THE BLACK VULTURE IN EXTREMADURA: 2013 CENSUS

The Government of Extremadura has published the results of the Black Vulture (also known as Monk or Cinereous Vulture) (Aegypius monachus) census of 2013 (see link), showing the highest ever known population of 897 breeding pairs. Furthermore, the breeding success of 806 pairs was monitored, showing that 590 young fledged, in other words a breeding success of 73%.  The first Black Vulture censuses, albeit only partially completed, were from 1974, when only 86 pairs were known in the whole region. With the passing of time, the quality of the censuses has significantly improved, but there was also a true increase in the population with the figures in 1990 reaching 404 pairs, in 2000 610 pairs and in 2006 to 829 breeding pairs. Since then the population has remained, with small fluctuations, between 800 and 900 pairs. One must take into account that this type of census will always underestimate the real population, owing to the difficulty of determining if pairs do breed or because some nests remain undetected (in order to do a thorough census it is reckoned that 16 visits are necessary). Notwithstanding these caveats, it is clear that Extremadura has the most important Black Vulture population in Europe. For further information about the population, evolution and distribution of the Black Vulture in Extremadura read here

THE CINEREOUS VULTURE IN EXTREMADURA. 1974-2009.

The minutes have recently been published of the International Cinereous Vulture (Aegypius monachus) Symposium held in Córdoba in 2004. It stands to reason, given the important Extremadura population of this species, that several of the published contents should refer to this region. The huge time-lag between the event itself and the publication of these minutes means that some of the articles have already fallen behind the times. Luckily, some of the submitted papers have been updated. This is the case of an article dealing with the Extremadura Cinereous Vulture population, with additional figures from 2009 phased in (Caldera, 2012). Tapping into this data, we have compiled the published figures on this species in Extremadura, from the first estimates of 1974 up to the 2009 count. The results are displayed in the following table (click on it to open it up).

In more intuitive form the following graph shows clearly the upward trend in Extremadura's Cinereous Vulture population, although the population of the early years was greatly underestimated. The figures are more trustworthy from 1990 onwards. We also show the trend over time of the two biggest colonies, Sierra de San Pedro and Monfragüe. Bear in mind here that the figures refer to pairs that start breeding, so the actual population, including non-breeding birds and those undetected due to methodological reasons, is higher. In 2006 the breeding population was 829 pairs in Extremadura whereas the actual population is estimated to have been over 1200 pairs (De la Puente et al., 2007).

The lower map below shows the distribution (modified from Costillo, 2004). To match the colonies with the figures of the top table, the three northern colonies, marked with in green (Sierra de Gata), light blue (Las Hurdes) and dark blue circles (Granadilla) are considered to be a single group. In the southwest lie the big colony of Sierra de San Pedro (grey circles) and Tajo-Salor (dark green). In the centre-east of Cáceres lie Monfragüe (yellow, as from 2004 it has spread westwards) and Los Ibores (pink), which should really be taken to be a single unit. In the northeast of Badajoz are the two small clusters of Cíjara (red) and La Siberia (white; dying out in 2012). The original map dates from 2004 so it does not include the new expansion areas, which have been added on with a larger coloured circle: Canchos de Ramiro (red), Cañaveral (light green), Montáchez (blue) and Villuercas (orange). This latter cluster does not figure in any official count but birds are known to have nested there since 2007 (one certain pair and another probable), as recorded in the Extremadura Ornithological Yearbook (Anuario Ornitológico de Extremadura: Herrera et al., 2011).

Sources: 

- Caldera J. 2012. El buitre negro Aegypius monachus en Extremadura (España), pp. 38-40. In: Dobado, P. M. and Arenas, R. (coords). El Buitre Negro: Situación, Conservación y Estudios. Actas del Primer Simposium Internacional sobre el Buitre Negro Aegypius monachus (Córdoba, Spain, 21-23 October 2004). Consejería de Medio Ambiente de la Junta de Andalucía. 

- Costillo, E. 2004. El buitre negro en Extremadura. Doctoral Thesis . Universidad de Extremadura. 

- De la Puente, J., Moreno-Opo, R. and del Moral, J. C. 2007. El Buitre Negro en España: Censo Nacional (2006). SEO/BirdLife. Madrid. 

- Dobado, P. M. and Arenas, R. (coords). 2012. El Buitre Negro: Situación, Conservación y Estudios. Actas del Primer Simposium Internacional sobre el Buitre Negro Aegypius monachus (Córdoba, España, 21-23 October 2004). Consejería de Medio Ambiente de la Junta de Andalucía. 

