{"id":13539,"date":"2020-04-28T09:18:00","date_gmt":"2020-04-28T06:18:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4vultures.org\/?p=13539"},"modified":"2025-05-05T15:47:14","modified_gmt":"2025-05-05T12:47:14","slug":"tagging-vultures-why-swift-field-response-is-essential-to-save-birds-and-inform-conservation-actions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/4vultures.org\/pt\/blog\/tagging-vultures-why-swift-field-response-is-essential-to-save-birds-and-inform-conservation-actions\/","title":{"rendered":"Tagging vultures: Why swift field response is essential to save birds and inform conservation actions"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Tagging a Cinereous Vulture with a GPS tag\/ illustrative<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

GPS tagging plays a vital role in the effort to protect and restore vulture populations in Europe. Equipping vultures with GPS tags allows conservationists to study vulture behaviour and movements, and understand vulture biology and ecology. It also helps identify key threats, which can then inform targeted conservation measures. At the individual level, it helps evaluate the health status of a bird and take rapid action if necessary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The importance of swift field response<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

GPS data can warn conservationists that a bird needs help or whether it might have died. If the vulture does not move, if the body temperature drops low or the accelerometer data show no activity, an alert comes up. Thanks to this information, a field team can go to the scene on time and save a weak or injured vulture. Furthermore, faster reaction ensures a better possibility to identify the cause of death and conduct a criminal investigation if needed. This can help identify without any hint of doubt potential threats in the area and undertake the right steps to tackle them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, this response is often not immediate nor thorough, and many tags or dead birds are retrieved in a state that does not allow for mortality to be determined. This defeats the whole purpose of using tags. Tagging birds does involve a certain risk and impact on birds, and we do it because the conservation benefits far outweigh the risks, but it is important that we plan for a quick and immediate retrieval-search \u2013 and thus build our network of contacts beforehand, and monitor the tagged birds very frequently, and work hard to get the best placed people to the scene once something is wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An excellent example of fast mobilisation<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n