{"id":7084,"date":"2018-10-15T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-10-15T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4vultures.org\/blog\/electrocution-seminar-in-andalusia\/"},"modified":"2018-10-15T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2018-10-15T00:00:00","slug":"electrocution-seminar-in-andalusia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/4vultures.org\/es\/blog\/electrocution-seminar-in-andalusia\/","title":{"rendered":"Understanding and tackling the electrocution and collision threats to vultures – Andalusia seminar"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Young Egyptian vulture perrched on an electricity pylon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It\u2019s estimated\u00a0that five times as many birds are\u00a0killed by electrocution and collision with electricity pylons than poisoning in Spain, 33,000 birds each year including many vultures.<\/a>\u00a0The Autonomous Government of Andalusia, Junta de Andalusia, hosted a professional development workshop for environmental agents which we along were staff from GREFA working on the Aquilla LIFE project were invited to attend.<\/p>\n

Threats to vultures caused by electricity infrastructure\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

La Vulture Multi-species Action Plan<\/a> published last year identified the often overlooked threat to vultures posed by electricity infrastructure particularly electrocution and collisions.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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The threat of electrocution occurs when vultures perch on poorly insulated medium-tension electricity pylons, the design of which make it easier for the bird to touch both the cables and the pylon at the same time. Whilst collision with power lines occurs when vultures are unable to distinguish the powerline against the background of the natural vegetation as they use them to navigate or fly near them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The threat varies among different taxonomic groups, whilst affecting vultures, the biggest threat to vultures is intended and unintended poisoning.<\/p>\n

The deaths from these threats are sadly underreported, for example, in Spain only 20% of the mortality caused by electrocution and 10% of the mortality caused by collision recorded.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mitigating these threats<\/strong><\/p>\n

To tackle these threats involves bringing together a variety of agencies together to share information. The Junta de Andalusia recently organised a training seminar<\/a>\u00a0for governmental environmental agents, to share knowledge and practical sessions to explore this threat.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Part of the three day workshop involved a practical course identifying the pylons that are the most dangerous to birds, the most dangerous are often characterised by:<\/p>\n