Birds of Prey Return to the Fire-Stricken Dadia National Park in Greece

Rare birds of prey have returned to the devastated from last year’s fires at Dadia National Park in north-eastern Greece, environmental groups say.

The Dadia National Park is Greece’s biggest Natura 2000 site, known for its black vulture colony and other big birds, such as the golden and white-tailed eagles.

In late August 2023, a wildfire burned uncontrollably for weeks and was declared the largest the EU has ever faced. It destroyed homes and caused multiple evacuations of villages and the Alexandroupolis hospital.

Eighteen migrants perished in the wildfire. Their charred bodies were discovered by firefighters in the Dadia Forest.

The forest was devastated by the fire that burned about 73,000 hectares (730 square kilometers or 282 square miles). About half the forest area is estimated to have been burned.

Birds of prey have now returned to Dadia National Park

However, birds of prey have now returned, the Natural Environment and Climate Change Agency (NECCA), a body supervised by the Environment and Energy Ministry, says.

“The breeding season for birds of prey in the Dadia National Forest Park is in full swing,” it reports. It adds that all previously recorded populations of reproductive-age cinereous vultures have nested, on the remaining trees or several burned-out ones still standing. A couple was also spotted on one of several artificial nesting places put up by NECCA.

The vulture’s reproductive season started in January and hatchlings have already appeared. Other big birds have also nested and migratory birds are appearing, NECCA said.

A biologist for the agency said that they were surprised that all birds came back and did not seek other areas to nest. But, she added, it remains to be seen when the burned-out trees finally fall down and the landscape becomes more barren.

The Dadia-Lefkimi-Soufli Forest National Park –as its official name– is one of the most important protected areas at national, European, and international scales.

It is one of the first areas in Greece to be declared as protected since a great deal of flora and fauna species found in the Balkan Peninsula, Europe and Asia coexist here.

The landscape mosaic formed by pine and oak forests, interrupted by clearings, pastures and fields is the ideal habitat for birds of prey.

Surveys have recorded at least sixty species of mammals, twelve species of amphibians, twenty-nine reptilian species, and over a hundred butterfly species. There are also anywhere between three to four hundred different plant species.