Vulture Conservation Foundation news bulletin
June 2020
Transporting Spanish Cinereous Vultures to Bulgaria and France for reintroduction projects
We have been collaborating with our Spanish colleagues for years now to obtain wild-hatched vultures for different reintroduction and restocking projects.
This year, we secured and transported a total of 20 Cinereous Vultures for two different reintroduction projects in Bulgaria and France, where the species went extinct. These birds hatched in the wild and entered recovery centres as they were suffering from malnutrition or health issues. Thanks to the dedicated team at the recovery centres, the birds made a full recovery and were able to return to the wild.
AMUS has been rehabilitating fifteen Cinereous Vultures that were donated by the Junta Extremadura for the past couple of months until they were healthy for their transfer to their new home. The Green Balkans received these birds after travelling over 4000 km by land and placed them in aviaries to acclimatize to their new Balkan environment. The Vultures Back to LIFE project will soon release them to the wild as part of the effort to bring the species back to Bulgaria.
After spending a couple of months in several Andalusian recovery centres (CREA), the five Cinereous Vultures, donated by the Junta de Andalucía, were ready to return to the wild. They safely arrived in France and will be released in Verdon as part of the reintroduction project. This is the last transport of its kind since the French population is now considered self-sustaining!
We have been releasing captive-bred Bearded Vultures alongside our partners for over 30 years now to reintroduce or restock their populations to the wild! Since this May, we have released 18 Bearded Vultures across different locations in France, Spain and Switzerland, and we will release at least two more in Andalusia.
Latest news from our vulture conservation projects
Vultures Back to LIFE led by Green Balkans and the Fund for Wild Flora and Fauna, aims to reintroduce the Cinereous Vulture back to Bulgaria since it was declared extinct in the 1980s.
LIFE GypConnect led by LPO and co-funded by the MAVA Foundation aims to create a breeding population in France's Massif Central and Department of the Drôme to connect the Alpine and Pyrenean populations of Bearded Vultures.
The LIFE with Vultures project, led by BirdLife Cyprus, aims to save the threatened Griffon Vulture population in Cyprus by tackling key threats and restocking their population.
The LIFE Rupis project, led by Portuguese wildlife organisation SPEA and co-funded by the MAVA Foundation, is working in the cross-border Douro region of Spain and Portugal to protect and strengthen the populations of Egyptian Vultures and Bonelli's Eagle.
In our latest research update, we provide a list of recent vulture-related research articles published between November 2019 to June 2020. These research articles cover a range of topics including movement ecology, environmental contaminants, population dynamics as well as conservation measures and methods for monitoring and research.
Monitoring vultures with GPS tags allows us to understand their behaviour and track their movements, which helps inform targeted conservation actions. With the International Bearded Vulture Monitoring Network (IBM), we follow and analyse the movements of 40+ tagged birds together with our local partners. You can see the latest movements of these captive-bred and wild-hatched Bearded Vultures monitored across seven regions in Europe.
You can also track the movements of all of Europe's vultures species we tagged within our different projects and regions by visiting our online public maps.
