These figures provide supplementary information about an Egyptian Vulture (Neophron percnopterus) tracked as it transitioned during 2018 - 2020 from being a floating individual in Oman and Iran to an apparent territory holder in Iran.  The published account of the movements of that bird is: McGrady, MJ, Schmidt, M, Elahi Rad, Z & Meyburg, B-U. In press. Tracking of an Egyptian Vulture Neophron percnopterus as it transitions from being a floater to being a territory-holder.  Sandgrouse 44: xxx - xxx.  Ornithological Society of the Middle East: https://osme.org/ Supplem ..read more

by M. McGrady and B.-U Meyburg This is a little movie of the movements of an Egyptian vulture we tracked in Oman.  The video covers about 2 years of movements.  The territory is in the eastern part of the home range and the Muscat municipal landfill at Al Multaquaa is in the west.  The movie shows the regular visits this bird makes to the landfill. Thanks Matthias Schmidt for animating the data ..read more

by M. McGrady and B.-U Meyburg First of all... apologies for not posting anything for so long.  Some bad news... On 22 April 171318 stopped moving, meaning either the bird had died or it had dropped its tag.  We notified colleagues in Iran, who quickly went out in search of the bird, and found it.  It had been electrocuted.  Below are some pictures. Electrocution is a big probem for large soaring birds in many parts of the world.  At least two of the Egyptian vultures we have tracked from Oman in recent years have died in this manner. http://migratorysoaringbir ..read more

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/volum ..read more

by M. McGrady and B.U. Meyburg An adult Egyptian vulture ready to be fitted with a satellite tag in 2018. Egyptian vulture is globally endangered, and faces a wide range of threats including, poisoning, electrocution, persecution and hunting for belief-based medicine.  Most vulture species in Eurasia and Africa are of conservation concern, being either endangered or critically endangered. Since 2012 Egyptian vulture research has been conducted in Oman. 2012 - surveys of breeding Egyptian vultures on Masirah supported by the Environment Society of Oman (ESO) find it to be the second most den ..read more

by B.-U. Meyburg & M. McGrady Most of the Egyptian vultures we captured and fitted with satellite transmitters in January 2018 were apparently settled territory holders.  From the very beginning tracking has showed them to move between their territories and the dumpsites and landfills that they regularly visit for food.  However, a few were not settled, and presumably were "floaters", birds that had no fixed territories (and no mates).  171326 appeared to be such a bird. Below are maps of the last 20,000 locations and last 5,000 locations of  Egyptian vulture 171326.  As can be seen, thi ..read more

by M. McGrady and B.-U. Meyburg It's been about 1.5 months since we last posted anything about the vultures we are tracking.  During that time most of the vultures have been spending time on their territories, making regular visits to the Al Multaquaa dump, and only occassionally wandering more widely.  Although we do not have information on productivity from the vultures, judging from the tracking data, it seems that some birds actually raised some offspring.  It certainly would be nice in future years to confirm this, and start to understand how productive the breeding population of Egyptia ..read more

by B.-U Meyburg and M. McGrady Below is a map which shows the last 1000 locations of Egyptian vulture 16095.  We are collecting data at a high rate (maximum 1 location/sec depending on solar power constraints).  The map shows that this bird spent earlier parts of the morning at the Al Multaqa landfill. It then started soaring over the landfill and gained altitude, then flew in a straight line about 2 km to the south, circled once more to gain a bit more altitude, then perched. Analyses of such data can allow us to understand the flight behaviour of vultures in relation to weather information ..read more

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