Look out for fledgling vultures

Gallery Update

HESSEQUA NEWS - Every vulture counts, especially a young fledgling that has lost its way.

The Vulture Conservation Programme (VulPro), which is based in Gauteng, recently requested the public to be on the lookout for such fledglings.

Although Cape Vultures used to occur in various areas in the Western Cape, their numbers have dwindled as a result of habitat destruction, ingestion of agro-chemicals, the proliferation of farming activities, and the decline of animal carcasses in the veld.

The only surviving and stable colony of Cape Vultures in the province occurs at the Potberg Mountains in CapeNature's De Hoop Nature Reserve near Bredasdorp.

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According to Kevin Shaw, researcher, there were 101 breeding pairs during the 2018/19 breeding season. "The adults begin prospecting for nest sites and start creating nests during March/April. In late May, early June one can observe the eggs in the nests and in July the chicks start to appear."

Usually, only one egg is laid and incubation takes about 53 days. "The chicks take between 110 and 120 days to fledge. The breeding success rate is between 40 and 70%, depending on food availability. The period from their first flight until they become adept at flying is one of the crucial periods in their lives.

"They not only need to leave the nest ledge high up on cliffs and fly, but they need to learn to soar and then land back on the cliff faces, sometimes on very narrow ledges."

As this colony is not visited daily so as not to disturb them, staff hardly ever come across injured or dead birds. "I have been monitoring the colony since 1995 and I can only remember coming across two young birds that have died due to injuries sustained during maiden and or early flights since then. They somehow seem to be adapted or able to survive what we perceive as a crash into cliff faces. We sometimes do get young birds that have fledged and moved far from the colony looking for food that ends up weak on the ground some distance from the colony."

Regarding VulPro's request for the public to watch out for young birds in distress, he says: "We do get young birds that are in a weakened state that we take to a rehabilitation centre where they are given food and exercise and then released after about a month or two.

"The number of birds found is not always consistent, with some years having more incidences than others.

"Last year (2018) we received no young birds for rehabilitation and this year to date only one adult vulture carcass was found under a power line which we suspect died as a result of colliding with the powerline."

If a member of the public encounters a weak or injured bird, please contact Shaw at 087 158 0090 or shawka@capenature.co.za

The Potberg vulture colony in De Hoop Nature Reserve is the only one in the Western Province.