It has been three years since the Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds (BSPB) started tracking the journeys and adventures of the Great white pelican named Vaya. On September 15, 2021, the team successfully captured and tagged a female Great white pelican with a satellite transmitter in the area of Lake Burgas. This is the first Great white pelican tagged with a transmitter in Bulgaria.

At the end of February, one of the six Dalmatian pelicans fitted with a satellite transmitter late last year was detected transmitting data from the same spot for several days.

Over the past two months, two Dalmatian pelicans tagged with GPS transmitters have died. At the end of January, the young female pelican Stella was found dead in the area of Lake Mandrа near Burgas in Bulgaria, and a few weeks later, in the area of Lake Golovița in Romania, located north of the city of Constanța, the body of the adult female pelican Plamena was discovered. In both cases, the cause of death was entanglement in fishing nets, likely followed by drowning of the birds.

A few weeks ago, the Hellenic Ornithological Society (HOS) completed another successful tagging and ringing mission in the National Park of the Messolonghi – Aitoliko Lagoon. The bird, named ‘Lilo’, has become the latest member of the team of Dalmatian pelicans tagged with a satellite transmitter within the Pelican Way of LIFE initiative in Western Greece.

A collaborative effort involving the Danube Delta National Research and Development Institute (INCDDD), the Romanian Ornithological Society (SOR), and the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve Administration (ARBDD) successfully fitted six Dalmatian pelicans with GPS-GSM satellite transmitters during late November and early December.

At the end of November and the beginning of December, a team from the Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds (BSPB) captured and successfully ringed four Dalmatian pelicans, placing satellite transmitters on three of them. The birds were tagged in the Burgas Lakes area.

It’s been two years since the Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds began monitoring the travels and escapades of Vaya, the Great White pelican.

At the end of August, a team from the Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds (BSPB) successfully captured and tagged an adult male Great White Pelican with a satellite transmitter in the Burgas Lake area. Furthermore, the team also affixed a ring to an adult female pelican of the same species.

In July, experts from the Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds (BSPB) successfully captured and tagged with a GPS transmitter a Dalmatian pelican in Albania. The action was done on request and in cooperation with the team of Protection and Preservation of Nature in Albania (PPNEA), as BSPB experts have big experience and expertise in capturing and tagging pelicans.

In the last few weeks, the team of the Hellenic Ornithological Society visited Messolonghi and Amvrakikos Gulf in order to coordinate tagging and monitoring activities of Dalmatian pelican chicks in the two important breeding colonies of the species.