The young male bird – named Larzac – was found on Sunday by Hans Pohlmann, in a forest near Gemert (Noord-Brabant, the Netherlands), following directions from its GPS tag, relayed by the VCF. He was sitting in a tree, in a quite open forest (pines).
The weather has been really bad in Holland, very rainy, so our Dutch colleagues organised some food delivery, which the bird took eagerly.
At the moment Larzac still looks fine, he has been eating, and hopefully will return south with his own means – but we are constantly monitoring his condition to decide if we should catch it or not.
Flying great distances and exploring new areas is normal for young bearded vultures. To fly all the way to the north is not that common, but it happens every now and then, usually in Spring. This Spring bearded vultures have already been seen in Belgium, the UK and Denmark.
The normal home of bearded vultures are the mountainous regions of Europe, Asia and Africa. There they find the perfect conditions for flying, steep walls for breeding & open landscape to search for bones to feed on. Let’s hope Larzac finds the way back to the mountains!
Photos: Hans Pohlmann & Jaap Denee
