News

New sites of Romanian hamster in Bulgaria were mapped by IBER experts

Apr. 06, 2023

In March dr. Yordan Koshev and dr. Maria Kachamakova from IBER-BAS with the help of Yasen Gensuzov, student in the Faculty of Biology (SU St. Kliment Ochridski) successfully proceeded with the activities of mapping the hamster, part of the project “Life for Falcons”.
 

SOR surveyed over 200 km of powerlines in Southeastern Romania

Mar 21, 2023

In October and November 2022 SOR’s team verified all medium voltage power lines found in a 10 km radius of known occupied Saker Falcon nests in Southeastern Romania. 
 

The monitoring of the Saker falcon in Bulgaria is underway

Mar 02, 2023

Experts from BSPB and Green Balkans are continuing the monitoring of the Saker falcon’s population in Bulgaria. The team is revising not only the known locations of the species but also potential new territories and historical sites. The aim of this activity is to determine the number of occupied breeding territories and their breeding status. Other raptor species are also recorded e.g. Imperial eagles, Peregrine falcons, Long-legged buzzards and Golden eagles. 
 

First results of the study on the attitude of pigeon fanciers towards birds of prey

Mar 01, 2023

In 2022 in the frame of “LIFEforFalcons” project BSPB started a research aiming to study the conflict between pigeon fanciers and birds of prey and to identify good practices for reducing the impact of raptor attacks on homing pigeons. BSPB signed MoUs with 4 pigeon fancier’s clubs in the country. 

BSPB and Green Balkans took part in the annual Hungarian Raptor Conservation Conference

Feb. 03, 2023

Raptor experts from BSPB and Green Balkans took part in the Hungarian Raptor Conservation Conference and the PannonEagle LIFE project closing conference that were held in Hungary in late January. The conferences took place in the town of Jaszbereny and gathered experts on raptor conservation from Hungary, Slovakia, Austria, Germany, Croatia, Serbia, Romania, Albania, Greece and Bulgaria.

Help us save the European ground squirrel by filling in the data for the assessments of pressure on Natura 2000 protected areas

Jan. 20, 2023

As part of the activities of the project Life for Falcons the Bulgarian Society for the protection of birds aims to analyze and assess the risk of destruction of the souslik colonies threatened by investment projects.

Falcon forest will grow near Natura 2000 protected area Kamenski bair

Dec. 19, 2022

The end of the last week marked the beginning of the Falcon Forest, started by one of the partners in the Life for Falcons project - Green Balkans.

Life for Falcons project took part in the event of the Bulgarian Falconry Union

Dec. 06, 2022

For a second year in a row the Green Balkans team, part of the project Life for Falcons took part in the event Falcon race. 
 

Life for Falcons project was presented at the seminar of the hunting and fishing union Razgrad

Nov. 23, 2022

Hunting and fishing union Razgrad hosted a meeting with the team of the Life for Falcons project on 22nd of November. The first presentation of the project in front of the hunters community was a month ago in Stara Zagora and it aroused great interest.|

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.