Juvenile Egyptian Vulture tagged with a GPS/GSM transmitter in Bulgaria migrated to Egypt
25.11.2008More information about the case:
In early October, Green Balkans’ team released a juvenile Egyptian Vulture (Neophron percnopterus) tagged with a GPS/GSM transmitter back into the wild. The purpose of this action was tracking the migration of the bird, studying its wintering areas, vagrant period, and other ecological details and peculiarities of the species. There is scanty information about the Bulgarian population of this species (Meyburg et al. 2004) and obviously it needs to be supplemented. Gathering such data would contribute to the overall conservation of the Egyptian Vulture as for the past years there has been a serious decrease of the population of this species.
The enclosed map presenting the biome types according to ESRI shows the locations of the tagged Egyptian Vulture in the period November 11th-13th. The data shows that the bird went across Israel, reached Egypt, and perhaps “headed” southward. This is the first data showing the location of the bird after the release in the Bulgarian part of the Eastern Rhodope Mountains – in the Byala Reka river valley. Unfortunately, for technical reasons, there is no information on how the bird reached these territories.
Hopefully, the transmitter will continue functioning and sending information.
This modern technology is used for the studying of the Egyptian Vulture thanks to the Spanish company EagleEye® (WWW.EAGLEEYE.ES) as the equipment was provided for free by Luis Escribano and Victor Garcia developing the technology. The device was mounted on the bird by Mr. Garcia during his visit to Bulgaria.
The data gathered so far shows not only the birds’ positions, but also proves the efficiency of the treatment and the adaptation of the vulture to the natural living environment.
Background:
In August, the juvenile Egyptian Vulture was put up at Green Balkans’ Rescue Center thanks to an action carried out by “Rusensky Lom” Nature Park. The park staff had found the juvenile individual in the nest in poor condition and transported it to the Rescue Center. The veterinarians of the Rescue Center diagnosed A-vitamin deficiency and subsequent bacterial infection of the upper respiratory tract. Therefore, the bird had to undergo medical treatment and rehabilitation at the Rescue Center. Although long, the therapy was successful and the bird was released back into the wild. The release site was the platform for artificial feeding of vultures in the Eastern Rhodope Mountains managed by Green Balkans.
Green Balkans has been working for the conservation of vultures since early 1990s. In 2008 the Organization implements a project supporting the Black and Egyptian Vultures in the area of the Byala Reka River (Eastern Rhodopes), funded by the People’s Trust for Endangered Species (www.ptes.org)
For further information please contact:
Dr. Hristina Klisurova, hhristova@greenbalkans.org
Dr. Sashka Vitanova, svitanova@greenbalkans.org
Gradimir Gradev, ggradev@greenbalkans.org
