Miracle in Meteora: A pair of white-tailed eagles in their nest after years – Newsbomb – News

The rocks of Meteora, after many years, once again host a pair of white-billed herons.

It is a type of vulture that is the most endangered bird species in Greece, perhaps also in the Balkans.

As dasarxeio.com reports, two weeks ago, a few days after the arrival from Africa of the famous “bachelor” of Meteora, the last Asproparis still inhabiting their rocks, members of the Asproparis Friends Network transferred to Hellenic Ornithological Society information about the presence of one second bird in the area.

After an extensive investigation and after Ornithology experts ruled out the possibility that it was a passer-by (as it had happened in the past and is common with White-tailed Godwits), it was confirmed that this bird has come to stay and create a new pair!

2018 was the last year observed from the Ornithological nest Asproparis -known in Thessaly as “Cheesemaker»- in the wider area of ​​Meteora. Since then, only one male Asproparis he came back every spring on the well-known, for years, rock, patiently awaiting the appearance of a female individual.

As part of the LIFE Program for the White-tailed Eagle, the Ornithological Field Team, with the support of the people of the Network of Breeders and other land users that was created, has been monitoring the solitary bird and the Meteora area for six years, in the hope of the return of one new person so that he can get a match again. A far from easy task, but with the hope that it remains…

The Asproparis is the most threatened species of bird in Greece, perhaps also in the Balkans: only five pairs remain in the whole country and two solitary birds, one in Meteora and one in Epirus (according to the 2023 record). Over the last three decades this critically endangered species of vulture has suffered a rapid decline in the Balkans, resulting in the loss of over 80% of its population.

Since 2012, Ornithologia, together with partners from Greece (WWF Greece) and Bulgaria (BSPB / BirdLife Bulgaria) has started to implement a wide range of conservation actions for the Asproparis in Greece (Thrace, Meteora and Epirus) and Bulgaria, such as monitoring with satellite transmitters, the operation of feeders, the insulation of dangerous electricity transmission pylons and especially many actions against poisoned baits, the most important threat to the species in Greece. Subsequently, these actions were extended to the neighboring Balkan countries (Albania and North Macedonia, which still host a few pairs of Asproparis) but also to the countries through which the Asproparis passes during its migration route (such as Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt , Ethiopia).

The combination of such a wide range of actions over such a long period of time and on such a large area, has contributed in recent years to the stabilization of the population of the species which, combined with the release of captive-bred birds in Bulgaria and the continuation of conservation actions, has brought as a result of this small, and at the same time big, miracle that is happening this spring in Meteora: the return of a new Asproparis to the area!

This fact revives hopes for the future of the most beloved vulture of the Greek countryside, but at the same time makes it imperative to preserve the Asproparidae and to continue the conservation actions for the species at the local and national level. Years of efforts to save the Asproparis can very easily be “blown away” by a single poisoned bait or a power transmission pole and the happy event turns into… a tragedy.

Ornithologia stresses that it is necessary for the competent agencies to do everything in their power to preserve the Asproparidis, as long as they remain in Greek territory and to ensure that the “miracle of the Meteors” will continue. He remains by their side, for all possible help and support, and of course continues the effort to protect this iconic species of bird, in cooperation and with the support of hundreds of people who belong to the Network for the Protection of the White-tailed Eagle, of all ages and from various places . Together, we do miracles!