{"id":6520,"date":"2018-11-21T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-11-21T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4vultures.org\/blog\/egyptian-vultures-2018-breeding-results-in-greece\/"},"modified":"2018-11-21T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2018-11-21T00:00:00","slug":"egyptian-vultures-2018-breeding-results-in-greece","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/4vultures.org\/pt\/blog\/egyptian-vultures-2018-breeding-results-in-greece\/","title":{"rendered":"A great success for Egyptian vultures breeding in Greece in the 2018 breeding season but threat of poisoning is real"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Breeding
Breeding pair of Egyptian vultures in Meteora (c) D.Vavylis HOS\/BirdLife Greece <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A Hellenic Ornithology Society\/Birdlife Greece<\/a> and the WWF Greece<\/a> carried out their annual survey of the breeding population of Egyptian vultures in Greece and discovered a great result. Even though the number of occupied territories (six in total), number of pairs (five in total) and breeding pairs (four in total) remained the same as 2017 the number of successful fledings increased from three to five. Good news for this globally endangered vulture.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Egyptian vultures in Greece<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Adult
Adult Egyptian vulture in Meteroa (c) D.Vavylis HOS\/BirdLife Greece<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Greek population of Egyptian vultures is the smallest of all the populations in the Balkan Peninsula. In total it\u2019s estimated that between 60 and 80 pairs of Europe\u2019s smallest vulture across the Balkans.Over the last three decades there has been a four to nine percent annual decline in the population. In Greece that population consists of just five pairs. Elsewhere, Bulgaria hold around 40 percent of the region\u2019s population with 28-30 pairs, in FYR of Macedonia there are 21-23 pairs, in Albania around 9-10 pairs<\/a> and the European region of Turkey has around 2-3 pairs.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Population survey<\/strong><\/p>\n

In Greece there are two main regions where the Egyptian vultures are breeding according to the latest Hellenic Ornithology Society\/Birdlife Greece and the WWF Greece survey for 2018:<\/p>\n

The region of Thrace was home to four Egyptian vulture pairs (three in Dadia Forest National Park and one in Kompsatos area). The three pairs in Dadia nested, but only two managed to successfully raise their offspring, each of them raising two fledglings. All the fledglings flew successfully from their nests and departed for their (first) migratory journey. Although the pair in Kompsatos didn\u2019t nest, an important discovery was made: one of the birds had been replaced by an Egyptian vulture from Bulgaria, but not only that, this bird was the only survivor of the nine chicks that had been tagged with a satellite transmitter in 2012! Although the pair spent the whole spring period in their territory, from July onwards they started also to visit very often the neighboring Bulgaria.<\/p>\n\n

Young Egyptian vultures from the 2018 breeding season from Meteora and Thrace\u00a0(c) D.Vavylis HOS\/BirdLife Greece<\/p>\n

The region of Meteora is home to just one breeding pair of Egyptian vultures but hailed two firsts in the 2018 breeding season. The first came on March 19th with the first observation of a returning Egyptian vulture in Greece and the whole Balkans, that of the well-known “Crooked-tail”, the lonely Egyptian vulture male of Meteora, who once again was left without a mate. The second one, came on May 22nd, when the first Egyptian vulture chick of the Balkans hatched in Meteora. But the greatest success of all was the fact that the last pair of Meteora managed to successfully raise their chick after four years of failed attempts! Towards the end of August, all four Egyptian vultures left the rocks of Meteora and started their migration trip to Africa.<\/p>\n

In Epirus, Aoos, the adult Egyptian vulture, tagged with a satellite transmitter in 2015 by HOS\/Birdlife Greece, returned again this year from the distant Chad where it usually winters. Unfortunately Aoos didn\u2019t manage to raise a chick this year as he had in the previous years (his breeding territory is in Albania but visits the Konitsa region on a daily basis to feed) and thus began his long trip to Africa in mid-August, safely reaching his winter destination in sub-Saharan Africa.<\/p>\n

Poisoning in Greece<\/strong><\/p>\n

One of the greatest achievements in 2018 was that no Egyptian vultures were poisoned, however, two discovery by the Hellenic Ornithology Society<\/a> back in October that demonstrates that poisoning is still a threat to the Egyptian vultures of Greece.\u00a0<\/p>\n