WINTERING EGYPTIAN VULTURE IN EXTREMADURA. 2012-2013.

In an earlier post of this blog we reported regular wintering of Egyptian Vulture (Neophron percnopterus) in one particular spot of the province of Cáceres. February has now arrived and the first Egyptian Vultures will soon be back from Africa, so, before spring migrants muddy the figures, now is the time to report on wintering birds 2012-2013 in Extremadura. According to Ángel Rodríguez and Manuela Rodríguez, who have monitored the only known winter roost in Cáceres, the maximum count was 49 Egyptian Vultures, about 40% of them immatures. The above photo was taken by Ángel Sánchez on 2 February 2013 at this 36-strong roost (Roberto Sánchez, Isabel Alcántara, Angel Luis Sánchez, Manuela Rodríguez, Jesús Sánchez, Angel Rodríguez, Fermi Martínez and Ángel Sánchez). The graph shows the peak numbers detected in this wintering spot (information is missing for 2007-2008). After the all-time low of only seven birds in 2012-2013, numbers have soared to an all-time high this winter.

OVERWINTERING EGYPTIAN VULTURES IN CÁCERES PROVINCE

Egyptian Vulture (Neophron percnopterus). One of the birds, a subadult, overwintering in Cáceres. December 2008. By Miguel Ángel Muńoz "Memole".

The Egyptian Vulture (Neophron percnopterus) is a summer visitor to mainland Spain, though there are resident populations in the Canary and Balearic archipelagos. In Doñana, however, a small overwintering population of 20-30 birds built up in the late twentieth century, than falling away to only four birds in 2009 and 2010 (EBD/CSIC). Although there have been one-off records of wintering Egyptian Vultures in Extremadura since 1990, it is only recently that a small wintering population has been found in the centre-west of Cáceres Province.

Complete overwintering was not confirmed until 2008/2009. Further research then unearthed regular wintering records in the zone since at least 2001 and maybe even as far back as the eighties of last century. The birds show plumage of all ages, ranging from juvenile to adult, though no proportion has been established between them.

The enclosed graph shows the peak figures of wintering Egyptian Vulture sightings since 2006, ranging from 7 to 24. Apparently, the wintering of Egyptian Vultures in this area is linked to the farming practice of dumping livestock offal. At the end of 2011, the environmental section of Spain's Guardia Civil, Seprona, banned this practice. Since then the offal has been dumped in containers, with serious knock-on effects for the Egyptian Vultures, their numbers falling sharply thereafter. Since 2006, wintering Egyptian Vultures have been seen at least in the following municipalities of the centre-west of Cáceres: Brozas, Alcántara, Acehúche, Portezuelo, Torrejoncillo, Portaje, Pescueza, Cachorrilla, Coria, Calzadilla, Casas de Millán, Mirabel and Serradilla. There were also three more sightings in the Llanos de Cáceres-Trujillo (Aldea del Cano, Belén-Trujillo and Monroy) and one in the north of Badajoz Province(La Roca de la Sierra).

The graph was drawn up from the valuable information furnished by Andrés Rodríguez, Miguel Ángel Muńoz, Iván Solana and Antonio Justiniano Julián.

Sources:
- Estación Biológica de Doñana (EBD/CSIC). Informes de seguimiento de procesos naturales en el Espacio Natural de Doñana [download reports].
- Noticiarios Ardeola. No 56:157-158, 57:224-225 y 58:202.
- Prieta, J., y Mayordomo, S. 2011. Aves de Extremadura, vol. 4. 2004-2008. SEO-Cáceres. Plasencia.

THE JOURNEY OF "SAHEL", AN EGYPTIAN VULTURE

Bird migration is a fascinating subject. We watch with awe as birds of all sizes clock up journeys of thousands of kilometres under their own steam in only a few days, living each year in two (or sometimes even three) different continents. The new technologies, especially satellite tracking, have revolutionised our knowledge of migration. We can now keep abreast of it day by day, find out the routes used, the speed and height flown at, the stopover points, etc. All you need to do is drop into a website. Sitting comfortably in front of a PC screen, anyone nowadays can thrill to the epic journeys, not always with a happy outcome, of storks, raptors, gulls and waders, courtesy of generous promoters who furnish us with the information. In Spain, unfortunately, this information is not always so forthcoming. It's easier to keep track of birds marked in Holland, Estonia or even Australia than others born in our own country. As always, happily, there are exceptions. WWF and Fundación Biodiversidad have set up a magnificent website we can dip into at will to marvel at the odyssey of four Segovia Egyptian Vultures, one immature male and three adults (two females and one male). This is the second year of the project. Unfortunately, one of the stars of the first journey, the male Atlas, died poisoned in Siruela (Badajoz). The female Vega survived and is once more being spied on this second time around.

