by Mike McGrady and Bernd Meyburg
In January 2018 we fitted satellite transmitters to 13 Egyptian vultures (12 adults and 1 juvenile) at the Muscat municipal rubbish dump at Al Multaquaa. This blog has given occasional updates on the movements of those birds (and that two may have died). Back in January, we thought that Oman was likely an important destination for vultures migrating from farther north. However, because none of the birds we fitted with transmitters actually migrated, we now think that the large number of vultures at Al Multaquaa in winter are actually resident birds, indicating that Oman's vulture population is probably much larger than estimated. See https://egyptianvultureoman.blogspot.com/2018/10/summer-2018-to-october.html
As mentioned, none of the birds we tracked migrated. All except one settled into home ranges in NE Oman, roughly between Ibra, Samail, Muscat and Sur. However, one bird, 171318, moved up and down the north Oman coast during Jan-April, then hopped across the Straits of Hormuz, and settled on Qeshm Island and the adjoining mainland. It has been there ever since. You can look back at blog posts about its movements https://egyptianvultureoman.blogspot.com/2018/04/a-little-migration.html
John Burnside of Sustainable Houbara Management and University of East Anglia has kindly animated the movements of 171318
@SustainHoubara sustainablehoubaramanagement.org (Have a look what they are doing, and the movements of the Houbara bustards that they have tracked.).
It's fascinating that this bird travelled up and down the coast, covering about 19,000 km before crossing to Iran. In total since January, 171318 has covered almost about 30,000 km! (Double click on the image below or click on the full-screen option in bottom right of image to show in full screen.)
In January 2018 we fitted satellite transmitters to 13 Egyptian vultures (12 adults and 1 juvenile) at the Muscat municipal rubbish dump at Al Multaquaa. This blog has given occasional updates on the movements of those birds (and that two may have died). Back in January, we thought that Oman was likely an important destination for vultures migrating from farther north. However, because none of the birds we fitted with transmitters actually migrated, we now think that the large number of vultures at Al Multaquaa in winter are actually resident birds, indicating that Oman's vulture population is probably much larger than estimated. See https://egyptianvultureoman.blogspot.com/2018/10/summer-2018-to-october.html
As mentioned, none of the birds we tracked migrated. All except one settled into home ranges in NE Oman, roughly between Ibra, Samail, Muscat and Sur. However, one bird, 171318, moved up and down the north Oman coast during Jan-April, then hopped across the Straits of Hormuz, and settled on Qeshm Island and the adjoining mainland. It has been there ever since. You can look back at blog posts about its movements https://egyptianvultureoman.blogspot.com/2018/04/a-little-migration.html
John Burnside of Sustainable Houbara Management and University of East Anglia has kindly animated the movements of 171318
@SustainHoubara sustainablehoubaramanagement.org (Have a look what they are doing, and the movements of the Houbara bustards that they have tracked.).
It's fascinating that this bird travelled up and down the coast, covering about 19,000 km before crossing to Iran. In total since January, 171318 has covered almost about 30,000 km! (Double click on the image below or click on the full-screen option in bottom right of image to show in full screen.)
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