{"id":5805,"date":"2018-07-03T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-07-03T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4vultures.org\/blog\/experimental-fostering-of-egyptian-vultures\/"},"modified":"2018-07-03T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2018-07-03T00:00:00","slug":"experimental-fostering-of-egyptian-vultures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/4vultures.org\/es\/blog\/experimental-fostering-of-egyptian-vultures\/","title":{"rendered":"Results from experimental fostering of a captive-bred Egyptian vulture chick in a wild nest in Bulgaria"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Fostered
Fostered chick in nest at the Wildlife Rescue Centre of Green Balkans<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As part of the conservation of Egyptian vultures in the Balkans, the Egyptian Vulture New LIFE project has been testing different techniques of releasing captive-bred birds, including the traditional hacking and delayed release techniques. We have been working with the project team and in collaboration with the Egyptian Vulture Captive Breeding Network (EEP) on a new technique being tested, fostering chicks in wild nests, and can now report on the first results. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Fostering technique<\/strong><\/p>\n

Fostering of chicks into nests has been demonstrated as a successful method for restocking of birds of prey populations in many conservation projects. \u0422he method involves placing captive-bred or wild chicks in wild nests with foster parents. In order for this technique to be successful there are many issues that need to be considered such as; the age of both wild and fostered chicks, detailed before- and after-intervention monitoring of the nests targeted for fostering, including investigation of bird\u2019s behavior, and readiness to react quickly in the presence of a problem.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For the Egyptian vulture, this method has so far been used in the captive breeding programs, but its application in the wild is rare \u2013 to our knowledge, it had only been tried once in Italy before.<\/p>\n

From Prague to Bulgaria<\/strong><\/p>\n

Working with the Egyptian Vulture New LIFE team we here at the Vulture Conservation Foundation have supported the experimental use of this technique and a young captive-bred Egyptian vulture was donated to the project by Anton Vaidl – coordinator of the European Endangered Species Programmes (EEP) of the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA), and also a VCF advisory board member.\u00a0<\/p>\n

After traveling from Prague Zoo, a two-week old chick was placed into the nest of a pair of\u00a0 wild Egyptian vultures in the Eastern Rhodopes mountains, Bulgaria by a team of experienced colleagues from the Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds and Green Balkans. The foster birds already had one chick, a few days younger than the fostered one, an age difference that is normal for hatchlings from the same brood.<\/p>\n

Intervening to protect the chicks<\/strong><\/p>\n

Soon after the placement of the young captive-bred bird, the team continued to monitor closely the nest and noticed unexpected and unusually aggressive behaviour of the fostered chick towards the wild chick. Despite the visit of the male adult bird and his attempt to feed the two chicks, the aggressive behavior of the fostered vulture continued. This required urgent intervention to protect the wild nestling, and the decision was taken to collect again the captive-bred individual, which was then transferred to the Wildlife Rescue Centre of Green Balkans in Stara Zagora.<\/p>\n

There it was placed in the nest of a captive Egyptian vulture breeding pair, who had successfully bred for the first time this year. However, the fostered chick continued to exhibit aggressive behaviour.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This level of aggressive behaviour is uncharacteristic for Egyptian vulture chicks and can possibly be attributed to the length of time spent in transit from Prague, and\/or to the individual characteristics of the young bird, rather than competition for food between the two chicks in the nest. The staff at the Green Balkans Rescue Centre were forced to intervene and remove the chick, and feed it before deciding to return it to the nest. This second time the bird was successfully accepted by the foster parents.\u00a0<\/p>\n