14/06/2010, Campanet: 3000 km journey for recovery of the griffon vulture population in Bulgaria. 31 griffon vultures are being prepared for transport from Mallorca to Bulgaria.

(Campanet, 14^th of June) Today, after weeks of organisation and preparation, the Vulture Conservation Foundation (VCF) sent 31 griffon vultures from Majorca to Bulgaria. The official departure event was held at 10 a.m. in Mallorca at the Mediterranean Wildlife Conservation Centre, headquarter of the VCF. The vultures are transported by the partner organization from Bulgaria “Green Balkans” in a Mercedes Sprinter (minibus) with a trailer. The route begins by boat from Palma de Mallorca to Barcelona, will continue by land transiting France, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia and from Serbia arriving to Bulgaria. The journey will take at least two days and two nights, passing around 3000 km of distance! The official arrival event in Bulgaria will take place in Stara Zagora at the Wildlife Rehabilitation and Breeding Centre - Stara Zagora (run by Green Balkans) on 17/06/2010 at 11 a.m. These birds are destined for release at four designated areas in Bulgaria comprise of the national park Central Balkan, nature reserves Vrachanski Balkan, Blue Rocks and Kotlenska Stara Planina Mountain.

The 31 vultures that are being provided by the VCF have come from the recovery centres of Extremadura, Castilla y León and the Zoo from Jerez due to the good collaboration between VCF and the local ministries of the Spanish autonomous communities.

This is the second shipment of vultures to Bulgaria after the first one of 18 individuals sent in March 2009. The vultures transported with the first transport are placed in the adaptation aviaries at sites where they adapt to local conditions before being released. The same destiny is awaiting the “new” vultures after there arrival in Bulgaria. The project foresees that within the next 5 years, about 150-200 griffon vultures will be released in Bulgaria.

This activity is within the framework of the LIFE+ project “Recovery of the Populations of Large European Vultures in Bulgaria”.

For successful implementation the project foresees activities that will reduce any risks or threats to their lives such as the major threat to this species, the illegal use of poison in the nature. Other activities include providing food on the artificial feeding sites, monitoring of the existing population and of the reintroduced one as well as protecting their habitat.

All this project activities are part of the long-term strategy of the Balkan Vulture Action Plan (BVAP) initiated in 2002 by the VCF. BVAP includes 8 countries and more then 30 local NGOs working on the implementation of the vulture conservation activities.

The main goal of the project is to restore the population of the griffon vultures in the Balkan range whose connectedness will link that population with colonies in Serbia and others in Western Europe. This way, we will create an undisturbed link between Europe, Africa and Asia.

19/03/2010: The Majorcan vultures need your help!

In a car accident the Vulture Conservation Foundation (VCF) lost the jeep for fieldwork in the middle of the breeding season of the Black vultures. To buy a new jeep and continue its work in the Tramuntana mountain range the foundation is urgently looking for sponsors.

The conservation actions for the vultures in the Tramuntana mountain range consist mainly in controls of the population and the breeding success, ringing of chicks, service to the vulture feeding places and nest guarding during the breeding season. Therefore is indispensable to count on an all-terrain vehicle. The former jeep, a Nissan Terrano II, was in our service more than 13 years till suffering total loss in a recent car accident. Because there are no extra cost forseen in the project budget the VCF would like to ask you to help us with your donation to buy a new vehicle for the vulture conservation work in Mallorca. Thank you very much for your support! Below you find the details of our bank account.

National Bank Account: FVSM

CCC 0182 3680 43 0201505783

Bank: BBVA

Concept: „Help for the Majorcan Vultures"

International Bank Account: FVSM

Swift Code/BIC: BBVAESMM

IBAN: ES38 0182 3680 4302 0150 5783

Concept: „Help for the Majorcan Vultures"

For more information about VCF projects you are welcome to visit the vulture centre in Campanet. There you can closely observe Black and Griffon vultures. Please call to (+34) 971516620 to make an appointment.

On the 16th and 17th of November 2009 the first fundraising committee meeting of the newly created Vulture Conservation Foundation (VCF) was successfully celebrated at the VCF headquarter in Mallorca. Fundraising possibilities have been identified and discussed between a team of board members and VCF staff. This committee will support the fundraising for the implementation of the wide range of vulture conservation activities.

To all nature lovers from Spain, we have the great pleasure to report that the bearded vulture can be spotted again in the skies of Andalusia, 23 years after its extinction in this region.
The Fundación Gypaetus (Gypaetus Foundation) works for the conservation of the species in Andalusia, and is responsible for the execution of the Andalusian Programme for Reintroduction of the Bearded Vulture. They report that 10 out of 14 bearded vultures that where reintroduced in Andalusia over the past 4 years are developing well. In addition, La Fundación Gypaetus has informed us that ‘Tono’, one of the oldest birds in the programme, arrived in Andalusia again after having spent more than seven months in the Pyrenees.
Last March, Tono left for the Pyrenees for the third time in his life. He was last seen in the vicinity of Jaca (Huesca) on 6 October. One day later he was located in the province of Valencia, and on the 12th of October he flew back to the valley where he was released in 2006, rejoining the other birds. Tono is not the only bird that makes these long-distance flights. In the past, two bearded vultures have been spotted in Northern Spain (one in La Rioja and the other in Picos de Europa) returning later to their place of release.
Releasing bearded vultures in the province of Andalusia is possible thanks to an agreement between the Ministry of Environment (la Consejería de Medio Ambiente, CMA) of the Junta de Andalucía and the Vulture Conservation Foundation (VCF). With the arrival of the first two bearded vultures, given to the CMA Guadalentin Breeding Centre (Centro de Cria Guadalentin, CCG) by VCF, a dream came true: the start of a Bearded Vulture Reintroduction Project in Andalusia. Momentarily, the GCC houses a dozen birds of different ages, most of them transferred by the VCF, which also manages the Alpine reintroduction project.
VCF comments that the movement of the birds is totally normal behaviour for young released vultures, and has also been registered in the Alps. All chicks are released at the age of 3 months (one month before starting their flight) using the ‘hacking’ method. This method has been used successfully in the Alpine project, and is excellent to establish a self-sufficient wild population. Birds recognise the release area as their place of birth, returning to this area when they have reached sexual maturity.

