The border territories of Bulgaria and Turkiye - a bridge, not a barrier, for the rare birds of the European Green Belt
The BESTbelt project “BirdsBELT“ was successfully completed at the end of October 2025. Besides actively implementing conservation and restoration activities, the project could clearly show the importance of the Balkan Green Belt for two emblematic bird species, the Lesser Kestrel and the Eastern Imperial Eagle.
The border territories of Bulgaria and Turkey, which form part of the Balkan Green Belt, are home to key habitats for the iconic and rare Lesser Kestrel and the Eastern Imperial Eagle. This area is of great importance to both species as it provides them with nesting sites, foraging grounds and premigratory areas.
The BESTbelt project, 'BirdsBELT', was a joint initiative between the Bulgarian NGO Green Balkans and its Turkish partner, the Back to Nature Association. The project aimed to conserve emblematic bird species. Satellite tracking was carried out to identify current threats and bottlenecks in the life cycle of both species. Transmitters provided data on five Imperial Eagles and seven Lesser Kestrels. Initial data analyses show that one of the tracked Imperial Eagles occupied an artificial nest in the border areas that had been specially placed for this purpose by Green Balkans in a previous project. Another of the tracked birds formed a pair and occupied a nesting territory outside the Balkan Green Belt area. Unfortunately, it later died from electrocution. Thanks to tracking the lesser kestrels, five premigratory roosting sites have been identified in Bulgaria near the border.
Data from all transmitters shows that 8,000 sq. km of the Balkan Green Belt's total coverage area of 11,000 sq. km in the two neighbouring countries is inhabited by tracked Imperial Eagles and Lesser Kestrels. This strongly underlines the need to protect this habitat for these two emblematic species.
All presented activities are part of the EU-funded BESTbelt project "BirdsBelt", which was implemented by Green Balkans - Stara Zagora NGO in cooperation with Association of Back to Nature from November 2023 to October 2025.
For more information, please contact:
Stilyana Yaneva – Project manager of Green Balkans; syaneva(at)greenbalkans.org
Website: https://lesserkestrellife.greenbalkans.org/
* Note: Additional data from the project "LIFE for Lesser Kestrel" LIFE19 NAT/BG/001017, implemented with the support of Programme LIFE of the European Union, was used for the tracking of the Lesser Kestrel.