- Herrera, J. A., Cerezo, J. and N. Baeza. 2011. Buitre negro Aegypius monachus. In, Prieta, J. and Mayordomo, S. Aves de Extremadura, vol. 4. 2004-2008. SEO-Cáceres. Plasencia.

- Rodríguez, Á. 2012. El buitre negro Aegypius monachus en el Parque Nacional de Monfragüe (Cáceres, Extremadura, España), pp. 223-226. In: Dobado, P. M. and Arenas, R. (coords). El Buitre Negro: Situación, Conservación y Estudios. Actas del Primer Simposium Internacional sobre el Buitre Negro Aegypius monachus (Córdoba, España, 21-23 October 2004). Consejería de Medio Ambiente de la Junta de Andalucía.

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

MONK VULTURES SANS FRONTIÈRES

One of the Monk Vulture chicks born in Portugal being held by the Portuguese wildlife officer Carlos Pacheco (collaborator in some of SEO/BirdLife’s projects in Cáceres)
At last, after years of expectation, the Extremadura Monk Vulture colony in Tajo Internacional has decided to cross the border and start breeding in Portugal. This Cáceres colony of about 60 established pairs of Monk Vulture (also known as Cinereous Vulture and Black Vulture) has been nesting for some time at the end of the valley called Valle del Salor, within the "Tajo Internacional" Nature Park. Although birds from the colony often wandered into Portugal, they never actually nested in the neighbouring country, where the species was considered to be extinct as a breeder [although the media claim that the Monk Vulture had not bred in Portugal for 40 years, according to Infante (2004) there have been two confirmed cases of breeding, one in 1994 and the other in 2003]. All previous Portuguese attempts to expand the colony into their country, for example by installing artificial nests, had failed up to now. But it’s never too late...., in 2010 came the excellent news of three breeding territories being taken up on the Portuguese side of the border, two of which produced young. But the birds were beset by problems. The first pair failed when the nest fell at the start of incubation. Chicks hatched in the other two nests, in Holm Oaks, but they were blown down by gales in June and the chicks fell to the ground, where they were hastily rescued. One was in a critical state and needed intensive care in a specialist centre. Both chicks, baptised Aramil and Tajo, were then returned to their territories, duly marked with radio transmitters. Two artificial nests were built for that purpose, in the exact place where the original nests had fallen. There they completed their normal development. These three Portuguese pairs are very likely to have come from Extremadura.

Gala, the first Monk Vulture chick born in the Pyrenees for one hundred years, rests in her nest with a transmitter fitted to her back.

Good news involving Monk Vultures of Extremadura origin also came from the Catalan Pyrenees, where the species has bred for the first time in a century. In this case the "colonisation" needed human help, in the form of the successful reintroduction project begun in 2007. Between 2007 and 2009 a total of 27 birds bred in captivity in rehabilitation centres were released in the area, many coming from the "Los Hornos" rehabilitation centre in Cáceres. As at June 2010 14 birds remained in the release area (Boumort and Alinya in the Pyrenees of Lleida), 3 are in dispersal and 10 others have been found dead or have disappeared. In 2010 three mature pairs bonded. One of them involves two birds from Extremadura: Perla (a 7-year-old female released in 2007) and Portell (a 4-year old male released in 2007); this pair has built a nest and successfully reared a female chick called Gala, who took her maiden flight on 24 September. Another prime aim of the project was to create a nexus between the French and Iberian populations and this is also proving successful because French Monk Vultures and others from southwest Iberia are regularly being seen in the area. The released vultures also roam over a wide area covering part of France and nearly the whole of the Iberian Peninsula. Witness Obaga, a female born in captivity in 2009 and released this year; in spring 2010 it mingled with the colonies of Monfragüe and Sierra de San Pedro as well as passing through the East Coast, Cádiz, Sierra Morena, Montes de Toledo and Aragón.

These two success stories are matched by others in France, Mallorca, Bulgaria, Greece, etc, where Monk Vultures from Extremadura are being used in reintroduction or reinforcement projects (see our blog SEO-Cáceres). 1992 saw the start of one of the most successful of these projects in the French Massif Central, where 30 pairs have now settled down, meaning that the French population is now the second biggest in Europe.

This information has been culled from the website: Pelanatureza (Portugal), Grefa and the reintroduction project in the Pyrenees. The photographs have been taken from http://www.grefa.org/.

Infante, S. (2004). Status and Conservation of the Black Vulture in Portugal. International Symposium on the Black Vulture Aegypius monachus. Córdoba. España.