Following the release of the first two young yesterday in Cazorla (see here) the next two birds – a male born at the Richard Faust bearded vulture captive breeding center in Haringsee (Austria) and one female born at Liberec Zoo (Czech Republic) will be released tomorrow at the Grands Causses, one of the bearded vulture reintroduction projects, managed by our local partners LPO Grands Causses.
The birds will be presented to the public in a ceremony at 10:00 am in Nant, and will then be taken to the platform high up in the mountains, where they will stay until they fledge naturally.
Releases in the Grands Causses (which is mid-way between the Alps and the Pyrenees, and therefore will serve as the perfect corridor population for a pan European future gene flow) started in 2010 and so far 16 birds have been released – one of them was Adonis (see photos), a male released last year, and that has been recently photographed locally by Bruno Berthemy.
Bearded vultures take 9 or 10 years to start breeding, so we will have to wait a few more years for the next milestone in the project – the first nest in the wild in the Grands Causses. In the meantime, the VCF and LPO Grands Causses will continue to work together to re-establish this crucial population in the Massif Central.
