Another cinereous vulture recorded as victim of wind turbines in Thrace-Greece

Credit: May 15, 2023 · spbt.gr ~~

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On April 30, a cinereous vulture flying in a mountainous area of the Greek Rhodope Mountain collided with a wind turbine in the “Filiouri Valley” Important Bird Area. The cinereous vulture was found thanks to the satellite transmitter and immediately the staff of the Society for the Protection of Biodiversity of Thrace (SPBT) rushed to the area with the assistance of the Management Unit of the Evros Delta and Dadia National Parks of NECCA and the Forestry Service.

The unfortunate vulture survived but it will not be able to fly again as part of its wing was amputated. The cinereous vulture was immediately transported by the NECCA Management Unit to Alexandroupolis airport and from there by plane to the Hellenic Wildlife Care Association – ANIMA.This vulture was released in Bulgaria in November 2022 as part of a restocking project of Cinereous vulture in the Bulgarian part of the Eastern Rhodopes by Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds. The vulture was a 3 years old female bird, tagged with a satellite transmitter which recorded the bird’s location every 10 minutes. This incident confirms that as the number of wind turbines increases in the mountains of Evros and Rhodope, the cumulative effects on protected birds of prey and vultures also increase. Due to the non-proper siting of wind turbines in Thrace, which started already at the beginning of 2000, we see that their cumulative effects on birds are very severe. This vulture is the sixth in a row recorded as victim of a collision with wind turbines in Thrace, increasing the total number of recorded incidents of collisions of birds of prey and vultures to 27. This number is only a part of the actual number of victims, since many have not ever detected.

The Important Bird Area “Filiouri Valley” in Rhodope is regularly used by vultures for foraging due to the extensive livestock farming that is still alive in the area but the accumulation of wind turbines in the area has degraded it (the majority of the total 265 wind turbines of the Evros and Rhodope are installed here). In Thrace there is no more margin for error, the siting of wind turbines must take into account the protection of vultures and raptorial species.

Source: May 15, 2023 · spbt.gr

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