Dr Dobromir Dobrev of the BSPB, who heads the project for the restoration of the black vulture population in the Rhodope mountains, said that the chicks are two months and a half old, but will soon leave the nest on their independent journeys. Initially, there were three chicks in the Bulgarian part of the Eastern Rhodopes, hatched in three separate nests, but one did not survive. Still, each hatchling is a win within the efforts to reintroduce the species, listed as extinct in the Bulgarian Red Data Book.

Since the start of the reintroduction activities by the BSPB, the Rewilding Rhodopes Foundation, Spain’s GREFA, and Rewilding Europe in 2022, a total of 40 black vultures have been released in the wild. The activities are carried out within the project “Restoration of the Cinereous vulture population and trophic chain in the Bulgarian-Greek cross-border region,” coordinated by the BSPB in partnership with Rewilding Rhodope Foundation and co-funded by the European Union’s LIFE programme and Rewilding Europe.