects and experts working on these issues in Europe, North America and Africa.
Later this month, part of the LIFE vulture team joined the 2016 Annual bearded vulture conference, organized by one of our partners LIFE Vultures project – Conservation Foundation vultures. The meeting took place on November 9 to 11, Miterzil, Austria, in the National Park Hohe Tauern, where 30 years ago were made the first attempts to return the bearded vultures in the Alps. More than 80 participated at this event to exchange experience, establish contacts with vulture expert and discuss some common conservation activities s. At this forum the team once again made contacts with the “Bright future for black vulture” Green Balkans which will contribute to the continuity and coordination of our common activities mainly aimed at protecting the black vulture in Bulgaria.
Our team also took also part in an important workshop for the conservation of vulture populations in Europe, Central Asia and the Middle East that took place from the 25th to the 29th of October 2016 in the National Park of Monfragüe (Spain). More than 70 participants from 25 countries and from over 50 different organizations gathered to discuss priorities for vulture conservation to prepare the European part of the Action Plan to conserve African-Eurasian Vultures. Target species in this workshop are the four European vulture species Bearded Vulture, Egyptian Vulture, Black Vulture and the Griffon Vulture. The overall aim is to develop a comprehensive strategic Action Plan covering the whole geographic ranges across Africa, Asia, and Europe.
Bulgaria was represented by Stoycho Stoychev and Dobromir Dobrev, part of a team project LIFE Vultures, who gave introductory lectures presenting the main threats to vultures.