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By A Staff Reporter,Kathmandu, Sept. 28: For the first time, GPS Tracking of the endangered Egyptian Vulture has begun in Nepal. In the third week of September, a team led by vulture expert Krishna Bhusal successfully trapped and fitted GPS tags on five Egyptian vultures in the Pokhara Valley.
The team included Egyptian Vulture scientist Vladimir Dobrev and Demita Cherneva from the Central Asian Vultures Project, along with Ankit Bilash Joshi, Ishwari Chaudhary and Yam Mahato from Bird Conservation Nepal, said a press statement issued by ICUN. IUCN Vulture Specialist Group member Hemanta Dhakal was also in the team. The birds were captured using the leg-hold trap method and fitted with 30g Ornitela GPS-GSM transmitters using the leg-loop harnessing technique, it said.
According to Bhusal, despite being a globally endangered species, there is limited monitoring and targeted conservation action for the Egyptian Vulture in Nepal and across South Asia. Out of the six resident vulture species, five-- White-rumped Vulture, Slender-billed Vulture, Red-headed Vulture, Himalayan Griffon, and Bearded Vulture-- have been tracked with satellite tags and monitored closely. Telemetry tagging has provided valuable information on movement, nesting, foraging and roosting sites, as well as major causes of mortality for these large vultures.
However, similar data for the Egyptian Vulture is still unavailable, the statement said. Three subspecies of the Egyptian Vulture are recognised globally. Neophron percnopterus is found across Europe, Africa, and Central Asia, Neophron percnopterus majorensis is native to the Canary Islands, and Neophron percnopterus ginginianus is distributed in India and Nepal, according to the statement.
“Satellite tagging and monitoring of the European Egyptian Vulture population has revealed their winter migration to Africa and the Arabian regions of the Middle East. It remains unclear whether the Asian population and its subspecies undertake long migrations or not,” it said. To address these knowledge gaps, Bhusal initiated a study on the ecology and conservation needs of the Egyptian Vultures in Asia through on-ground surveys and GPS monitoring as part of his PhD research.
This study is a collaboration between the Biodiversity Research Institute, IMIB (University of Oviedo – CSIC – Principality of Asturias), Mieres, Spain, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), Saving Asia’s Vultures from Extinction (SAVE), Central Asian Vultures Project, Bird Conservation Nepal (BCN) and supported by The Rufford Foundation. GPS tracking of Egyptian Vultures will provide valuable insights into their breeding, foraging, movement patterns, and the threats they face. “We are also doing the systematic census of the Egyptian vulture population, its distribution and breeding success in Nepal,” said Bhusal.
Initial tracking of the tagged Egyptian Vultures shows their movement is largely confined to garbage dumping sites in Pokhara and Tanahun. This study also contributes to the implementation of the Vulture Conservation Action Plan (2023-2027), which has been endorsed by the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation and the Department of Forests and Soil Conservation, he said..
