Bulgarian Saker Falcon Reintroduction Project

In Bulgaria, our Saker Falcon breeding and reintroduction project has revived a species that vanished in the early 2000s. After the last confirmed nesting in 1998, Abu Dhabi launched a conservation program in 2006, partnering with local experts to restore the falcon population. Since 2019, 73 captive-bred Saker Falcons have been released, including 19 in 2023, using the ‘wild hacking’ technique. One tagged falcon has been tracked across Bulgaria and neighboring countries, while two reintroduced pairs successfully bred in the wild in 2023, raising six chicks—a critical milestone in their recovery. Below is a collection of photos from our work on this project.