The Status of Vultures Neophron Percnopterus, Gypaetus Barbatus, Gyps Fulvus, Aegypius Monachus (Accipitriformes) in Azerbaijan

A Mammadov,T Karimov

doi:10.15421/2019_791

Abstract

The inventory of vultures was conducted in 2004–2016. Modern areal and nesting places of Griffon vulture (Gyps fulvus), Black vulture (Aegypius monachus), Egyptian vulture, (Neophron percnopterus) and Bearded vulture (Gypaetus barbatus) in Azerbaijan was determined. Our results reveals that 60.6% (n=20) of nesting locations were found in Lesser Caucasus, 36.3% (n=12) in Great Caucasus, 3.0% (n=1) in Talysh mountains. Over the last 13 years the total known population of these species decreased by 15.3%. Primary reason of this decline is the abandonment of livestock farms and graze lands, accompanied by the expansion of cultivated areas (P = 0.0001) since large domestic ruminants are important source of food for Griffon vultures,. The other important threats to these species were identified as nestling removal, capture and trade of wild birds for exhibiting them in zoological gardens and roadside restaurants, destructing the nests of Black vultures, ecotourism and recreation has impacted on the decrease in the number of Griffon vultures (P =0.0001). In 2016, 61 pairs of Griffon vulture, 59 pairs of Egyptian vulture, 16 pairs of Black vulture, 9 pairs of Bearded vulture were recorded in the territories of Azerbaijan.

Highlights

A global catastrophe in vulture populations is evident and emerges as a priority in global nature conservation agenda
Our research focuses on Griffon vulture (Gyps fulvus Hablizl, 1783), Black vulture (Aegypius monachus Linnaeus, 1766), Egyptian vulture (Neophron percnopterus Linnaeus, 1758) and Bearded vulture (Gypaetus barbatus Linnaeus, 1758)
The nest sites of Bearded vultures are found at higher altitudes, between 1216 –2574 m

Summary

Introduction

A global catastrophe in vulture populations is evident and emerges as a priority in global nature conservation agenda. Azerbaijan is a country in Caucasus, where four species of vultures breed. Griffon vulture and Bearded vulture are considered a resident bird species while Egyptian vulture is a summer migrant (Patrikeev, 2004). The size and distribution of Azeri vulture populations are poorly documented, with majority of research papers published earlier than 1993 and there are no systematically collected data published since (Patrikeev, 2004). The breeding locations, size of the population and threats to those species still remains poorly documented and the current status of Vultures in Azerbaijan are not properly assessed or they were assessed based on poor data quality (Botha et al, 2017). We have conducted a national breeding inventory of vultures and investigated the drivers of the population decline of those four species. The results of the 12 years long research work from 20042016 are presented in this paper

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Conclusion