News

A Saker Falcon seminar gathered hunters from the Union of hunters and anglers in Bulgaria

Oct. 24, 2022

On 20th of October the Union of hunters and anglers in Bulgaria has organized a seminar, dedicated to the Saker Falcon and the activities of the Life for Falcon project. 
 

Life for Falcons Project team celebrated World Migratory Bird day at the Sofia Zoo

Oct. 11, 2022

Bulgarian society for the protection of birds's team for the project Life for Falcons celebrated the World Migratory Bird day in 8th of October together with the Sofia Zoo. We focused our attention on two iconic endangered species – the Egyptian vulture and the Saker falcon.
 

The unknown small mammals presented the IBEI team of the project in the European researcher night

Oct. 06, 2022

On the 1st of October during the European researcher night dr. Yordan Koshev from the Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research presented the unknown small mammals to the visitors of the event.

Life for Falcons Project took part in 30th celebration of European Birdwatch

Oct. 04, 2022

Life for Falcons team from the Bulgarian society for the protection of birds took part in the biggest celebration of the bird migration, organized by BirdLife International and its partners across Europe and Central Asia. 
 

Life for Falcons was a guest at an event of wildlife photographers

Sep. 28, 2022

Last weekend the Green Balknas team, part of the project Life for Falcons presented the conservation activities regarding the species at a photo exhibition and exchange of experience “Wild animals in Balkan mountain”.

Traditional Saker Falcon Festival was held in Malko Kadievo

Sep. 22, 2022

The fifth edition of the Saker Falcon Festival was held in 17th of September 2022 traditionally in Malko Kadievo village.
 

Presenting Life for Falcons project on the Medieval festival Bdin

Sep. 09, 2022

At the end of August the project team of the Wildlife Rescue Breeding Center was invited by the Vidin Municipality to participate in the Bdin Medieval festival, which was held at Baba Vida fortress.
 

Fourteen juvenile Saker falcons fledged from their nests in Southern Romania and Bulgaria

Aug. 22, 2022

From the middle of May, the project team resumed the activities related to the monitoring of the Saker Falcons in the protected areas included in the LIFE for Falcons project, dedicated to the conservation of this critically endangered falcon species. The field visits, carried out between May and July by both Romanian and Bulgarian experts, aimed to assess the reproductive success of the pairs identified at the previous monitoring session.

New observation of a Saker falcon by the Green Balkans project team

Aug. 11, 2022

The field monitoring of the Green Balkans project team brought back new results! Last week, during the regular monitoring, the team found out 2 years old female bird, which was actively feeding in one of the well-known souslik colonies.
 

IBER team mapped successfully Romanian hamster colonies in Bulgaria

Aug. 02, 2022

The IBER team mapped donor colonies of the Romanian hamster instead of the hot weather and harsh conditions in July 2022. During the research holes were found and some individuals were captured. The hamsters were measured and photographed, their gender and age were identified and they were released back in the nature. After the designation of the colonies from which individuals have to be taken, we will implement the activities for capturing and breeding them in 2023.

 

Help us save the souslik together!

Jul 29, 2022

In 2020 the European souslik (Spermophilus citellus) was designated as a globally threatened species. This amiable relative to squirrels, lives in meadows and pastures in Central and Southeastern Europe, where it is adapted to the traditional agricultural practices. Unfortunately, with the intensification of the agriculture and declining of the pastoralism the souslik is losing its habitats. One third of the colonies in Bulgaria vanished between 1950 and 1990 and this is still the current trend. Bulgaria at the same time is a center for the species dissemination with the highest genetic diversity. That is why the conservation of the souslik in our country is extremely important  for the surviving of the species.

Green Balkans presented the project at Uzana Poliana Fest 2022

Jul 27, 2022

Green Balkans took part in the annual festival Uzana Poliana fest – green ideas in action. The geographic center of Bulgaria was again in the middle of the ecological ideas and environmental causes.

Interministerial group with expert from BSPB’s project team startеd working on the establishment of a special unit for investigation of the crimes against the nature

Jul 25, 2022

Ministry of Interior Press-center starts establishing a special unit for investigations crimes against the nature. With an order of the minister of internal affairs the working group in which takes part also a BSPB representative – part of the team of Life for Falcons project, aims to analyze the necessity and the opportunities for the establishing of the unit.
 

А second pair of Saker Falcons was registered on the territory of Bulgaria!

Jul 15, 2022

A few days ago, experts from BSPB and Green Balkans registered a new pair of Saker Falcons in nature! Initially, a male bird and a young fledgling were observed, and subsequently, the presence of a female was confirmed. After several days of trying to photograph and observe the birds up close, our persistence paid off, and, not only did we find out that it was a pair with a baby, but that the parents had hatched at the Green Balkans Rescue Center in 2019. They were released into the wild in the same year, within the framework of the organization's long-term efforts to restore the species under the "Reintroduction of the Saker Falcon in Bulgaria" project.

BSPB started collaboration with racing pigeon clubs to mitigate the conflict with birds of prey

Jul 06, 2022

Over the past few months BSPB established collaboration with racing pigeon clubs in Bulgaria. The aim is to test different methods to mitigate the conflict between the pigeon keepers and the birds of prey.

First specialized course for qualification and capacity building of the state institution against use of poisons in the nature has been held in Bulgaria

Jun 28, 2022

In the period June 22-24, 2022, the Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds (BSPB), the Thrakia University of Stara Zagora, the General Directorate of the National Police and the Green Balkans Wildlife Rescue Center - Stara Zagora conducted a specialized training course of employees of state institutions, aimed at investigating cases of poisoning and improving coordination between institutions regarding the work and implementation of activities set out in the "National Action Plan to Combat Illegal Use of Poisons in the Wild 2021-2030“.

Second edition of the Hunter’s Guide have been published by BSPB and UHAB

Jun 24, 2022

The second edition of the Hunter’s Guide, prepared by the BSPB and UHAB have been published. The hunters could obtain it during the events in the calendar of the Union, read its digital version on the Life for Falcons website or to download it as a pdf from the website of the Union.

IBER experts visited breeding centers for European hamster

Jun 14, 2022

In May 2022 our colleagues, Assistant professor Dr Yordan Koshev and Assistant professor Dr Maria Kacahamakova from the IBER, visited breeding centers for European hamster (Cricetus cricetus) in Metelen, Germany and the Gaya Zoo in the Netherlands.

The final round of the Bulgarian National Olympiad in ornithology was held

Jun 06, 2022

The final round of the National Ornithology Olympiad took place on May 29th (Sunday). 22 students from a total of 117 from 5th to 8th grade in schools from different cities in Bulgaria were ranked for it.     

The final round was held at the Nature Conservation Center of the Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds (BSPB) – "Poda" near Burgas and consisted of two parts: a test and identification of bird species from photographs. All finalists and their teachers were invited.

 

The first Saker falcon monitoring in Romania covered over 5000 km

May 25, 2022

Amongst the falcon species found in Romania, we can say that the Saker falcons are so rare, that we can count them on one hand. Breeding in the southern and eastern parts of the European continent, it prefers arid, open landscapes of wooded steppes. It’s a large and powerful falcon, but also very agile and fast, aggressive and persevering in following its prey. All these qualities have earned our admiration and the name as sacred falcon, but have also caused this bird decline.