Podcast in English
Text size
Bulgarian National Radio © 2025 All Rights Reserved

An eagle traveller from Bulgaria's Dobrudzha is flying over Africa

Photo: sidp.bg

From September 2023, Iliya the Eagle has been flying above Africa and for the second year in a row has been circling above Congo, Zambia and Botswana, where summer is in full swing. The bird, which acquired a transmitter under the "Eagle's Lands and Forests" project, turned out to be the biggest travelлer among all the lesser spotted eagles that ornithologists from the Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds have been monitoring for several years. 


Iliya hatched in 2022 in a nest near the village of Alexandria in the Dobrich region. The bird was discovered by the ornithologist Mikhail Iliev, who is also the godfather of the eagle. Last year they expected Iliya to return to Bulgaria, but all summer the bird wandered around Turkey, crossing thousands of kilometers along the Black Sea coast, around the city of Eskisehir and Ankara. 

The little eagle from Bulgaria is the only one with a transmitter under the project which did not return to its homeland.



Последвайте ни и в Google News Showcase, за да научите най-важното от деня!
Listen to the daily news from Bulgaria presented in "Bulgaria Today" podcast, available in Spotify.

More from category

Nina Vasileva-Zaneshev and her calling to inspire Bulgarians in Austria

Bulgarian compatriot Nina Vasileva-Zaneshev is one of the examples among the diaspora abroad, who give us confidence that wherever they are in the world, Bulgarian communities will not lose their connection with Bulgaria. Born in a..

published on 11/10/25 2:15 PM
Бял бряст

Two 200-year old trees granted protected status

Minister of the Environment and Water Manol Genov has granted two centuries-old trees – each of which approximately 200 years old – protected status, the ministry has announced. One of them, a European white elm (Ulmus laevis), is 24 metres tall..

published on 11/9/25 2:30 PM

The way to a Bulgarian’s heart is through… pickles

Everyone knows that as soon as temperatures start going down it is pickle-making season. Making preserves at home is a time-honoured and widespread tradition in this country, and, in this season, practically every family in Bulgaria sets about making..

published on 11/8/25 11:05 AM