We recommend dropping into the website "el viaje del alimoche" before reading the following nutshell account of the journey of Sahel, the only inmature of these four Egyptian Vultures and the only one that passed through Extremadura. All of them are now in Mauritania, in the same zone where they wintered in 2009, after clocking up 3000 km, sometimes flying at 95 km/hour at a height of 2000 metres. Sahel was the first to leave the Hoces de Riaza (Segovia) on 30 August, the three adults then following suit on 12 and 15 September. It first headed west for Salamanca, where it spent some time near Ciudad Rodrigo. The real journey begun on 5 September when it headed south through the Sierra de Gata (Descargamaría, Santibáñez el Alto), the Cáceres plains (Coria, Portaje, Garrovillas, Cáceres) and the province of Badajoz (Mérida and Zafra). On 7 September Sahel entered Andalucía; after overflying Sevilla it reached the Straits of Gibraltar on 8 September. In two days it had crossed the whole 400 km of Extremadura and needed only four to leave Spain completely. On 9 September its stepped up its pace, arriving at the Moroccan Atlas mountains after crossing the strait in a nonstop 500 km stage. Here it rested up a while to gird its loins for the Sahara crossing. On 12 September it entered the great desert, passing through Algeria and Mali before reaching its final destination in the Mauritanian Sahel on 20 September. A sixteen-day voyage. Its virtual companions took a little longer, reaching the same destination between 27 and 30 September. Best of luck to all of them. We'll see you next spring.

Read other Egyptian Vulture entries in Birds of Extremadura.

PRESS REPORTS OF VULTURES IN EXTREMADURA

Monk Vulture (Aegypius monachus). Llanos de Cáceres, 1-11-2010 (Carlos Fernández)

There have recently been some press reports of vultures in Extremadura (read here, read here). With the logical caveats, we pass on some of this information below.

- Since 1993 Extremadura has donated 71 Monk Vultures, 151 Griffon Vultures and 5 Egyptian Vultures to reintroduction projects in Catalunya, the Balearics, France, Italy, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Greece, among others. Most were juveniles from wildlife rescue centres.

- In the last ten years the Los Hornos Wildlife Rescue Centre (Centro de Recuperación Los Hornos) in Sierra de Fuentes has taken in and cared for 938 Griffon Vultures, 217 Monk Vultures and 32 Egyptian Vultures. Malnutrition cases have soared since 2005.

- In the whole region, according to government figures, there are 859 pairs of Monk Vulture and 166 pairs of Egyptian Vulture. Sierra de San Pedro and Monfragüe boast the biggest colonies of Monk Vulture, with 352 and 315 pairs respectively; the colony of Sierra de Gata is home to 54 pairs [N.B. in none of these cases is the year mentioned].

- Since 2003 the Regional Council of Extremadura (Junta de Extremadura) has verified 98 cases of vulture poisoning.

Check out related blog entries: Egyptian Vulture, Griffon Vulture, Rüppell's Vulture, Monk Vulture

THE EGYPTIAN VULTURE IN EXTREMADURA (2008)

In 2008 SEO/BirdLife promoted the 3rd National Egyptian Vulture Census (Neophron percnopterus). A total of 179 pairs were found in Extremadura, although 12 are rated as only probable breeders. The shareout between Extremadura's two provinces is very uneven, Cáceres weighing in with 80% (143 pairs; 12 probable) and Badajoz with the remaining 20% (36 pairs). Although the coverage was good, the census probably understates the real population due to the difficulty of censusing the species (it is calculated that 3 visits per territory will detect only 75% of the population). These figures mean that the region ranks third in importance nationwide, behind Castilla y León and Aragón, accounting for 11.5% of the 1452-1556 pairs found in the nationwide census. Broken down by provinces, Cáceres boasts the country's biggest Egyptian Vulture population, ahead of Huesca and Navarre; while Badajoz ranks in a modest 18th place nationwide. The mean regional density was 0.42 pairs per 100 km2, well above the national mean density of 0.3). Cáceres recorded a much higher density (0.79) than Badajoz (0.16).

