Egyptian Vulture - Scott Martin

Egyptian Vulture/Eagle

Neophron percnopterus 

By: Scott Martin

 Description and Ecology

Physical Appearance: The Egyptian Vulture ranges from 55-65 cm in length with a massive wingspan of 155-170 cm. They are equppied with broad, well-fingered wings with a wedge-shaped tail. Their face is a yellow color all the way to the bill where there is a black tip. Their feathers are usually black underneath with white centres above. 

Habitat: These birds typically nest on ledges, in caves on top of cliffs, occasionally in large trees, buildings and exceptionally on the ground. They also find nesting at old human settlements. Open, arid and country landscapes are preferable. Several resident island populations show genetic isolation, while northern breeders construct long distance intercontinental migrations. 

Diet: A very broad diet that includes carrion, organic waste, tortoises, insects, eggs, young vertebrates and even faeces. 

Geographic and Population Changes

Location: This species is located across Europe and Africa. They occupy a large range with isolated populations in the Cape Verde and Canary islands in the west. There are many small resident populations across west Africa but the bulk of the resident population comes from Ethiopia, east Africa, Arabia and the Indian Subcontinent. 

Population Changes: The population size in Europe is estimated to have decreased by around 50-79% in about 54 years. Around 3,000-4,700 pairs are estimated in Europe, less than 2,000 pairs in central Asia, around 1,000 in the Middle East and about 1,000-2,000 pairs in Africa. 

The number of territories in Spain declined by at least 25% between 1987-2000. This is most likely due to the high mortality rates. However, the French population looks to be increasing even after a bad year in 2015. Most importantly, the species has undergone a huge decline since 1999 in India, where numbers detected declined by 68% between 2000-2003. 

These population declines may be due to poisoning, electrocution, direct persecution and also changes in food availability in their habitat. 

Cause of listing and Main threats to its continued existence

Cause: This long living species is listed due to a recent ad rapid population decline in India, resulting from poisoning by a veterinary drug called diclofenac. Also, with a significant long-term decline in Europe, which is over 50% through the last three generations. Along with these two major declines, the populations throughout the African range have steadily been declining as well. 

Main Threats: The Egyptian Vulture faces many threats across its native range. Varying from disturbance, electrocution (collisions with power lines), poisoning, collisions with turbines, reduced food and habitat change. The Juveniles are showing higher declines and the mainland populations have a higher rate of juvenile mortality than that of island populations. 

In Spain, the main threat comes from the illegal poisoning of carnivores. While in parts of Africa the main threat is likely the loss of wild ungulate populations and overgrazing of livestock. On the other hand, in Europe the main threat is caused by regulations passed in 2002, which controlled the disposal of animal carcasses, greatly reducing the food availability. 

Island populations (Canary Islands) have been isolated for a long period of time which lead to genetic differentiation. The main threat on the islands is the long-term affect of the accumulated amounts of lead from scavenging on hunted animal carcasses. This long term effect is known to mineralize their bones.

Listing Date and Types: 

Red List Category and Criteria: Endangered A2bcde+3bcde ver 3.1

ï 2000 – Lower Risk/least concern (LR/lc)

ï 2004 – Least Concern (LC)

ï 2007 – Endangered (EN)

ï 2008 – Endangered (EN)

ï 2012 – Endangered (EN)

ï 2014 – Endangered (EN)

ï 2016 – Endangered (EN)

ï 2017 – Endangered (EN)

Regional assessments: Europe

Recovery Plan

Conservation Actions Underway: CMS Appendix I and II:

Monitoring programmes, supplementary feeding and campaigns against illegal use of poisons as well as awareness-raising are set in place for several national populations. Also, the drug diclofenac has been banned by the Indian government because of the negative effects on this species. Due to this action, there is now also a campaign against diclofenac in the European Union. To go with this, an international species action plan was created in 2008, and are in place in France, Bulgaria, and Italy. Another action taken has been to satellite-tag the birds to study juvenile dispersion, migratory movements and wintering areas. These are all major, effective plans, but there are also smaller groups trying to help. These groups go from trying to limit poachers invading nests, studying the migratory routs and holding training seminars to help build the capacity for conservation of the species.

Conservation Actions Proposed: 

ï Start and maintain cooperation with local stakeholders to make sure no poisoning or poaching are happing in the zones established, usually having high densities of the species

ï Build capacity in countries along the migration flyways as well as in the wintering areas.

ï Protecting nest sites where persecution is a significant problem. This goes along with the researching the causes of the increasing decline across the species range. 

ï Push for the ban of diclofenac for veterinary purposes throughout the range the species inhabits and also support the enforcement of the ban where it is already held.

ï Small structural tweaks- guard nests to reduce disturbance, install effective impact assessments of wind turbines, and implement long term large scale educations and community involvement programmes. 

What Can YOU do?

To start, one can simply spread the word of the seriousness about the endangerment of this species. From there you can try and start up a small group to back you and help spread the message of awareness. Hopefully along with this you contact a larger organization that will support you in your plan. It may cost a large sum of money to make a significant impact, however everything helps. Also, there are many organizations out there concerned about the Egyptian Vulture and you could donate money and even join this group. Human activity and construction is a huge problem in correlation with this species being endangered, so if the human populations surrounding this bird come up with smarter and more sustainable ways to build/live, it would sufficiently help. Finally, to get away with the main threat, diclofenac, actions are already being thought of in the eastern hemisphere and if it has enough backing then it could efficiently help raise the population of the Egyptian Vulture.

Here is an Anti-poison Video for the Egyptian Vulture:

https://youtu.be/qK0dS-y5TGo

Resources Referenced

http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/22695180/0

http://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/egyptian-vulture-neophron-percnopterus/text

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/268277508_Emergency_Action_Plan_for_the_Egyptian_Vulture_Neophron_percnopterus_Conservation_on_Balkan_Peninsula_2014_Drafted_by_Emilian_Stoynov-FWFF_Need_of_this_Emergency_Action_Plan