The monitoring of the Egyptian Vulture (๐๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ค๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ถ๐ด) population is an initiative that study groups (from 14 countries in the Balkans, Africa and the Middle East), within the framework of LIFE project “Egyptian Vulture New Life”, undertake year after year to identify changes in population or distribution of territories in the Balkans or Africa. This monitoring serves to understand the progress and to identify the necessary measures for the recovery of the population of this vulture, which is classified as Globally Endangered by IUCN.
Monitoring the Egyptian Vulture in Albania, like every year, is an engaging activity, which requires dedication and spending a long time in the nesting territories to generate the necessary data, such as occupied territories, number of breeding pairs or individuals, the offspring, etc. At the end of this process, the working group, AOS and PPNEA announce the following results:
๐๐ป ๐๐น๐ฏ๐ฎ๐ป๐ถ๐ฎ, ๐ป๐ถ๐ป๐ฒ ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฒ๐ continue to remain ๐ผ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐๐ฝ๐ถ๐ฒ๐ฑ, as in the previous three years. ๐ฆ๐ถ๐ ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฒ๐ are occupied ๐ฏ๐ ๐ฏ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ฟ๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐ต๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฒ ๐ฏ๐ ๐๐ผ๐น๐ถ๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ ๐ถ๐ป๐ฑ๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ฑ๐๐ฎ๐น๐. Although the number of territories remains unchanged, unfortunately, the loss of an old territory has been noticed but at the same time, thankfully, the case of a new territory has been reported.
At the Balkan level, there has been a 9 % increase in the number of breeding pairs monitored, two of which were identified in Bulgaria, one in Albania and one in Greece. Unfortunately, the number of fledglings was lower than last year.
Poisoning remains one of the main factors in the drastic decline of the Egyptian vulture population in the Balkans. In addition, electric shock, collision with power line infrastructure and disturbance during the nesting season are threats that make it difficult for this species to survive. In this regard, researchers from all partner countries have joined forces to implement concrete measures to prevent and minimize these risks, both in the nesting territories and along the Egyptian vultureโs migration route.
This activity was carried out under the frames of the LIFE+ project โEgyptian vulture New LIFEโ (LIFE16 NAT/BG/000874).
