As reported in the last post, we managed to capture 13 Egyptian vultures in January, and fit them with satellite radio transmitters. This is the first of the blog posts that will follow those birds, reporting from time to time on their movements and other events. Below are maps from two of them, whose transmitter numbers are 171318 and 171328.
171328 was captured and fitted with a transmitter on 20 January. After release, it moved south to a location in the mountains SW of Quriayat. It has spent most of its time there, but has also visited the rubbish dump near Ibra. This type of behaviour is typical of most vultures we have tracked, with birds settling into an area, and making occasional forays out to other places. Over time the map becomes one in which the movement of birds is clustered around places (especially rubbish dumps). One thing to keep in mind is that this is an adult bird and it might be holding a territory and could be a breeder. We'll have to wait and see.
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| 171328 being released, 20 January 2018. Photo by M. McGrady |
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| Movements of an adult Egyptian vulture (171328) during January and early February 2018. |
171318 has behaved differently from the other birds we have tracked in that it has been almost always on the move and has not settled anywhere for very long. Its movements have lead it to do at least two laps of northern Oman, from Sur to Musandam! 171318 was also captured and fitted with a transmitter on 20 January.
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| 171318 being held by Dr B. Meyburg. Photo: M. McGrady |
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| Movements of an adult Egyptian vulture (171318) during late January and early February 2018. |
Other places where information on this work is available include:
https://thevulturechronicles.wordpress.com/2018/02/13/omans-egyptian-vultures/ and
http://timesofoman.com/article/128064
You can also visit our blog which shows the movements of Steppe Eagles tagged by us in Oman in January 2017. https://
steppeeaglesoman.blogspot.co.at/
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