Meet Oeil Rouge, the bold young Bearded Vulture (Gypaetus barbatus) with a taste for adventure. Hatched at Richard Faust Zentrum in Austria and released in the Baronnies, France, in May 2024, Oeil Rouge (Red Eye) has proved he’s quite the explorer. His first year in the wild has been a mix of daring escapades, sticky situations, and, most recently, a 4,000 km European tour in just 13 days.
A rocky start
While most reintroduced young Bearded Vultures spend two to three weeks practicing and adjusting before taking their first flight, Oeil Rouge wasted no time — taking off just seven days after being placed on the artificial nest, at only 107 days old.
But being daring and adventurous can sometimes backfire. Twice, Oeil Rouge found himself in serious trouble — once stuck for days on a slope during bad weather, and another time stranded in the Eygues riverbed. Both times, rescue teams had to intervene to save him. Lesson learned? Perhaps. Or maybe Oeil Rouge simply enjoys keeping the monitoring team on their toes.
Surprisingly, after those early dramas, Oeil Rouge settled down for quite a while. While many young Bearded Vultures embark on wide-ranging journeys across Europe in their first year, he stayed loyal to his Baronnies home, circling the skies he knew best.
The great summer odyssey
Then came June 2025, and wanderlust finally struck big time. On June 13, 2025, Red Eye spread his wings and said goodbye to the Baronnies.
First stop: Mercantour. Then he glided up the Alps, crossed the Vanoise, and on June 16 perched for the night near Mont Blanc in Italy. The next day, he cruised into Switzerland, roosting atop the Dôle, one of the Jura’s highest peaks.
On June 18, he zipped across France from east to west, stopping near Montluçon. By the next day, he was in the Vendée, spent the night in Challans, and then he set his sights on Brittany. He lingered there for two nights.
Homeward bound at full speed
On June 22, he turned back toward the Baronnies, flying through Rennes, past Orléans, over the Jura, the Vanoise, and the Écrins, all the way home. But Brittany clearly made an impression on this young vulture, leaving a heart-shaped GPS-track behind!
On his way home, Oeil Rouge covered around 1,500 km in just three days. Whether driven by homesickness for familiar landscapes or simply eager for his usual meals, he wasted no time on the return journey.
Fortunately, the incredible journey went smoothly, and we’re relieved he made it back safely.
More adventures ahead
Bearded Vultures typically take 5 to 7 years to reach sexual maturity, with successful breeding usually starting around the age of 8. That means Oeil Rouge still has several years of exploring ahead before we might see him settle down and raise chicks of his own. We look forward to watching him grow and hope that one day he will make the Baronnies his permanent home.
LIFE Gyp’Act is a 13M€ project, co-funded by the EU’s LIFE programme, that will run until 30 November 2028. Project partners are LPO – Ligue pour la Protection des Oiseaux as coordinator beneficiary, and the Vulture Conservation Foundation, Association Vautours en Baronnies, LPO Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes, LPO Occitanie, Sorbonne Université, ENEDIS, Centre National d’Informations Toxicologiques Vétérinaires, Parc National des Cévennes e Parc Naturel Régional du Vercors as associated beneficiaries.
