At the beginning of the holidays, the first 26 birds released within the 'Life for Lesser Kestrel' LIFE19 NAT/BG/001017 project flew over the Sakar village of Levka!
This event itself is unique for several reasons!
The first is that the method is new for Bulgaria and is experimental. Until now, as part of our activities to return the Lesser Kestrels, our team has released only zero-year-old hatchlings - birds aged between 25 and 30 days, in down plumage. This time the released were hatched in 2020, or at the age of almost a year!
The other innovative approach was the adaptive aviary - a cage on wheels, which our team uses as a temporary home for the birds, from where they were later released! Trailer, adapted to the needs of the small falcons, adapted as an aviary, which can be positioned in different places around the country, pre-defined by our team. The fact that it is mobile greatly simplifies our work and makes the method easily accessible and extremely adaptable.
The other important part of the activity was the marking with a transmitter of two of the released kestrels. This enabled our team to monitor the released birds.
We are pleased to note that in the days after the opening of the aviary, more than half of the released birds were spotted around the place of release - the Conservation Activities Centre in Levka, not only in flight but also actively feeding at the feeding place. And the even more pleasant news is that at least 4 of the birds are already in pairs, some of which have even found 'wild' partners.
We continue to follow with interest the events around the falcons, and we promise to inform you about the more interesting moments in their lives!
This event itself is unique for several reasons!
The first is that the method is new for Bulgaria and is experimental. Until now, as part of our activities to return the Lesser Kestrels, our team has released only zero-year-old hatchlings - birds aged between 25 and 30 days, in down plumage. This time the released were hatched in 2020, or at the age of almost a year!
The other innovative approach was the adaptive aviary - a cage on wheels, which our team uses as a temporary home for the birds, from where they were later released! Trailer, adapted to the needs of the small falcons, adapted as an aviary, which can be positioned in different places around the country, pre-defined by our team. The fact that it is mobile greatly simplifies our work and makes the method easily accessible and extremely adaptable.
The other important part of the activity was the marking with a transmitter of two of the released kestrels. This enabled our team to monitor the released birds.
We are pleased to note that in the days after the opening of the aviary, more than half of the released birds were spotted around the place of release - the Conservation Activities Centre in Levka, not only in flight but also actively feeding at the feeding place. And the even more pleasant news is that at least 4 of the birds are already in pairs, some of which have even found 'wild' partners.
We continue to follow with interest the events around the falcons, and we promise to inform you about the more interesting moments in their lives!
