LIFE helps pigeons fly high and safe

Soaring above the plains of central Bulgaria, flocks of pigeons fly at high altitude for hours on end while their anxious owners track them from the ground below. These are no ordinary birds - specially bred and trained for endurance flying competitions, they are worth significant sums of money to pigeon fanciers who devote their lives to the sport.

But there's danger in the skies. Booted and Lesser Spotted Eagles, Peregrine Falcons and Buzzards occasionally attack and kill high-flying pigeons. Even the critically-endangered Saker Falcon, with just 3 known breeding pairs remaining in Bulgaria, could be at risk from angry pigeon trainers.

'Conflicts between pigeon fanciers and birds of prey remain an overlooked driver of illegal raptor persecution in parts of Europe, particularly in the Balkans,' says Dr Volen Arkumarev of the Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds (BSPB), project manager of LIFE for Falcons , a 5-year, €2.4 million project which runs to the end of 2026. 'When people suffer repeated losses, frustration can quickly turn into negative attitudes toward protected species such as the Saker Falcon and other birds of prey.'

LIFE for Falcons focuses on a rarely addressed but sensitive conservation issue: the conflict between pigeon fanciers and birds of prey. After years of mutual suspicion, conservationists and pigeon fanciers are now working together on the 'High & Safe' campaign - proving that cooperation, trust and innovation can benefit both people and nature.

Pigeon fancier Tosho Georgiev, President of the Plovdiv Pigeon Club, says working with LIFE for Falcons has produced some surprising results. 'I raise my pigeons in open country which is heavily populated by raptors,' he says. 'They cause serious damage. But we've introduced good practices like painting pigeons in different colours to repel raptors, flying them in really tight flocks and flying them higher than the raptors' normal cruising altitude.'

Other innovations designed to confuse raptors included marking pigeons with eye-spots, contrasting bars and reflective tail spray. Some fanciers even painted tail feathers with stripes to mimic birds of prey. All the birds carry hi-tech tracking devices which record altitude, speed, duration and location.

'By combining field experiments, new tracking technology and open dialogue, we built trust with a traditionally hard-to-reach community and demonstrated that coexistence is both realistic and achievable,' says BSPB conservation expert Dr Stoyan Nikolov. 'During 13 monitored high-flying pigeon flights involving 140 pigeons, raptors were frequently observed attacking, yet no pigeons were killed and only two suffered minor injuries - strong evidence that the preventive methods are effective. LIFE for Falcons demonstrates the value of engaging respected pigeon sport champions as ambassadors of conservation. Monitoring showed that adoption of these prevention measures more than doubled among pigeon fanciers within just one year, signalling genuine behavioural change.'

Besides the High & Safe campaign, the project team has been busy building decoy pigeon lofts to provide food for Saker Falcons, restored 100 ha of nesting and hunting habitats, insulated high-voltage electricity pylons, helped authorities prosecute illegal hunters and purchased a further 100 ha of land to protect key prey species such the European ground squirrel .

LIFE for Falcons is one of 36 LIFE projects since 2021 specifically designed to protect endangered birds of prey. Together, they represent more than €5.5 million of EU funding and are critical support for the EU Directives on Birds and Habitats, and for upholding the Nature Restoration Regulation.