Hope for the Egyptian Vulture
One of the successful conservation activities implemented under the EAZA supported project resulted in the guarding of one of the most threatened nests of Egyptian vultures in Rousenski Lom Nature Park (near the Romanian border). By the end of the incubation the male disappeared for 20 days but the female continued incubating. During the hatching food was provided every day for the female and chick. After 20 days the male returned but unfortunately with an injured wing. Food was therefore also provided to him. In September 2010, just before migration the juvenile fledged and the male was fully recovered.
In April 2010 BSPB helped colleagues in Doga Dernegi/BirdLifeTurkey to start a long term study on the Egyptian Vulture. A field study was organised after a week’s training and resulted in 49 pairs of Egyptian vultures being found west from Ankara. Other conservation activities include the development and testing of supplementary feeding with small quantities and ringing of 25 juveniles.
BSPB have also tagged a juvenile vulture with a satellite transmitter. Until now the only information on wintering grounds was from a juvenile tagged in Bulgaria back in 2001. The satellite tracking showed that Chad in Central Africa could very well be the main wintering area for the Bulgarian Egyptian Vultures and probably the Balkan’s too. BSPB received data daily with the geographic coordinates indicating the location of the bird every two hours. When reaching the central parts of Chad the vulture started decreasing the average distance from 300km to 70-80 km. It eventually stopped its migratory behaviour and settled in a small area inhabited by pastoralist livestock herders near the Fitri lake, 120 km east of the lake Chad and the capital city N`djamena.
See the route the juvenile vulture flew from Bulgaria to Chad below.
As part of the awareness activities lectures were given in Sofia Zoo, the American College in Sofia and at several local schools in the breeding areas of the species.
For more information about the activities go to the BSPB Egyptian Vulture website. The website is frequently being updated but is still under development. It should soon be fully functioning.