Egyptian vultures in Oman are breeding

by B. U.Meyburg & M. McGrady

We are continuing to track Egyptian vultures in Oman. Most, if not all, the birds we are tracking are territory holders, and some of those may have already laid eggs. We can tell this by the reduction in solar power being created by the panels that power the transmitters.  This is because tagged birds are spending more time on the nest (in the shade) than when they are not breeding.  

An important finding of our work has been that Oman appears to be a stronghold for this globally endangered species.  Follow this link https://bioone.org/journals/Ardea/volume-108/issue-1/arde.v108i1.a4/A-Globally-Important-Stronghold-in-Oman-for-a-Resident-Population/10.5253/arde.v108i1.a4.full to download our Open Access article, and pass it on to others that might be interested.

Because breeding Egyptian vultures are now spending more time on their territories the numbers being seen at Al Multaqaa landfill will be lower than during the winter.  Additionally, migrating eagles (Steppe eagles, Imperial eagles, Greater spotted eagles) will also depart soon, if they have not already done so.

During February we also conducted field work in Djibouti on Egyptian vultures.  Djibouti may also be a stronghold.  You can follow that effort here: https://egyptianvulturedjibouti.blogspot.com/

So as not to deprive you of some eye-candy, below is a map of the movements of one of our territorial Egyptian vultures during one day in early March.  One can see how it spent most of its time near its presumed breeding territory, but made a trip north the Al Multaqaa... presumably to feed.

Movements of a territorial Egyptian vulture durin 2-3 March.  The shaded area is Wadi Sireen Nature Reserve