La Fundación Gypaetus now ensures that all five animals released in the spring of 2009 are now self-sufficient, and roam large areas within the National Park of Cazorla, Segura and las Villas (Jaén), and the mountain range of Castril (Granada). In order to accurately track all released individuals, they are equipped with a GPS transmitter, using a pelvic harness. The birds are ringed, and to identify them in flight some feathers of the wings and tails are discoloured following an international code for each bird.
The bearded vulture is one of four birds of prey that lives in the Iberian Peninsula and is in danger of extinction throughout Europe. Its wingspan is nearly three meters long and weighs five to seven kilos, his diet consist almost exclusively of bone. Currently there are only three wild native populations in Europe: Crete, Corsica and the Pyrenees, the latter being the only viable population but is not without serious threats. Additionally there is another viable population: the reintroduced Alpine population.

Photo: Francisco Mingorance

Wassenaar/Majorca/Vienna/Paris/Frankfurt “The conservation of vultures has a long history in Europe. In 1978, experts decided to breed and reintroduce Bearded vultures to the Alpine mountain ecosystem. After 30 years of efforts we have reintroduced over 150 birds, and 15 pairs of Bearded vultures are breeding again in the Alps”, stated Michel Terrasse, president of the Foundation for Conservation of Bearded Vultures (FCBV).

“Nevertheless, we are facing old challenges threatening the new reintroduced vulture populations as well as the still existing populations of all four vulture species of Europe in their original habitats”, added Winfried Walter, President of the Black Vulture Conservation Foundation (BVCF).

To mitigate threats such as illegal use of poison, direct persecution, loss of breeding habitats and loss of food resources as well as more recent problems like electrocution of the birds at  electric power lines and collision at wind farms, by the ecological unsound development of mountain ecosystems or new upcoming infectious diseases, the both vulture conservation foundations have decided to merge into a single new entity: the Vulture Conservation Foundation (VCF).

The merged foundation will continue with the successful work of its two founding organizations and strives to coordinate actions for all four European vulture species:  the Bearded vulture (Gypaetus barbatus), the Black Vulture (Aegypius monachus), the Griffon vulture (Gyps fulvus) and the Egyptian vulture (Neophron percnopterus).

The international breeding and reintroduction program of Bearded vultures, organized by the Richard Faust Breeding Centre in Haringsee, close to Vienne, and by its director Dr. Hans Frey, will continue. The International Bearded Vulture Monitoring Program (IBM) will be supported by VCF in the future as an essential element to observe the population development of the reintroduced Bearded vultures in the Alps but also as a possible instrument to monitor vulture population development throughout Europe.

The breeding and reintroduction program of Black vultures supported by the Mediterranean Wildlife Centre in Majorca and its director Juan José Sánchez Artés will continue its work. The European secretariat for the fight against the illegal use of poison, with its seat in Majorca, will carry on under the umbrella of the new foundation. The centre in Majorca will also continue its operation in the framework of the program “SOS Veneno” in Spain, the well known green telephone line for the information of illegal use of poison. 

The Balkan Vulture Action plan coordinated by the Black Vulture Conservation foundation and supported by Frankfurt Zoological Society will be carried on under the roof of the new foundation VCF by the centre in Majorca. The Balkan Vulture Action Plan BVAP united 23 organizations in seven Balkan countries so far. During the last six years, by these joint actions it was possible to stabilize the Griffon vulture population in Macedonia, Bulgaria and Croatia. Even in Serbia the population of Griffon vultures is increasing. Activities have been performed to provide best conditions for all the four vulture species in the framework of the Balkan Vulture Action plan. As an important step, the translocation of Griffon vultures from their origin in Spain to the well prepared releasing sites in Bulgaria will be supported by the German Federal Environment Foundation DBU, the Frankfurt Zoological Society and the Spanish autonomous communities (like Exremadura and Castile-La Mancha) under the auspices of VCF.

In the focus of activities for the future of the new organization are activities to stop the massive decline of Egyptian vultures (Neophron percnopterus) in its breeding habitats in the Mediterranean basin, but also on their migration routes and wintering habitats in Africa. To streamline all actions for conservation of the European vulture species a strategic action plan will be developed by the experts of the new foundation. 

A census of the Black Vulture population of Majorca took place from 15 th of October to 19 th of October 2008 with a result of 123 (122,72) + 14 (13,7) individuals. 18 observatory sites were occupied and distributed in nearly all the totality of the “Sierra de Tramuntana”. 1501 observations of Black Vultures were made in 482 hours and 55 minutes of observation. 686 observations were useful for the calculation of the estimated population number. The result of the 2008 census confirms the continuous increase of the Majorcan population.