{"id":5786,"date":"2018-08-18T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-08-18T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4vultures.org\/blog\/bulgarian-cinereous-vultures-fledge\/"},"modified":"2018-08-18T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2018-08-18T00:00:00","slug":"bulgarian-cinereous-vultures-fledge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/4vultures.org\/es\/blog\/bulgarian-cinereous-vultures-fledge\/","title":{"rendered":"Bulgaria’s reintroduced cinereous vultures leave the nest"},"content":{"rendered":"
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It\u2019s with great excitement that we share the news that the two young Cinereous vultures recently released in Bulgaria<\/a> as part of a the Vultures Back to LIFE project have fledged their hacking platform.<\/p>\n

Leaving the nest<\/strong><\/p>\n

The two birds, Boyan and Ostrava, were released into the wild at the end of July and this last week both birds took their first steps and flights to independence and a life as wild birds. At 110 days old Boyan was the first to leave the hacking nest on Wednesday 15 August in Kotel mountain, and was soon followed by the 119 day old Ostrava. They jumped out of the nest and started walking, eventually reaching the highest point of the cliffs behind the nest. Here they stayed together and exercised their flight muscles with intensive wing beating before spending the night on the ground. On Thursday 16 August it was Ostrava who was the first to take flight with Boyan soon to follow.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Wild visitors<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Wild cinereous vulture flying just above Ostrava on the ground<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Whilst on the mountainside the two were visited by a three or four year old wild Cinereous vulture who purely coincidentally was traveling around the area, likely to be from the colony in the Greek Dadia National Park. Just before their first flights the Cinereous vulture as well as a Griffon and Egyptian vulture both attempted to land next to them but were quickly chased away by the confident young birds.<\/p>\n

Naming Cinereous vultures<\/strong><\/p>\n

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One of the Cinereous vultures was named after Bulgarian alpine climber and biologist, Boyan Petrov, who was dedicated to nature conservation and was due to be the public face of the reintroduction campaign when he tragically disappeared in an attempt to climb Shishapangma in Tibet. Ostrava meanwhile is named after the zoo where they were born, just like the third cinereous vulture released this week, Riga.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Introducing Riga<\/strong><\/p>\n