Thanks to effective cross border collaboration between NGOs, governments of Portugal and Spain, making life possible for a young Egyptian vulture! The young vulture was found weakened in western Portugal and has been fully healed and now released near Acehúche, Cáceres in Spain, the only wintering area for the species in Europe.
The vulture was found weakened and disoriented in a very densely populated area in northwest Portugal, outside its normal range. He got lost in the beginning of his first migration, leading himself to an area with little quantity of food.
The bird was given to the environmental unit of the Portuguese police (SEPNA-GNR) and then taken to the veterinary hospital of the university of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro for health care. After nearly 2 months in recovery, its health was good enough to give him back his freedom!
On Thursday 31st October, the Egyptian vulture named Iberia was freed near the main wintering area of Europe, in Estremadura, not far from the Portuguese border.
This was possible due to the effective and rapid coordination between the government and organizations of Portugal, Estremadura in Spain and VCF. Jesus Moreno, director general for sustainability the of regional government of Estremadura, Luisa Jorge from the ICNF, the Portuguese government’s statutory conservation agency and others member of Spanish and Portuguese NGOs were present at the release of Iberia, illustrating this cross-border cooperation, necessary for the preservation of Egyptian vultures.
Before its release, Iberia wore a satellite transmitter (given by VCF and funded by the MAVA foundation) to watch its movements. With the transmitter, they observed that, contrary what they imagined, Iberia did not stay with other members of the population on the wintering site and was gone after a few days in direction of south east. It took a south easterly route and missed Gibraltar, and arrived at the Mediterranean coast near the town of Cartagena. On 8 November, it flew south towards North Africa.
The team following Iberia’s movements was under pressure. He was flying low (340m above the sea) but reached 750m and then 960m and made it to Algeria in 2h30- a 200km crossing with an average speed of 80km/ h: Iberia is a champion!
We hope it will make its journey safely to the wintering areas in Africa.
No responses yet