The Egyptian Vulture has an ample range throughout the province of Cáceres; it is missing only in flat areas (river plains of Alagón and Tiétar, Llanos de Brozas, Cáceres, Trujillo y Zorita) and some mountainous areas such as the Sierra de Gata. In the northern third of the province there are three small clusters: Las Hurdes (2 pairs), Alagón medio (3) and Gredos (7). The rest of the territory is occupied fairly evenly: centre-east, in the final half of Alcántara reservoir, including Canchos de Ramiro (19 pairs); Monfragüe (34); the area southwest of Monfragüe, between Cañaveral and the rivers Almonte and Tamuja (9); southwest of the province, taking in the Tajo Internacional, Sierra de San Mamede and the rivers Aurela and Salor (30); Sierra de San Pedro (12); Ibores and Villuercas (25) and three isolated pairs in Montánchez, Llanos de Cáceres and Trujillo. Particularly worthy of note is the high density recorded in Monfragüe, Tajo internacional and Canchos de Ramiro. The species is scarcer and more local in the province of Badajoz, where it breeds in La Siberia (10 pairs), La Serena (11), central sierras (6) and Alburquerque-Sierra de San Pedro (9). Broadly speaking the Egyptian Vulture is a rock nester on cliffs and crags in extensive livestock rearing areas. Curiously enough, however, this census unearthed one Cáceres pair of Egyptian Vulture breeding in a White Stork's nest in a Stone Pine (Pinus pinea). This was apparently the only tree nest in Spain in 2008, although there are past records of two pairs breeding on Holm Oak and Pyrenean Oak in 1990 in Salamanca.

There is little to go on in terms of breeding performance. In the province of Cáceres 81 pairs began incubation with a failure rate thereafter of 18% (15 pairs). Likewise, a sample of 34 nests with initiated breeding in Monfragüe and Tajo Internacional shows a breeding success rate of 1.03 young per pair that began breeding and a fledgling rate of 1.25. Both figures were the best recorded in Spain in 2008, well above the respective national means of 0.88 and 1.03. They should be taken with some caution, however, in default of any detailed information about the monitoring procedure.

The published figures suggest that the Egyptian Vulture in Extremadura is recording a steadily upward trend. Each census has always recorded higher figures than the previous one. The 50% increase recorded from 1987 (108 pairs) to 1992 (151 pairs) is due mainly to increased efficiency of the census. In the eight year period running from 1992 to 2000 the population increased by 13% up to 170 pairs; in the next eight year period, running from 2000 to 2008, the growth rate was 5%, increasing to 179 pairs. Given that it is impossible to ascertain how far this increase is due to a better knowledge of the species, the most prudent conclusion to draw is that the Egyptian Vulture is holding steady in Extremadura.

Between the censuses of 2000 and 2008, 42 territories were apparently abandoned while 61 new ones were taken up. These are very high figures that do not tally with the findings of other better studied areas; they could therefore be due to differences in criteria and quality from one census to another. At provincial level the situation seems to be better in Cáceres, where a certain growth is observed, than in Badajoz where the population seems to be stable. On a smaller scale, local differences are observed within the general scenario of ongoing stability, with a continuation of the abovementioned pre-2000 trend of abandoned territories in peripheral areas and new territories taken up in areas of lower density. Such are the cases of Monfragüe, Tajo Internacional and Villuercas, where real increases are recorded; conversely, declines have been observed in northern Cáceres or La Siberia in Badajoz. It should be pointed out here that cases of poisoning have been discovered in the latter district, and this may well be behind the specie's decline.

The 2008 Extremadura Egyptian-Vulture census was carried out by the Dirección General del Medio Natural (Environment Board) of the Junta de Extremadura (Regional Council of Extremadura), with subsequent addition of information from SEO-Cáceres.

Sources:
Prieta, J. 2009. El alimoche común en Extremadura. Pp. 106-109.
Prieta, J. 2009. El alimoche común en Badajoz. Pp. 109-111.
Prieta, J. 2009. El alimoche común en Cáceres. Pp. 111-114.
In: Del Moral, J. C. (Ed). 2009. El alimoche común en España. Población reproductora en 2008 y método de censo. SEO/BirdLife. Madrid.