End of November 2015

During the past week the satellite tracked bird has moved around quite a bit.  During 23-24 November it was mostly located east of Sinaw.  During 25-28 November it moved NE and was located NE of Ibra.  Late on the 28th, it moved across the Hajar Mountains to a place just west of Sifa, not very distant from the Al Multaqa rubbish dump where it was first captured.  By the 30th it had moved south towards Quriyat.

Egyptian vultures are, of course, scavengers, and have the ability to cover huge distance in search of food, and may need to do so when food availability is low.  However, between the large and small rubbish dumps near the towns and cities of Oman, the shoreline and the death of animals in rural areas it seems that there is a lot of food around in Oman for vultures.  We don't know why this bird made these relatively long movements.  Maybe with more data and data from other birds, we'll come to better understand vulture ecology in Oman.

Movements of an Egyptian vulture during 23-30 November 2015.

Mid-November 2015

Since January when we started tracking this vulture, it has moved mostly in the area between Muscat and Quriyat, and has stayed north of the eastern Hajar Mountains.  In the beginning of November it made a move to the south, crossing the mountains and spending time around Ibra.  In the past few days it has been mostly near Sinaw, and when one looks closely at individual locations, it seems it has been visiting the rubbish dumps at Sinaw and at other smaller villages, and roosting at a hill SE of Sinaw.

Movements of a 3rd yr Egyptian vulture during 12-18 November 2015.

Zoomed image showing movements near Sinaw.

Further zoomed image showing a view from the north of a hill and cliffs where the vulture has been roosting.

Early November

In the last week the Egyptian vulture we have been tracking has moved out of its normal range, north of the Hajar Mountains and south of Muscat.  On 4-5 November it was around Quriyat.  Quriyat has been visited before by this vulture, which seemed then to forage at the main rubbish dump and along the coast.  On 6-8 November this bird headed south over the mountains and visited areas near the town of Ibra.  Ibra is where the other bird we fitted with a transmitter disappeared about 6 months ago.  On 10 November it moved farther south and east and seems to have also made a quick sojourn into the Wahiba Sands.  By 11 November it had moved back north to the foot of the mountains about 6 km east of the town of Adh Dhahir.  This is the first time this bird has moved south of the mountains.  We'll have to wait to see what happens next.

Movements of third year Egyptian vulture during early November 2015.

Also during the past two weeks we have been working on a short film about Egyptian vultures.  Most of the work was at the New Al Amerat rubbish dump.  The aim of the film is to raise awareness in Oman about vultures, raise awareness in other countries about the importance of Oman as a stronghold for Egyptian vultures, and perhaps a way of approaching funders for future work.  That film should come out soon after the New Year.

Early October 2015

For those of you who are in Oman, the flow of Egyptian vultures from areas farther north has begun. These birds will include adult birds that breed in northern parts of the range (probably mostly from western and central Asia) and their offspring.  Because of this the numbers of Egyptian vultures using the rubbish dumps in Oman are climbing, and will be high throughout the winter.  The incomers will, of course, mix with the resident Omani Egyptian vultures and Lappet-faced vultures, and migrant eagles at the rubbish dump.  Winter is a good time in Oman for raptors.

The bird we have been tracking has spent much of its time over the last 2 weeks at the main Muscat municipal rubbish dump.  This is despite the work that is going on there as the dump is undergoing a planned expansion.  You can see the expansion if you look at the site on Google Earth, or, of course, you can just go by and see for yourself.

Movements of a radiotagged Egyptian vulture during the first two weeks of October 2015.

Late September 2015

The Egyptian vulture we have been tracking has spent the last three weeks moving around between the Al Multaqa rubbish dump, the coast and villages nearby.  This is where it has spent most of its time over the last 8 months.

Movements of vulture during 21-28 2015.

 Interestingly, we can see below that there is work going on at the dump itself.  Presumably this is part of the $37 Million/14.25 Million OMR expansion Sita-Suez won earlier in the year.  Click here to read more about that upgrade/expansion.  In fact, Oman is upgrading its waste disposal across the country.  Such upgrades are crucial for human health, and need not negatively affect scavenging birds, like the globally endangered Egyptian vultures that use the rubbish dumps.  Indeed, by their very nature, vultures provide an important "ecosystem service" by feeding on rubbish, and thereby removing it from the environment.  They provide this service 365 days a year, for free.

View of the rubbish dump.  Compare with the image posted on this blog on 4 September 2015.

Eight month review

Its been about 8 months since we captured two Egyptian vultures at Al Multaqa, and fitted them with GPS satellite transmitters.  The maps below are of all the GPS locations.  Together they show the areas most used by the tracked vultures.  While this blog usually puts up maps that span shorter periods of time, these longer-term maps show more accurately the areas used by the vultures and will be important to understanding how they use their environment and what needs to be done to conserve Egyptian vultures in the long-term.

GPS locations of Egyptian vulture (143581).  This bird stopped transmitting in early February 2015.

GPS locations of Egyptian vulture (143580).  This bird is still transmitting and moving around northern Oman.

27 August-3 Sept 2015 and Vulture Awareness Day

Don't forget that tomorrow is Vulture Awareness Day  http://www.vultureday.org/2015/index.php.

So that you are aware of what the radio tracked vulture in Oman is doing... During this week our vulture seemed to favour feeding at main Muscat municipal rubbish dump at Al Multaqa.  It has been remarkable (to me at least) how little time this bird has spent at the rubbish dump since it was fitted with a transmitter back in January.  The map below shows its movements over the last week.

Movements of subadult Egyptian vultures during 27 August - 3 September 2015.

The map below shows that the bird has indeed been at the rubbish dump, and the preference for roosting at a particular electricity pylon about 500 m south of the dump.

Locations at the Al Multaqa Rubbish Dump during end of August 2015.

Map showing the importance of this electricity pylon to the tracked vulture during the last days of August 2015.