This is a blog about Lappet-faced vultures in Oman

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Wednesday, October 5, 2022

Ever wider ranging by juvenile vultures

Movements of a juvenile Lappet-faced vulture in the first month after fledging.©ESO, IAR.

The process of becoming independent for nestling Lappet-faced vultures is a progressive one, much like it is with many species. Our tracking has illustrated this.  After tagging, the nestlings spent some days in the nest, then made short, then ever longer excursions away from the nest.  The map above shows the movement of a juvenile Lappet-faced vulture for the first month after tagging.

 At the beginning the young birds were mostly fed by their parents, but as they wandered more widely, they encountered food and fed themselves.  Over time they came to be entirely independent of their parents for the direct provision of their food.  The map below shows the same vulture from above, but during its 3rd month after tagging.

Movements of a juvenile Lappet-faced vulture in the 3rd month after fledging.©ESO, IAR.

Once independent of their parents, vultures of all ages benefit from having other vultures and scavenging birds around because it helps them locate their food (dead things), which may occur only very rarely across huge areas.  In that way they are not really independent, but rather interdependent with the other scavengers.  The result is that, over time, vultures travel huge distance, especially during the non-breeding season. The map below shows the cumulative movements of a young Lappet-faced vulture until 5 October 2022 (4 months of tracking).

Movements of a juvenile Lappet-faced vulture during the first 5 months after fledging.©ESO, IAR.

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171379 is in UAE

  Lappet-faced vulture (ID=171379) in its nest before fledging.  ©ESO, IAR. Vultures are obligate scavenging birds, meaning they don’t hunt ...