After an anxious waiting of several days for a signal from its transmitter. Tizòn bounced back to the real world – and he is already in Mali!
The young Egyptian Vulture had been released on the 24th September in the Sierra de Hornachos (Extremadura, Spain), and has been tracked on its southward migration through Morocco due to a GSM tag it carries in its back.
Its last signal came from a location in southern Morocco, close to Mauritania, on the 1st October, but nothing came through in the following days. We only receive a signal if Tizón is within reach of a GSM network, and we knew that large areas of the Sahara desert do not have phone coverage, but the days passed and anxiety grew – until the signal was picked up on the border between Mauritania and Mali on the 10th October!
Tizón had been found in August disoriented and suffering malnutrition, and after rehabilitation was released with by the Junta de Extremadura, AMUS and the VCF. The Egyptian Vulture is globally Endangered, and Spain is one of its strongholds.