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The team of the Project “Conservation of Falco cherrug in NE-Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia” (LIFE09 NAT/HU/000348) had a good year for saving this globally endangered species in Bulgaria. The baseline survey showed the existence of one pair in the Project territory, although its breeding is still unclear. Minimum 4 different Saker Falcons spent most of the winter in North-Eastern Bulgaria. For the first time the fact that through Bulgaria migrate not only Hungarian, but also Ukrainian and Slovak Sakers, was proven. It happened due to the satellite transmitters, put by the Hungarian and Slovak partners of the Project.

Hungarian Sakers had a more successful year than in 2010: in total 425 juveniles fledged from 144 successful breeding, which means 2,95 juveniles / nest on average. By comparison: that number was 2,6 in the extremely rainy year of 2010.

In the 10th Conference of Parties of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (also known as Bonn Convention), two species of birds of prey, the Red-footed Falcon and the Saker Falcon have been listed in the Appendix I. The proposal originated from Hungary and it was submitted officially by the European Union. The higher conservation category means more attention and more funds for the species listed in Appendix I. In case of Saker Falcon it is especially needed as the Central Asian core population has been decreasing at a dramatic rate, as latest data from 2011 confirms again.

On the 15th of September 2011 the employees of the Milvus Group working at the Saker Falcon LIFE+ project (Conservation of Falco cherrug in NE Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia) took a field trip to Vojvodina, the northern part of Serbia.

Another Saker has been electrocuted a few days ago, this time in Turkey. The victim is a satellite-tracked 1cy Crimean Saker. It has been the fifth satellite-tracked Saker killed by electrocution since 2007. By summarising the data, it can be seen that electrocution has a significant impact on the Saker population.